BMI Awards Big-Up Hall & Oates, Polow Da Don, “Lips Of An Angel”

anthonyjmiccio | May 21, 2008 12:40 pm

AP080520041593.jpg
BMI, catch up! I was praising “Lips Of An Angel” in 2006. 2006! A year and a half later, now you want to say Hinder’s anguished take on the temptations of an ex-lover’s vagina was 2007‘s song of the year? I know you’re basing this on airplay counts and such, but waiting till now to acknowledge this just makes you look behind on the times. Today it’s cooler to pretend you have no idea who Hinder is. Giving Polow Da Don Songwriter Of The Year is nice, though. And getting Hall & Oates up on stage for a set and a Lifetime Achievement Award is a good way to make hipsters, emo kids, and old folks equally happy. “Soul music is not about race,” said Hall. Fine, but what about “Maneater?”

Polow Da Don’s resounding claim to the BMI Songwriter of the Year title stems from penning four songs among the year’s top 50: the Pussycat Dolls’ “Buttons,” featuring Snoop Dogg; Fergie’s “London Bridge” and “Glamorous,” featuring Ludacris; and “Runaway Love,” recorded by Ludacris and featuring Mary J. Blige. Fergie’s emphatic shout, “Polow!” in “London Bridge” embedded Da Don’s first name in the pop culture psyche, while his hit-making expertise catapulted him to behind-the-scenes impresario. Polow Da Don’s first BMI Pop Songwriter of the Year win arrives on the shoulders of his first four BMI Awards, underscoring his unparalleled breakout success in 2007.

Hinder’s “Lips of an Angel” garnered Song of the Year bragging rights thanks to generating the most airplay of any tune on BMI’s most-performed pop song list during the designated award period. Co-written and recorded by BMI songwriters and Hinder band members Blower, Cody Hanson, Mark King, Michael Rodden and Austin Winkler, along with producer Brian Howes (SOCAN), the wistful tune climbed to the no. 1 slot of Billboard’s Pop 100, Hot Digital Songs and Top 40 Mainstream charts, achieving broad crossover success. Country artist Jack Ingram’s recording of the song also resonated, reaching the top 20 tier of Billboard’s Hot Country Singles chart. Published by EMI-Blackwood Music, Inc. and Hinder Music Co., “Lips of an Angel” also earned the Internet Song of the Year win as the most performed song on the Internet during the award period.

I feel so ahead of my time! There was little bump in the songwriting royalty love-in, though, when Babyface had the gall to acknowledge that the authors of “Sara Smile,” which he perfomed, were

“Soul music is not about race,” Hall said, after he and partner John Oates were presented with Icon Awards during performing rights group BMI’s annual Pop Music Awards ceremony. “There ain’t no ‘blue-eyed soul’ … Keep that in mind, OK?”

Minutes earlier, Edmonds had performed the duo’s tune “Sara Smile” after jokingly recounting his youthful assumption that “blue-eyed soul” — an approbatory term used to describe soulful white singers — meant “black guys with blue eyes.”

You tell that uppity Babyface what’s what, Hall! You’re right, there’s no “blue eyed soul,” just “adult contemporary” and “Van Morrison.”

Daryl Hall and John Oates Named BMI Icons at 56th Annual Pop Awards [Business Wire] //uk.reuters.com/article/entertainmentNews/idUKN2134548620080521 Hall & Oates see red over “blue-eyed” term [Reuters]