Back at the close of the last millennium, famous musicians were asked by Playboy magazine to name their top ten songs of the millennium. Not surprisingly, no musicians named a song earlier than the late 19th century, with the exception of one sterling singer/songwriter: Richard Thompson (who's a helluva lyricist as well as one of the Great Guitar Gods Of Our Time; quite a few of his lyrics could appear in this thread, and I must admit I much prefer his work to Dylan, soulless heretic that I am). Thompson took the idea and created an entire concert out of it. Just for shits and giggles, this is the set list from his cd 1000 Years of Popular Music. The first song is the oldest extant round in the English tradition (from 1068):
1. Sumer Is Icumen In
2. King Henry V's Conquest of France
3. When I Am Laid in Earth
4. So Ben Mi Ca Bon Tempo
5. Shenandoah
6. Blackleg Miner
7. Waiting at the Church
8. Trafalgar Square
9. There Is Beauty...
10. Where Have All My Loved Ones Gone?
11. Old Rocking Chair's Got Me
12. Orange-Coloured Sky
13. Cry Me a River
14. Drinking Wine Spo-Dee-O-Dee
15. A Legal Matter
16. Tempted
17. Kiss
18. Oops! I Did It Again (yes, the Brittany song--it's quite hilarious on acoustic guitar. Thompson said, strip away the fripperies and it is not a bad pop song--he's right!)
19. Sam Hall
20. Money
21. It Won't Be Long
22. Marry, Ageyn Hic Hev Donne It
Yes, you could argue that it's all Western music, mostly 20th century, and so on and on, but who cares? It's a marvelous idea for an album (and concert). By the way--and not surprisingly--Playboy didn't include his list among the ones they published. (!)
Richard's ex-wife, Linda Thompson (now Linda Kenis, though she still performs under the Thompson name--and she's one of the best singers in pop/folk music) said something I completely agree with:Poets rarely make good lyricists, with notable exceptions like Patti Smith and Leonard Cohen. While I might add a name or two to the list, I really think they--poems and songs--are qualitatively different.
And that isn't a bad thing. I just wish books and music took up less space: my apartment looks like Barnes and Noble merged with Tower Records and decided to open a small uptown boutique.
|