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  #71  
Unread 06-28-2017, 10:27 PM
William A. Baurle William A. Baurle is offline
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Originally Posted by Mark McDonnell View Post
Ha. Well, thanks for giving it a go Bill. Still, an extreme reaction is better than a 'meh' reaction I suppose...
Sorry, I was hammered.

I will give it another go in a sober frame of mind. I'm sure she deserves better than my silly reaction.
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  #72  
Unread 06-29-2017, 08:34 AM
Roger Slater Roger Slater is online now
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I'm going to keep trying. So far, I'm finding certain passages to be quite elegantly done but I haven't tapped into the emotion yet.

My teenage nibbling, by the way, is perhaps not a typical teenager, being an extremely gifted visual artist and better read than most educated adults.
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  #73  
Unread 06-30-2017, 06:55 AM
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Michael F Michael F is offline
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John, it appears my phoebes have fledged! I’m hopeful that this is the end of the viperous visitations. I was beginning to smell sulfur.

Bill, I’m glad I saw your riff on the guitar solo before you deleted it. I think I understood most of it, despite being only a keyboardist, myself. I really do love the song.

Mark, I appreciate some of the rhymes and tropes, but to me the whole piece does feel overwrought. And I don't understand what she means with all the meteor talk.

Last edited by Michael F; 06-30-2017 at 07:57 PM. Reason: overdid it
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  #74  
Unread 06-30-2017, 09:38 PM
William A. Baurle William A. Baurle is offline
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Originally Posted by John Isbell View Post
Hi Bill,

Yes, that is a haunting song. Michael, I do hope your phoebes are fine.
Don Henley also wrote this:

Can we film the operation, is the head dead yet?
You know the boys in the newsroom got a running bet.
Get the widow on the set,
We need dirty laundry.


I love that line Get the widow on the set. The song also contains the line It's interesting when people die.

Update: I should perhaps point out that "Dirty Laundry" is about celebrity journalism, the paparazzi.
Hey, somehow I missed this post, John.

Yes, Henley is a fine poet. A good drummer and vocalist as well. WOW. It is VERY hard to sing while drumming. Some singing drummers come to mind: that beautiful man in Midnight Oil, the guy who sings "Take a Load off Mandy...", and of course Phil Collins. Some of us hairless apes can do amazing things.

Here's a beautiful octave from Henley, from "Goodbye to a River":


The dirty water washes down
Poisoning the common ground
Taking sins of farm and town
And bearing them away
And the captains of industry
And their tools on the hill
They’re killing everything divine
What will I tell this child of mine


— Don Henley

*Edit: Wow. I hope everyone appreciates the allusion there: "Tools on the hill."

I only just noticed it. You go Don Henley!

Last edited by William A. Baurle; 06-30-2017 at 09:46 PM. Reason: I'm Hammered.
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  #75  
Unread 07-01-2017, 12:07 AM
Jesse Anger Jesse Anger is offline
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This!!

Down on Cyprus Avenue
With a childlike vision leaping into view
Clicking, clacking of the high heeled shoe
Ford and Fitzroy, Madame George
Marching with the soldier boy behind
He's much older now with hat on drinking wine
And that smell of sweet perfume comes drifting through
The cool night air like Shalimar

And outside they're making all the stops
The kids out in the street collecting bottle-tops
Gone for cigarettes and matches in the shops
Happy taken Madame George
That's when you fall
Whoa, that's when you fall
Yeah, that's when you fall
When you fall into a trance

Sitting on a sofa playing games of chance
With your folded arms and history books
You glance into the eyes of Madame George
And you think you found the bag
You're getting weaker and your knees begin to sag
In a corner playing dominoes in drag
The one and only Madame George
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  #76  
Unread 07-01-2017, 03:50 PM
Mark McDonnell Mark McDonnell is offline
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Jesse, yeah what a song. You just made me put it on.

And Bill, singing drummers! Yes, there's no better sight than Levon Helm from The Band singing and drumming at the same time.

https://youtu.be/ccJTFXvkXkA
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  #77  
Unread 07-01-2017, 10:34 PM
William A. Baurle William A. Baurle is offline
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Originally Posted by Mark McDonnell View Post
Jesse, yeah what a song. You just made me put it on.

And Bill, singing drummers! Yes, there's no better sight than Levon Helm from The Band singing and drumming at the same time.

https://youtu.be/ccJTFXvkXkA
Wonderful! Here I thought it was "Mandy", then I thought it was "Manny" when I just listened. Searching, I find the lyric was originally, Take a load off, Fanny." But looks like it was also sung as, "Annie." Seems to me it's one of those songs where the name can be switched around to suit the occasion, or the person being sung to. ?? Great song, anyway. Robbie Robertson has to be one of the greatest performers in rock history, taking back seat to Dylan, but without Dylan there his stage presence really kicks in. Great guitarist and songwriter also. And now I know there's a town in Pennsylvania called Nazareth.

Mark, take a look at this singing drummer, Rob Hirst, from the Oils, an old video, but great:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNL3xhxGpK8

And let's not forget this singing drummer. Great song:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rqnw5IfbZOU

Last edited by William A. Baurle; 07-01-2017 at 10:41 PM.
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  #78  
Unread 07-02-2017, 03:55 AM
William A. Baurle William A. Baurle is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Jesse Anger View Post
This!!

Down on Cyprus Avenue
With a childlike vision leaping into view
Clicking, clacking of the high heeled shoe
Ford and Fitzroy, Madame George
Marching with the soldier boy behind
He's much older now with hat on drinking wine
And that smell of sweet perfume comes drifting through
The cool night air like Shalimar

And outside they're making all the stops
The kids out in the street collecting bottle-tops
Gone for cigarettes and matches in the shops
Happy taken Madame George
That's when you fall
Whoa, that's when you fall
Yeah, that's when you fall
When you fall into a trance

Sitting on a sofa playing games of chance
With your folded arms and history books
You glance into the eyes of Madame George
And you think you found the bag
You're getting weaker and your knees begin to sag
In a corner playing dominoes in drag
The one and only Madame George
Beautiful poetry, and a very gifted singer. Nonetheless while I listened to the entire song, I had the same thoughts I get when I listen to Lou Reed, Tom Waits, and various others. I keep wondering when he's going to change something up, melody-wise. It sounds like the same start high up, ascend, then go to descending motif. Over and over. The music builds, but there is very little development. I was reminded of War, with Eric Burdon, and "Spill The Wine". Hey, make no mistake, I LOVE it! I have done much the same thing when I was in a band and we were drunk and high and improvising. Sometimes you had magic, but most of the time it was dreck, dispensable, ephemeral, to be enjoyed for what it was. "Spill The Wine", and "Madame George" were definitely in the magical, keeper category. But let me say, God only knows what amount of tape that is socked away, or that was simply thrown out, from similar forays into mind-altered improvisation.

Rock critics in the 70's in particular, almost unanimously sided with this kind of music. And they joined together to heap shame and vitriol on artists like Yes, Genesis, and Jethro Tull, because those artists were far more into classical, formal composition, which required focus and concentration from the musicians involved. The records put out by those 3 groups in particular, though there were dozens more, were frequently dismissed by rock critics as examples of musical artists taking themselves and their inventiveness far too seriously. Certain words were used to the point of cliche, and utter meaninglessness, and are still used by reviewers today on Amazon and other sites:
  • Pompous
  • Pretentious
  • Egomaniacal
  • Egotistical
  • Banal
  • Bombastic

^ Those are just a few of the cliches and buzzwords used by rock critics to handwave away and conveniently dismiss work by artists that they found to be too challenging, artists who created albums that, like a lot of very valuable things, were "an acquired taste", like good brandy, or a good beer; albums that seemed to have a certain level of conceptual coherence and lyrics that were narrative and told a story, rather than being stream-of-consciousness exercises in navel gazing.

Just my tuppence.

Last edited by William A. Baurle; 07-05-2017 at 04:28 AM.
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  #79  
Unread 07-04-2017, 06:11 AM
Jim Moonan Jim Moonan is offline
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I vacillate between 4-5 Van Morrison songs being my favorite. This one is always in the mix. A simple song dripping of simple wisdom of living life simply:

Joey Boy
I'm tired Joey Boy
While you're out with the sheep
My life is so troubled
Now I can't go to sleep
I would walk myself out
But the streets are so dark
I shall wait till the morning
And walk in the park.

This life is so simple when
One is at home
And I'm never complaining
When there's work to be done
Oh I'm tired Joey Boy of the makings of men
I would like to be cheerful again.

Ambition will take you
And ride you too far and
Conservatism bring you
to boredom once more.

Sit down by the river
And watch the stream flow
Recall all the dreams
That you once used to know
The things you've forgotten
That took you away
To pastures not greener but meaner.

Love of the simple is all that I need
I've no time for schism or lovers of greed
Go up to the mountain, go up to the glen
When silence will touch you
And heartbreak will mend.

It’s a beautiful melody. The video has a Wordsworth/Whitman/Thoreau feel to it. He uses a harp to evoke the sound of water. Here it is:
https://youtu.be/2RkjdYNvbVI
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  #80  
Unread 07-04-2017, 07:54 AM
Roger Slater Roger Slater is online now
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I single this out only because I happened across the video earlier today. Iris DeMent is the singer, sole musician, and wrote the words and music. My Life
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