Songwriters Hall of Fame Paul Williams – HuffPost 12.30.11

Mike Ragogna: How do you feel about the new crop of artists being represented here this evening?

Paul Wiliams: Oh, I think they’re fantastic. Right now, I’m writing with a group called Daft Punk, so for me, at this age, to be up to my heart in music is great. The addendum to that, of course, is to be here representing 410,000 working songwriters and composers and working to make sure that they have a chance to make a viable living at this amazing craft. Technology has always outrun the law, and the law always adjusts, but at the same time, more music is being played now than ever before. The lovely thing is that we’re seeing a change in the younger generations. They’ve begun to understand the ownership of the songs and that just because you buy a record doesn’t mean that you own the music. One of the great joys of my job is to be able to go to Washington, and one of my favorite things that I’ve heard in the past couple of years was when Bill Withers was sitting across from a Congressman and said, ” Congressman, you have to understand that at some point, we’re going to be coming to you with a bill so that we can make sure that people can still make a living on writing songs. I mean, you don’t want us getting normal jobs. You don’t want Ozzy Osbourne as your plumber.” (laughs)

MR: (laughs) Paul, your name came up recently in a conversation I had with Stan and Hunter Freberg.

PW: I have a great Stan Freberg story. He was leaving an ad agency on a Friday afternoon, and he walked down to the elevator to find a guy that looked like he was about to be executed. The guy looked extremely sad and worried. Stan asked him what the hell was wrong with him and the guy said, “I just got an account and I don’t know what the hell to do with it. It’s called ‘Smuckers’ and I just have no idea what to do with it.” And Stan turned to the guy and said, “With a name like Smucker’s, it has to be good,” and stepped off the elevator. (laughs)

MR: (laughs) That’s great. What advice do you have for new artists?

PW: Be authentic. Don’t try to be like anyone else. I tried to be like David Bowie and nothing was happening for me. I wrote a very sentimental song called, “We’ve Only Just Begun,” that was so far from what the music industry was doing, but it came from the center of my heart and it was a huge, huge thing. So, be true to yourself.