A Few Thoughts On That Infamous NYT Songwriters List, Inspired By A Stevie Wonder Rabbit Hole
From Music And We by musicandwe
May 15, 2026 · 11 min · Episode 66
About this episode
Jamilah shares her thoughts on the controversial New York Times songwriters list after being inspired by a Stevie Wonder tribute.
(RECORDED ON MAY 15, 2026) (Because we're not sure if people actually read these episode descriptions, we'll put it here at the top- jamilah checked after recording the episode, and was very glad to be stood corrected- because Stevie Wonder actually IS listed in the NYT piece! Everything else stands.)This quick episode was off the dome, as jamilah did not expect to record an episode; however, she felt inspired to, after shedding some tears while watching a Stevie Wonder tribute- where the great Greg Phillinganes (who has a long history with Stevie) put his foot in it, because there were some surprising deep cuts sprinkled in. This led her to think about the (as stated) infamous New York Times piece, where they, after some apparent deliberation, they chose a series of songwriters, producing a ton of obvious controversy. Many were upset that Tom Waits and Randy Newman, for example, were missing. A list of 30 people is going to limit who gets chosen, and if you asked 10 people who should be on this list, you are going to get 10 different answers. There is a plan to do a more in depth episode, but for now, here's some late night/very early morning ramblings. A melodica makes an…
People in this episode
Host: jamilah
Topics covered
- songwriters
- New York Times list
- Stevie Wonder
- music commentary
- controversy
Keywords
- songwriters list
- Stevie Wonder
- New York Times
- music commentary
- Greg Phillinganes
- Tom Waits
- Randy Newman
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: New York Times
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