Last week, the Library hosted the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) Foundation for its annual “We Write the Songs” concert, featuring the songwriters performing and telling the stories behind their own music. Carly Simon, Randy Newman and Ann and Nancy Wilson of Heart joined others in performing some of their most popular tunes.
“We used to tell our mom and dad that we were going to the library when we actually were rocking out,” Ann Wilson said before performing Heart’s “Dog and Butterfly” and “Crazy on You.” “Now, we’re actually at the Library, rocking out. They would be so thrilled.”
A sentiment surely shared by many of the performers taking the historic Coolidge Auditorium stage.
“Hasn’t this been the best concert you’ve ever been to?” Simon asked. “This astonishes me.”
Carly Simon at the sixth annual “We Write the Songs” concert. Photo by Amanda Reynolds.
The Library is home to the ASCAP collection, which includes music manuscripts, printed music, lyrics (both published and unpublished), scrapbooks, correspondence and other personal, business, legal and financial documents, scrapbooks, and film, video and sound recordings.
Established in 1914, ASCAP is the first United States Performing Rights Organization (PRO), representing the world’s largest repertory of more than 8.5 million copyrighted musical works of every style and genre from more than 350,000 songwriter, composer and music-publisher members.
