Diane Warren, Jimmy Jam & Paul Williams Each Name One Song That Inspired Them and One Song of Theirs They Particularly Like
The songwriters swapped stories at “Tower of Song: Iconic Songwriters & Recordings,” sponsored jointly by the Grammy Museum and the Songwriters Hall of Fame.
Black News 
Paul Williams has written some all-time classics, including “We’ve Only Just Begun” and “Rainbow Connection,” but he’s human and is not above feeling a little tinge of jealousy when he hears a great song.
“When I hear a great song, I experience two things,” he said at the Grammy Museum in downtown L.A. on Thursday (May 28). “The first thing I experience is jealousy, dreadfully human, and I go, ‘Oh, shit…’ That lasts about seven minutes, maybe. And the second thing I feel is inspiration, and that inspiration lasts a lifetime.”
Williams made the comment at “Tower of Song: Iconic Songwriters & Recordings,” a panel discussion and exhibit sponsored jointly by the Grammy Museum and the Songwriters Hall of Fame. The panel discussion featured two other legendary songwriters, Diane Warren and Jimmy Jam. The mutual respect the writers have for each other was obvious and heartening to see. Williams seemed to speak for all of them when he said, “It’s such an honor to be a songwriter.”
Each was asked to name one song that inspired them and one song of theirs they particularly like. All three songwriters answered both questions, without complaining that the questions are practically impossible to answer (which of course they are). All three picked superlative songs that show excellent taste and discernment. (Here’s an odd-but-true fact about their song choices – none of them won a Grammy at the time or reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100.)
Jimmy Jam chose Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On” (which the Motown legend co-wrote with Renaldo Benson and Alfred Cleveland). Gaye’s single reached No. 2 in April 1971. Williams chose Jimmy Webb’s “Wichita Lineman.” Glen Campbell’s sublime recording of the song reached No. 3 in January 1969. Warren chose Gerry Goffin & Carole King’s “Up on the Roof.” The Drifters’ classic recording reached No. 5 in February 1963.
The songwriters were asked to select a song that was in the Grammy Hall of Fame. Gaye’s What’s Going On album was inducted in 1998. Campbell’s classic single was inducted two years later. Incredibly, “Up on the Roof” has yet to be inducted. (The event organizers bent the rules a little to let Warren discuss it.) Grammy Hall of Fame voters: There’s an excellent candidate for next year’s list.
The session was moderated by Jasen Emmons, chief curator and vice president of curatorial affairs at the Grammy Museum. “This is a total experiment,” Emmons said. “We have not rehearsed any of this in any way. I just said, you can actually pick a song that really inspired you as a songwriter, and then talk about why, and then can you pick a song that you wrote, and then do the same thing.
Here are the three panelists’ responses to those questions, followed by their views on whether they each prefer to collaborate or write alone.
