Re: Songwriters

["Andrew Wimhurst" <awimhurst@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Robb,
My mistake. I misinterpreted your earlier post.
My intention was to list a few people to disprove a statement made on here
that there aren't as many good blues songwriters working today as there were
in the 1950's, etc.
I believe there are more people writing good/great songs these days but,
because there are even more wannabees writing hack material, it may be hard
to pick out the good ones.
I wouldn't list Raines as a great song writer - I was just casting around
for people who were writing decent blues tunes. But I would list people like
deLay, Oscher, Estrin, Myers, Lynwood Slim, etc, as great songwriters - even
if they only wrote one great song.
You're right that sometimes lyrics can sound phoned in. But that happens
even with some of the people that have been listed here as great. William
Clarke wrote some great songs - but he also wrote some pretty derivative
tunes too. I don't mind as long as the package is there - the groove, the
feeling, the tone, the passion can help to make 'okay' lyrics listenable.
For some example of tunes that fall back on some familiar phrases yet still
achieve greatness, I would recommend "The Deep Blues of Paul Oscher". For
example - "Traffic Problem" is very reminiscent of "Too Many Drivers" but is
still a great song. It might not be great if some middle class white bar
band did it instead of Oscher - but the same is true of many of Muddy
Waters' tunes too.
Cheers
AW


From:  Robb Bingham <robbingham@xxxx>
Date:  Sat Apr 19, 2003  3:25 pm
Subject:  Songwriters
I'd asked about Annie raines being listed as
somebodies example of a great Lyric/song writer.
AW said :
<From memory she wrote a couple of the tracks <on
'Goin' to the Country'
<which, while not great, are pretty good. But I could
<be wrong. If I am, I
<suppose the inference is that that also draws into
<doubt Oscher, Portnoy,
<Zinn and the other's writing abilities?

I asked about Annie, not to give anyone a hard time,
but for the same reason I asked about Szlapczynski.
Their writing-skills [or dearth thereof, to my ear] is
what makes me unable to keep a whole cd playing to
it's end. Portnoy's musical skills are enough to
sustain you- if you're in the mood, but he is no
master lyric writer, no?

I don't claim to have the answer, but people like
DeLay and Clarke don't seem to be phoning the lyrics
in [~Just a Great Big Kid~ FITS the music to a T,
nicht war?]. Again, it's not so much about ~what I
like~, as it's about ~the text passing seamlessly with
the music~. For instance while listening to
Muddy/Willie you don't ever [as lame as the lyrics
might be] think, ~Gee. That doesn't really fit~. The
text never feels patched in. The music and lyrics seem
to have evolved at the same time or in a similar way:
[ex: ~I Live The Life I Love And I Love The Life I
Live~]. With Rod Piazza, and even Mr. Wilson, it often
does [feel patched in, like wearing sunglasses or
slicking back the hair. An after-thought]. With Raines
and Slap, the lyrics REALLY sound tacked on. So I
wondered at the homage.

Anyway. No offence intended.
Robb [who NEVER phones it in, and still is often
boring]