Members LCK Posted December 25, 2015 Members Share Posted December 25, 2015 Three of my biggest songwriting influences are Shakespeare, Twain and Mercer. They were all consummate wordsmiths. But while Shakespeare's plays are peppered with songs -- especially the comedies -- like many of his plays they were based on pre-existing works, yet his vocabulary, his understanding and use of language, are still unparallelled. And of course Mark Twain was a novelist and, in a certain way, the first stand-up comic. He also had an astonishingly rich vocabulary. Still, of the three only Mercer was a songwriter. So why include Twain and Shakespeare? (And why not Bob Dylan or Tom Waits? Talk about wordsmiths!)* I think the thing I admire most about Mercer is his ability to write lyrics that sound simple but show a stunning level of craftsmanship. "I Thought About You," music by Jimmy Van Heusen. "Emily," music by Johnny Mandel. "Drinking Again," music by Doris Tauber. *(Good question...) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members blue2blue Posted December 26, 2015 Members Share Posted December 26, 2015 A holiday song... influenced by one of my influences... heavily influenced by one of my influences... Santa Sabbath doing the title song from their eponymous album... see if you can spot the influence... And a nod to multi-culturalism... "Electric Hanukkah" And after a couple of those, you might be ready for a full album of this... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members guitarville Posted December 26, 2015 Members Share Posted December 26, 2015 Three of my biggest songwriting influences are Shakespeare, Twain and Mercer. They were all consummate wordsmiths. But while Shakespeare's plays are peppered with songs -- especially the comedies -- like many of his plays they were based on pre-existing works, yet his vocabulary, his understanding and use of language, are still unparallelled. And of course Mark Twain was a novelist and, in a certain way, the first stand-up comic. He also had an astonishingly rich vocabulary. Still, of the three only Mercer was a songwriter. So why include Twain and Shakespeare? (And why not Bob Dylan or Tom Waits? Talk about wordsmiths!)* I think the thing I admire most about Mercer is his ability to write lyrics that sound simple but show a stunning level of craftsmanship. "I Thought About You," music by Jimmy Van Heusen. "Emily," music by Johnny Mandel. "Drinking Again," music by Doris Tauber. *(Good question...) Just using the pen instead of the brush. Such artistic flare with words. So dang "great"! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members rhino55 Posted December 28, 2015 Members Share Posted December 28, 2015 Hope everyone is having a good holiday season. Since it's been in the 80s down here, I've been walking around singing White Christmas. I worked up a version of it for the annual Christmas Show we do in support of the Christmas album we put out a few years ago. I don't really have a video to reference for it. The bass player told me they were used to jazzier approach with more chord changes. I sort of just made it work for me. Finger picked with a fiddle, upright bass, and brushes on a snare, somewhere between John Prine and Bob Wills. I ended up getting a lot of compliments on the arrangement, which was nice. If we do another Christmas album this might have to go on it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members LCK Posted December 28, 2015 Author Members Share Posted December 28, 2015 That sounds pretty cool! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members LCK Posted December 30, 2015 Author Members Share Posted December 30, 2015 Rhiannon Giddens, T-Bone Burnett, et al, The New Basement Tapes. "Lost on the River," Bob Dylan. [video=youtube;cbnMHg_N-lQ] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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