Innovators: Songwriters

David Galenson

No 15511, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: Irving Berlin and Cole Porter were two of the great experimental songwriters of the Golden Era. They aimed to create songs that were clear and universal. Their ability to do this improved throughout much of their careers, as their skill in using language to create simple and poignant images improved with experience, and their greatest achievements came in their 40s and 50s. During the 1960s, Bob Dylan and the team of John Lennon and Paul McCartney created a conceptual revolution in popular music. Their goal was to express their own ideas and emotions in novel ways. Their creativity declined with age, as increasing experience produced habits of thought that destroyed their ability to formulate radical new departures from existing practices, so their most innovative contributions appeared early in their careers.

JEL-codes: N00 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2009-11
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cul, nep-his and nep-neu
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