Okay, fellow Barry Manilow fans, get ready to be disappointed. You are familiar with his most popular song, I Write the Songs. Here’s the sad part. Barry Manilow didn’t write that song.
I Write the Songs was actually written by Bruce Johnston of the Beach Boys. The 1976 hit won the Grammy Award for “Song of the Year.” But Manilow didn’t write it.
Manilow was actually reluctant to record the song, stating, “The problem with the song was that if you didn’t listen carefully to the lyrics, you would think that the singer was singing about himself. It could be interpreted as a monumental ego trip.”
That’s a danger we all face – taking credit for something we did not achieve on our own. Take recovery, for example. Every time I receive another chip marking another year of sobriety, I wish I could break the chip into small pieces, and give a part of it to my sponsor, my past sponsors, my wife, my therapist, and each of you.
Recovery Step: Paul said we all “share in the ministry of the saints” (2 Corinthians 8:4). No one writes the songs without a whole lot of help.
