To clarify: my “generation” was the last to come into The Biz while much of the Old Guard was still in charge, still mostly driving the bus. But that was changing rapidly, and the more fans-turned-pro who came in, the more true professionalism slipped away. (Did Stan and Jack ever suffer the “Dread Deadline Doom”?)

By the time I came in, the rot was more and more in evidence. Missed deadlines, fill-ins, unexpected reprints. Things we just didn’t see when the songs were more important than the singers.