"Ebony & Ivory" bass?

wayang · Post by **wayang** » Thu Apr 14, 2005 6:31 am

Well, I thought I had vented it all, but turns out I've got just a bit more...

In the movie "The Year of Living Dangerously", there's a scene in which Mel Gibson's 'native' driver asks Mel, "Am I a stupid man?" "No," answers Mel, "you're not a stupid man." "Then how is it," asks the driver, "that stupid men in your country have millions and I have nothing?"

Of course this has as much to do with what's wrong in Indonesia as with what's wrong over here, but his question is about the very stuff we're talking about...

Ok, consider this my 'Living Will'...if I ever write anything as bad as 'Silly Love Songs', I want my feeding tube yanked out immediately...and my subsequent millions to go to charity.

roadrunners · Post by **roadrunners** » Thu Apr 14, 2005 6:36 am

Man, we ain't ever gonna get this one resolved...it's like discussing evolution with someone who keeps saying, "Yeah, but I still say the world's 6,000 years old."

The quote above is odd, because their is scientific fact that the world is well more then that......there is no scientific fact that says "silly love songs is a poorly written song"

Its a matter of oppinion. If someday, the world's nationally recognized greatest songwriter tells me "alex, silly loves songs is poorly written" then I will agree......

wayang · Post by **wayang** » Thu Apr 14, 2005 6:40 am

Yeah, Britney's hot...so's Chernobyl. Big deal. She'd better 'get it while she can', as Sir Paul once wrote back when he was using his whole brain. I can't picture anyone wanting to see her at the Super Bowl when she gets to be 'Macca's' age...

You young fellers will see I'm right 'as time goes by'...

wayang · Post by **wayang** » Thu Apr 14, 2005 6:46 am

Alex, Silly Love Songs isn't poorly written...it's a well-written piece of dung...take it from me, the world's nationally recognized greatest sorehead.

(Darn it, I don't have one of those disarming smiley faces to plug in here...)

jingle_jangle · Post by **jingle_jangle** » Thu Apr 14, 2005 7:02 am

Take it from another curmudgeon (let's see Sir Pul find a rhyme with that word...), those smileys are an irritation of mine as well:

You know, they were consdired the ultimate in gauche, tacky schlock back 20 years ago. Then "emoticons" came into being, and...THEY'RE BAAAAACK!

So, Alex...it's down to listening to some "world's (inter)nationally recognized greatest songwriter" instead of your own ears? Commercial is the key word here. In order for something to succeed commercially, it has to please lots of different people with lots of different tastes. This just about excludes anything really unique, by definition. Again, I'll say it:

Popularity and quality are not interlinked in any way. If anything, it's an inverse ratio.

There is no science about songwriting, except in Nashville.

Formula songwriting abounds, and Sir Paul is a master of the hook. I have been humming / whistling "Uncle Albert" all morning now. (The notes to "Silly Love Songs" sound like a Gregorian chant by chipmunks on crank, if hummed or whistled.) But, again, lyrically is where this thread has been focusing.

You can compare Britney to Macca. They both have had a lot of hit songs. But I like Dane's Leo Sayers equation best. It makes me feel like dancin'. I want to dance the night away...

You don't have to be a songwriter to have an opinion about whether a song is well-written. We all have these opinions. They are worthless on the face of it, because in the end the majority will buy the lowest-common-denominator **** so that they have something to hum and whistle to get them through life without parole. That includes me, because a hummable tune has a way of insinuating itself into your subconscious, often whether you like it or not.

Try humming or whistling "Jingle Bells" at your office or place of business in June. After a couple of hours, you won't be the only one.

jingle_jangle · Post by **jingle_jangle** » Thu Apr 14, 2005 7:10 am

Oh, and Dane, the Kenny Rankin guy is now worth millions...(our partnership broke up in '81).

He made his money by brokering talent, which seemed to be his own special talent. That, and writing crooked royalty contracts.

wayang · Post by **wayang** » Thu Apr 14, 2005 7:20 am

Man, JJ, you are so right on about this...last week, our gamelan played yet another tsunami benefit. After an entire afternoon of gamelan, Sumatran folk songs, jazz fusion with an Indian vocalist singing 'carnatic' style, amazing tabla playing, etc., our group went to one of our members' house for our traditional post-gig meal together. Several of our players have small infants, and one of them was repeatedly enjoying a small plastic toy with a computer chip inside that played "Ta-ra-ra-Boom-de-ay" over and over and over...

After all the great music I heard that day, guess which tune I could NOT get rid of? This **** is like a virus...

"Ta-ra-ra-Boom-de-ay, they took my brain away,
while I was standing there, they made me unaware..."

wayang · Post by **wayang** » Thu Apr 14, 2005 7:30 am

Also, in 'MHO' (isn't that some kind of health plan?), the 'smiley face' is destined to replace the 'death's heads' (so revered by the 'old schoolers') on the lapels of modern day fascists in the kinder, gentler Reich...

"Ve haff vays of making you haff a nice day..."

jingle_jangle · Post by **jingle_jangle** » Thu Apr 14, 2005 7:43 am

Ref: also, Have a Nice Day segment of Nesmith's "Elephant Parts".

jingle_jangle · Post by **jingle_jangle** » Thu Apr 14, 2005 7:46 am

"Tarara boom de ay" is rumored to be just another silly love song.

I look around me and I see it isn't so. Oh no.

wayang · Post by **wayang** » Thu Apr 14, 2005 7:58 am

What's wrong with that? I need to know...

Right on about Nesmith, too...this ground's all been covered before, but it's not like it doesn't still need to be addressed...

Know why I don't feel the need to watch Fear Factor? 'Cause I saw The Magic Christian thirty years ago...

"To be..."
("I've seen it...)
"...or not to be..."
("Shakespeare, right?"

beefandbones · Post by **beefandbones** » Thu Apr 14, 2005 8:57 am

Well, I like Paul McCartney. I think he's an ace songwriter that lost his way when he lost his nerve. And I think that happened around 1985.

It's funny how people who claim to dislike Paul McCartney's craft can talk about it endlessly. Seems like some of you feel like he's let you down. But he's just makin' a living, like you or me, and he's doing quite a good job of it. He doesn't owe you anything, and you don't owe him anything. If you don't like his music, don't buy it.

In my opinion, Paul is fascinating. I don't like everything he's ever done, either, but some of it is really really amazing. It's like he just opened up his mind and let songs pop out - he didn't judge their merits (obviously) and just left that up to us. In that sense, Paul and his songwriting methodology much more similar to Syd Barrett than to John Lennon or... Leo Sayer.

jingle_jangle · Post by **jingle_jangle** » Thu Apr 14, 2005 9:27 am

I too find him to be fascinating, but from a different perspective.

And--make no mistake and give credit where it's due--he is an amazing bass player. He's IMO only second to Jamerson.

wayang · Post by **wayang** » Thu Apr 14, 2005 9:46 am

Yes, yes, I quite agree with all of that (except the Syd Barrett comparison)...and he is a fabulous bass player. If all we talked about was Phil Collins' drumming or George Benson's guitar playing, I wouldn't have a negative thing to say about them, either...but come on, now. After the Beatles, it's been more like Paul 'just opened up his pants...'
As for 'making a living like you and me', well I'm too bemused to deliver a critique on that hyperbole...and casting one's single puny vote in the marketplace doesn't do much to affect world events: I don't like Dubya's war, but I sure am stuck payin' for it...

But never let it be said that I can't say anything nice: Jamerson is nothing short of immortal.

wayang · Post by **wayang** » Thu Apr 14, 2005 9:49 am

Maybe I'm unamazed...