There was a song (only rarely played on the radio these days) that I heard in the early 70s, about immigrants coming to this country. I know some of the words, and the melody.
It isn’t Led Zeppelin’s “The Immigrant Song”.
There was a time when strangers were welcome here,
Music would play, they tell me, the days were clean and clear,
{something…},
…and there was so much room
the people would come from everywhere.
This has repeatedly been identified for me as a Neil Sedaka cut, “The Immigrant”. I have yet to confirm that, though; no Napster/Macster title by that name or under Sedaka comes up, ever. Nothing at CDNOW. No luck chasing it down by the lyrics. I’ve even prowled the stores, flipping through his music for a mention on some Sedaka album of this elusive song “The Immigrant”. And… Sedaka? We’re talking about Mister “down doobie doo down down breaking up is hard to do”? Really?
Disable Similes in this Post
(With a Penn Jillette flourish) Is this your card?
The album is “Sedaka’s Back” and lists the 8th track as “The Immigrant.”
According to my copy of Top Pop Singles, “The Immigrant” by Neil Sedaka peaked at #22 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 in early 1975, and the song was “dedicated to John Lennon (because of his immigration difficulties)”.
At the time, Lennon was fighting deportation from United States, technically due to a drug conviction in Britain, although many felt that the real reason was his outspoken opposition to the Vietnam war.
I recently saw Sedaka in concert in (I think) Lake Tahoe and this was one of the songs he performed. Sedaka, like Paul Anka and the BeeGees, wrote all sorts of songs for all sorts of people. Sedaka also wrote “Love Will Keep us Together” for Captain and Tenielle (sp) and things of that ilk. Paul Anka, known for the syrupy “Puppy Love,” also wrote “My Way” and the Johnny Carson theme. The BeeGees wrote “Islands in the Stream” which is best known as a Dolly Parton/Kenny Rogers duet (Or “Ghetto Superstar” for you youngsters out there.)
Is this prolificness and flexibility a thing of the past? I mean, you don’t see Pearl Jam with a credit on a Oasis album or something…or do you? Maybe I’m just not paying attention.
We struck down evil with the mighty sword of “teamwork” and the hammer of “not bickering.”
Well, as an oldie myself, I have the album that is referred to by Neil, and I like it. But, voguevixen, Paul Anka wrote the Johnny Carson theme, he used to joke about it when he was on the show, how he never had to work again.
“The more hours people use the Internet, the less time they spend with real human beings.” Norman Nie, a Stanford political scientist on results of his study of the Internet’s impact on society.
Yes, I know…that’s what I said in my previous post.
We struck down evil with the mighty sword of “teamwork” and the hammer of “not bickering.”
Oh wow, you’re so right, and I need to learn to read slower!! Sorry 'bout that!
“The more hours people use the Internet, the less time they spend with real human beings.” Norman Nie, a Stanford political scientist on results of his study of the Internet’s impact on society.
S’ok! I forgive you. 
(I’m prone to making the occasional typo, so I re-read my post 3 times before I was sure I did post it right, haha.)
We struck down evil with the mighty sword of “teamwork” and the hammer of “not bickering.”
The Beatles and Bob Dylan, between them, caused a major shift from the old model, in which singers and songwriters were separate professions, to the new, in which they are the same. (Not that there weren’t singer-songwriters before, of course, including Anka and Sedaka, but that since the 60’s, it has been the norm.)
Naturally, once it is established that a singer ought to be a songwriter, performing the songs of others becomes identified as either a “tribute” (if he’s lucky), or lazy, derivative hackwork (if he’s not).
No doubt the wheel will turn again.
John W. Kennedy
“Compact is becoming contract; man only earns and pays.”
– Charles Williams
The best example would be Michael Bolton…damn his music is pure magic