MARY CHAPIN CARPENTER: What CEOs can learn from songwriters

The recent visit to Capitol Hill by former executives of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac was a fascinating study in personalities; under intense grilling from members of Congress, these powerful men stonily refused to admit they had made mistakes while serving as chief executives of their respective companies.

They obviously aren’t songwriters. Now that they have more time on their hands, they may want to take it up.

The interconnected themes of regret and redemption — not to mention that of the mighty and the proud getting their inevitable comeuppance — have long been rich veins mined by artists, particularly in traditional country music. Hank Williams sang “I Saw the Light” 60 years ago about his alcoholic ways and his struggle to overcome them.

Charlie Walker sang “Pick Me Up on Your Way Down,” penned by songwriting legend Harlan Howard, about someone who left humble beginnings behind and now might have to embrace them again while slinking back home. It hit the charts in 1958, and it’s about as good an example of schadenfreude as you can get in musical terms.

The term singer-songwriter often seems to be preceded by “confessional” and/or “sensitive” (I am leaving out “chick” — that’s another column in itself) so it’s easy to assume that those of us in that line of work spend a great deal of our creative energy revealing our secrets, our mistakes and our wish to start over.

As much as the songwriters I know (myself included) would like to dodge the cliches, the words have stuck. I would be hard-pressed to name an established artist lugging around an acoustic guitar who hasn’t been accused of having written a sensitive song or two on the way to indie/major-label success.

Speaking of major-label success, one of the biggest hits of this year has been Coldplay’s “Viva La Vida,” which tells the story of a once powerful person’s fall from a very high perch:

I used to rule the world

Seas would rise when I gave the word

Now in the morning I sleep alone

Sweep the streets I used to own

I used to roll the dice

Feel the fear in my enemy’s eyes

Listen as the crowd would sing:

Story Continues →