Jingle writing legend Steve Karmen is probably best known for such hit songs as “Weekends Were Made For Michelob”, “Hershey, The Great American Chocolate Bar” and “When You Say Budweiser (You’ve Said It All).” In the time since his heyday in the 1970s, Steve has burnished his place in history with several books, including the definitive bible of his field, “Through the Jingle Jungle: The Art and Business of Making Music for Commercials.”His book “Me and Bobby D: A Memoir,”details his early years working with Bobby Darin in the fifties, and the bitterness he experienced eating the dust of the somewhat less handsome but more ambitious Darin.

Karmen cut his teeth composing music for exploitation films with titles like “Hollywood Nude Report” and “Nudes On Tiger Beach.” He broke into the advertising business in the late sixties. Over the course of the next decade or so, he won more than a dozen Clio awards for his work pursuing the lost art of jingle writing. In his book, “Who Killed the Jingle? How a Unique American Art Form Disappeared,”Karmen waxes bitter once again, decrying how original songs have fallen out of favor with agencies more inclined nowadays to license such shopworn pop hits as Bob Seger’s “Like A Rock” or Iggy Pop’s “Lust For Life.”

In the mid-seventies, Karmen experienced a mid-life crisis of sorts, brought on in no small part by his wife’s death from ovarian cancer. An ad-man to the end, Steve quickly recorded a full-length album to promote his personal malaise. While nothing on “I Never Had The Time” reaches the high standards of “Aren’t You Glad You Use Dial” or “At Beneficial (Doot! Doot!) You’re Good For More,” the album does raise the bar for shallow self-examination and embarrassing public display. No matter how much you might want to sympathize, songs like “A Writer Of Songs” and “Back Where I Started From” are so annoying, you’ll wish you could slap him.

In a nutshell, if you like maudlin, you’ll love this album. But you don’t have to take my word for it. The liner notes put it succinctly:

Steve didn’t get to the top by accident. Ten years ago, he had nothing and wanted everything for his wife Sandy and his kids, and he launched a one man crusade to get it. While others walked, Steve ran; while others knocked on doors, Steve bashed down walls; and while others always seemed to have the time, Steve never had the time — he was too busy getting there. And finally, when he had reached the very top, and built his dream house, and won the world, Sandy died. Steve Karmen has always been paid to write songs for other people. These are the first songs he has written for himself. It’s one thing to write about cars, beer, insurance and chewing gum. It’s another to write about the hurt, love, longing and hope inside you. Steve has expressed some beautiful feelings in some beautiful songs on this, his first album. I’m glad he had the time.

Take the time to download “I Never Had The Time” by Steve Karmen