The Explanation is the Song Itself
Reflections On Carl Sigman by David McGee

When Carl Sigman passed away in his Manhasset, New York, home on September 28, 2000, the most eloquent and appropriate tributes to the great American pop songwriter were not the splendid obituaries in The New York Times and The Los Angeles Times, but rather the snippets of his enduring songs — “Ebb Tide,” “What Now My Love,” “It’s All In The Game,” “Civilization (Bongo, Bongo, Bongo),” “(Where Do I Begin) Love Story,” “Losing You,” “Pennsylvania 6-5000” — that were played on radio stations around the country to accompany the announcement of his death at the age of 91. The printed obits — well-written, factually accurate, and unabashed in the writers’ fondness for Sigman’s art — were no doubt many readers’ introduction to the man himself, for Carl Sigman was a craftsman and an artist of the first rank, but he was not in any way a public figure. As was his wont. So when his lyrics filled the airwaves again on the day of his departure from this mortal coil, Carl Sigman was going out as he would have wanted, with his music telling the story of his deepest joys, fears, yearnings and pleasures, as well as illuminating his whimsical, feisty sense of humor, vivid imagination, and generally optimistic worldview. >