SONGWRITERS--UP FRONT AND SINGING

If you love songs, the place to be Saturday night was the second annual “Salute to the American Songwriter” at the Beverly Theatre. The program, which consisted of two-dozen songwriters performing their own works, reflected the real spirit of the pop music industry better than any awards show ever could. Competition was replaced by camaraderie; egos were submerged in a sense of mutual admiration.

A few writers who are also recording artists appeared on the bill, including Michael McDonald, Kim Carnes and Stephen Bishop. But the heart of the show was seeing the people who are usually just writer credits on the back of an album step out front. And if some of them don’t sing as well as the artists who made their songs hits, well, that was part of the fun. It’s amazing how many songwriters are closet performers and hams.

The concert moved at a brisk pace. As Jack Tempchin noted after doing a quick medley of his hits: “That’s my life in six minutes.” Some of the best moments were the stories behind the hits, which kept the show from taking on a mechanical “and then I wrote” quality. The show also revealed the extraordinary range of several writers. Leiber & Stoller’s medley went from the bluesy ballad “Is That All There Is?” to the novelty hit “Yackety Yak.”

The concert struck an ideal balance between contemporary hit makers and established veterans, encompassing hits from Sammy Fain’s vintage “I’ll Be Seeing You” to Billy Steinberg and Tom Kelly’s “True Colors,” a recent hit for Cyndi Lauper. But it could have used a little better balance in other areas: Only one black writer (Andrae Crouch) and two female writers (Carnes and Carole Bayer Sager) performed.

The show might also have been even better if more writers had been willing to perform songs that weren’t their best work; songs that, for whatever reason, they might prefer to leave off their discography. Paul Williams showed what a disarming tactic that could be when he capped a medley of his many classics with his kitschy “Love Boat Theme.” That takes self-assurance--and a sense of humor.

The most heartening performance was Brian Wilson’s. Wilson, who was barely there in Beach Boys concerts for many years, sang in a strong, clear voice and talked easily with the audience. The most welcome moment was the presentation of a lifetime achievement award by the sponsoring National Academy of Songwriters to veteran hit makers Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil, whose “Make Your Own Kind of Music” provided a perfect finale.

Lyricist John Bettis noted that the atmosphere backstage was “like a family reunion.” That feeling came across on stage as well.