About this time last year I slyly linked my love of trance to the sorry state of commercial songwriting. Today, the 50th Ivor Novello Awards nominations were announced. This time I must not only protest against the sorry state of commercial songwriting but also the nonsense that the British Academy of Composers and Songwriters nominates.

You see, there is no problem with the state of songwriting in this country, or any country for that matter. The problem is that the likes of the British Academy are driven by commercial (corporate) aims which requires nominations to be commercially successful and known to the general public. This way nominees get their names and faces in the media, their music is bought and record companies (and all the other despicable hangers-on) are satisfied. Which means the true class of songwriting is never made known to the public, and the British Academy ends up being little more than a PR company.

So without further ado, I sat down this evening and laughed at the nominations for ‘Best song musically and lyrically’ and ‘Best contemporary song’:

Best song musically and lyrically:
Dry Your Eyes Performed by The Streets. Written by Mike Skinner.
These Words Performed by Natasha Bedingfield. Written by Stephen Kipner/Andrew Frampton/Natasha Bedingfield/Wayne Wilkins.
Everybody’s Changing Performed by Keane. Written by Tim Rice-Oxley/Tom Chaplin/Richard Hughes.

Best contemporary song:
For Lovers Performed by Wolfman Featuring Pete Doherty. Written by Peter Wolfe/Peter Doherty/Julian Taylor/Edmund Scott/Matt White/David Banks/Matt Scott.
Blinded By The Lights Performed by The Streets. Written by Mike Skinner.
Take Me Out Performed by Franz Ferdinand. Written by Robert Hardy/Alex Kapranos/Nick McCarthy.