James Bond lyricist Don Black inducted into Songwriters Hall of Fame

Writing a song that touches the hearts of millions is hard enough.

Writing a ballad about one of nature's most despised animals - the rat - seemed to be an impossible task, even for Oscar-winning composer Don Black.

Black, whose credits include many of the themes for the James Bond movies and his Academy Award-winning Born Free, about a lion, was asked to write the title song for the 1972 horror movie Ben, about a lonely boy whose only friend is a rodent named Ben - reports The West.

"When it came to writing about a rat, I said, 'You can't write about a rat.' I mean, I'm not going to use words like 'cheese,"' laughed Black. "I thought the best thing to do is write about friendship."

Black's approach worked - and the song Ben, sung by a teenaged Michael Jackson, became one of pop music's most enduring and oddest classics. The song is one of the reasons why Black is being inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame on Thursday.

Other inductees include singer-songwriter Jackson Browne; Caribbean songwriter Irving Burgie, best known for Harry Belafonte's Day-O; Michael Masser, whose hits include Touch Me in the Morning and The Greatest Love of All; and the songwriting team of Bobby Weinstein and the late Teddy Randazzo, which wrote songs such as Gonna Take a Miracle. Previous inductee Dolly Parton will receive the Johnny Mercer award for her career achievements, while relative newcomer and Grammy-winner John Legend will receive the Hal David Starlight Award.

Black's most famous songs also include Diamonds are Forever by Shirley Bassey, which Kanye West remade into the rap hit Diamonds. The reinvention of his song was "great fun," Black said.

"That's the way you keep a song going. I thought he did a fantastic job. Obviously it isn't my world but it made me very trendy with my son. I started wearing bling," he joked.

Black, who is also a Tony Award-winner, told The Associated Press that receiving the Songwriters Hall honour "means more to me than you can imagine.

"When I was growing up in the east of London as a little boy, all my heroes were the people who are on this invitation," he said.

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