X-rated Bob wrote
It might be an idea to take this to PM or to another board if we want to carry on much longer. But...
It's like a guitar player you consider to be rewarding or excellent or investing listening time in. What that guitarist does can stand up to a bit of scrutiny, may reward enquiry by revealing different aspects of itself or by being beautifully constructed. Lots of things can work like this - fine furniture, top notch guitars, sculpture, poetry and... and... and...
And songs.
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Thanks for taking the time to put together such a thoughtful response Bob.
I find it interesting that even many of the technically proficient guitarists, whose playing we aspire to, feel much the same way about songs and writing as you do.
I have a great quote in a GT mag where Nuno Bettencourt talks about the fact that even though you want to develop your ability to play all these fancy things, you should never ignore the simple beauty of chord changes and song-writing. There are other quotes by Clapton, where he talks about the music suddenly becoming serious when you add the singer. Clapton has also always had heaps of praise for his hero, Robert Johnson, calling his stuff the most powerful cry in the human voice you can hear.
So even amongst the great players there is a leaning towards the song, towards the message and the combination of the music and the words.
For my part, it's the combination of the two that intrigues me the most at this point in my life. I actually have been getting really into some of Bruce Springsteen's acoustic stuff (like Devils and Dust), which also involves a lot of great dark songwriting and some chunky rhythm stuff. My girlfriend just looks at me funny. ?
I have only peripheral knowledge of Cohen and Dylan, and even shallower knowledge of Richard Thompson, but the cool thing about forums like these is that I now feel compelled to check them out in more detail and to develop my own tastes. But age, or maybe just "experience", does play a role: this stuff wouldn't have interested me when I was younger. The first time I ever heard Burt Bacharach was in Austin Powers (?), but that song ("What The World Needs Now") is beautiful.
In playing with the group of people that comprise my band, I've also had to cover a lot of older pop stuff that I probably would never have looked at: Christopher Cross, The Pretenders, Billy Joel etc. Some of these songs, when you actually have to sit down and play them, and sing them, are just unbelievably well
made, and brilliantly performed. Good craft can be found anywhere. In "We Didn't Start The Fire", Joel manages to cram a bunch of political commentary, a touch of satire, a dollop of existential angst and a great melodic chorus hook all into a few minutes. Do people even write songs like that anymore?
I've always been into good singers though. As a kid in the 80s I was raised on a diet of Rick Astley and George Michael. ? You guys can laugh (though many of you will know what I mean ?), but guys like these were just incredible vocalists, pop-wise. Go on, try record yourself singing "Freedom" and see if can come anywhere NEAR Michael's expressiveness and use of range. I double-dare ya.
Then you get the odd freaks of nature like John Mayer (or Gary Moore), who can combine singing, song-writing and flat-out great playing into some incredibly musical but lyrically moving numbers, and those are my favourite artists to listen to. Somehow I never get tired of their best material, and upon repeated listenings new aspects of craft and beauty come into relief.
Sorry, text-wall-tangent there. ?
TL;DR version:
Songs are cool. Write more songs!
