A bit of a slow waking process this morning, I'm barely one cup in and there are just some mornings when I like it that way - but not for long. More than I need coffee on a morning like this, I need music. Jams. Tunes. Too many directions to head in, so many songs, so little time. My head feels like a struggling comic book super hero....must..............yawn........wake..up.....need......music.................must.....have....music......coffee.....must.....get......coffee.
Yeah, it's like that some mornings. My collection isn't big enough some days. Then there are days when it's too much - but those moments are rare, very rare. Those moments never last long, thank God. Today I need words, meaningful lyrics that fall a bit short of Dylan - who pretty much stands alone in my opinion, the master of lyrics that are often unexplainable, unpredictable. Lyrics are inconsequential to many people, but not to me. Their importance may be less at times, and by that I mean they may not move me as much as the musical arrangement. Most times though, I like the entire package that is the song.
I'm a bit of a musical snob - I'll admit it, but I'm also very open-minded about my musical tastes and I'm always on the hunt for new music, different music by different artists - and I can't for the life of me, see an end in sight. I couldn't stop if I wanted to - I'd be miserable without the wide variety of music by different artists that I enjoy, and that's a list that is perpetually growing. Maybe it sounds a bit melodramatic, but music - i.e., good songs, are the air my creative soul needs to breathe.
Lyrics are not inconsequential, and it bugs me when I'm listening to a song that is new to me and I know the next line before the singer even gets to it. Small wonder why Bob Dylan is my favorite writer when it comes to lyrics. You almost never see it coming, and usually, you don't know why. Depth, humor - dig:
The pawnbroker roared
Also, so, so did the landlord
But one example. You don't see it coming - if you're thinking about a pawnbroker, chances are you either are going to see one, or you are one. If you're going to see one, you're short on cash - so much so that you're willing to screw your own self out of something, or at least take that chance. If you are one, you're gonna screw someone and convince yourself that you're actually doing them a favor - of sorts.
What about the landlord? Nothing but a man with a family that need fed, dude who own the shingles, that lie above yo' head. Makes you think, at least it ought to - if you're a thinker that is, and if you're not.....well, you probably don't listen to Bob Dylan, and maybe you shouldn't. There's a flip side to the lyrical depth/genius that is Bob Dylan. It's not the end of the world, and sometimes it's excusable, maybe even tolerable - but not much, to me, particularly when it's really....bad.
There's this God awful, semi-classic rock anthem that plays on a classic rock station every Friday around 5 o'clock - the universal quitting time for many. Most of my working life has not, by the way, been in that group, but never mind that. In this tune, there is some of the most God-awful lyric writing I've ever heard, one line in particular stands out as painfully lame - so much so that I will only say that it has the following words/names rhyming: Donna & wanna. Hate that line. The delivery of it sounds moronic and completely white, completely lame. I suppose it's put a decent buck in the pocket of the dude who wrote it though. I don't even know who this song is by, nor do I know the title. I do know that if I want to know either, all I need to do is tune in around 4:15 on any Friday afternoon - but I practically never listen to classic rock radio - not because the music is bad, but more because I don't like knowing what's coming at me. I'd rather pick something and let it flow. I like songs, lots and lots of songs. If I buy an album, and by album, I mean a collection of songs by a given artist - the term being a throwback to the days when I actually bought records on vinyl, I want to like more than the hit single. Sometimes what I like about songs are the lyrics - sometimes a lot. One song out of two ain't bad, one song out of fifteen? Sucks ass if you ask me.
This morning, for reasons mostly unknown, I wanted to hear Ambrosia's Nice, Nice, Very Nice. That's not a mood that comes around very often, but seriously, what's not to like about the fact that the lyrics were written by Kurt Vonnegut Jr.? I've always thought that was kinda cool - no, actually very cool. Like the movie where Rodney Dangerfield paid Vonnegut to show up at his son's dorm to tutor him. Pretty fucking cool. So lyrics are almost never inconsequential, at least to thinkers, I think.
Who needs a rhyming dictionary with Dylan? I mean, I have at least two, both of them were given to me by women I dated - both said pretty much the same thing to me when they presented me with them - I'm paraphrasing here: I thought you could use this, but then I realized that you don't really need something like this, but I thought it would be funny just for you to have it.
I suppose that's true - I don't really need a rhyming dictionary, at least not when I'm on, and by on, I mean not struggling with maintaining any sense of poetic/phonetic meter, rhythm or rhyme. Sometimes when that happens, it's enough for me to see the spine of a rhyming dictionary on my bookshelf and the block that threatened to get the best of me fades away. I'd bet money on the fact that Bob Dylan doesn't have a rhyming dictionary though. Dig:
Well that big dumb blonde
with her wheel in the gorge
and Turtle, that friend of theirs
with his checks all forged
I mean, seriously - who does that? Dylan, that's who. Both of these Dylan tune examples I'm citing here were just random pages from the book of his lyrics (http://www.amazon.com/Bob-Dylan-Lyrics-1962-2001/dp/0743228278/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1374948125&sr=8-1&keywords=bob+dylan+lyrics+1962-2001) that I opened up and spent about a second to grab two examples from. This book, is in hard cover - as it should be, because while there are many artists who wrote great lyrics and sang them with much more prowess, Dylan lyrics are biblical/epic in proportion because they make me think. Lyrics are seldom inconsequential for this music snob, even if I'm not exactly aware of them, and I feel that way mainly because of Bob Dylan. I can't say that he has a great singing voice, I can't say that he's my favorite artist - unless of course, we're talking about the lyrics he writes. To me, he's prolific - great songs, great lyrics, because even when I've heard him butchering his own material, his lyrics make me think - and for a multitude of reasons. Inconsequential? Nope. Hell nope.
2 comments:
The font you are using is very difficult to read. Courier or Courier New might be more legible.
This exact font won't be the one I end up with - it's been a test merely because it's the closest to the exact one I will end up using for the body of my content. The new blog will look like a comic book, less panels most of the time, but they'll be there on occasion. The exact font I'll be using will look more precise/disciplined than this one - which actually looks a bit like my own handwriting. Any of the Courier fonts are definitely a bit easier to read than this exact one, but they won't work for the new layout. I've had some very positive feedback on the prototype pages I've done, in the meanwhile, these are here to keep me writing.
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