Adam Schlesinger truly had a genius for writing songs on assignment for specific contexts. However, as a songwriter myself, who has contributed songs to more than a dozen feature films and TV movies, I resent this writer’s categorization of these compositions as “fake.” Regardless of a tunesmith’s motivation, whether it be to express deep personal feelings or to facilitate the development of a character or to advance a plot line, a song is a song. If it has lyrics riding on a melody, it qualifies as a legitimate song.

I understand that this piece specifically differentiates between a song that is being written by or performed by characters in a film and any other song. But, please, let’s not disrespect that craft of songwriting by using such language. There is a strong tradition of songs written in such contexts. Is “K-K-Katy” any less of a real song because it was composed for Jack Okey’s songwriter character in the film “Tin Pan Alley?” Is “Shallow” from Bradley Cooper’s “A Star is Born” remake a fake song? Or, does it qualify as a real song because the actress and actor performing it on film actually composed it?

I received a Grammy nomination for “So Close To the Fire” from the Saturday Night Fever sequel Staying Alive. Yes, in the movie the Broadway musical featuring the song was fake, but does that make my song a fake song? (In fact, the song was a very real artist vehicle for my co-writer Tommy Faragher before director Sly Stallone decided to use it as a replacement for the song Gary Wright had been hired to write for the Satan’s Alley scene.)

By the way, few folks appreciate the film Music and Lyrics. Few movies about songwriting are as fun as that one. Thanks for mentioning it. Peace.