Members rasputin1963 Posted October 3, 2008 Members Share Posted October 3, 2008 I'm a big fan of the lyric-writing teacher, Sheila Davis. She says that two pitfalls lyric-writers can fall into... which can ultimately be damaging to a whole career... are these: Writing the lyric which casts the singer in an unfavorable light (ie., paints him as a murderer*, cad, loser, doormat, shlimazel, sad-sack, victim, etc.), which portray the singer as unable to make things better for himself... and to keep receiving abuse (of various kinds) Writing the despondent lyric which is hopeless; ie., which does not allow even a ray of hope that things might get better. So...? Is Sheila just "whistlin' Dixie" ? Is there any truth to her statement that the "hopeless" lyric or the "victim" singer are dangerous paradigms to publish to the public? I can't help but think of records like: "At Seventeen" by Janis Ian *"Indiana Wants Me" by R. Dean Taylor "Alone Again, Naturally" by Gilbert O'Sullivan "Emma" by Hot Chocolate (never has a finer, hotter-sounding outfit been stopped dead in its tracks by one song) "Fast Car" by Tracey Chapman "Leave Me Alone" by Helen Reddy "Born A Woman" by Sandy Posey (maybe the Ultimate "Victim" song... give it a listen below) "I'll Never Fall In Love Again" by Dionne Warwick (did not end her career... but dramatically killed it for about 4-5 years) "Dumb Head" by Ginny Arnell "It Never Rains In Southern California" by Albert Hammond "Stand By Your Man" by Tammy Wynette "Hurt" by Timi Yuro "Ghetto Child" by The Spinners "Have You Seen Her?" by The Chi-Lites "Sylvia's Mother" by Dr. Hook *"The Night The Lights Went Down In Georgia" by Vicki Lawrence "Where Do You Go To, My Lovely?" by Peter Sarstedt "Ode To Billie Joe" by Bobbie Gentry "They're Coming To Take Me Away" by Napoleon IV "The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine (Anymore)" by The Walker Brothers "Honey" by Bobby Goldsboro "I've Been Hurt" by Bill Deal & The Rhondells "Seasons in The Sun" by Terry Jacks "Rock And Roll Heaven" by The Righteous Brothers "Billy, Don't Be A Hero" by Bo Donaldson & The Heywoods "Dead Man's Curve" by Jan & Dean "Last Kiss" by J. Frank Wilson "Brandy (You're A Fine Girl) " by The Looking Glass "Patches" by Clarence Carter wtYdq62iiGM ....I'm sure you can think of others. You can probably think of some very important exceptions, too like, maybe: "I'm A Loser" by The Beatles "I'm Down" by The Beatles "Busted" by Ray Charles "King Of The Road" by Roger Miller "Can't Get Next To You" by The Temptations "Snowbird" by Anne Murray *"Delilah" by Tom Jones *"The Green, Green Grass Of Home" by Tom Jones * "Hey, Joe" by Jimi Hendrix "I Shot The Sheriff" by Bob Marley I am reminded of that hilarious moment in one of those Zuckerman AIRPLANE! movies: A female lounge singer (perhaps a wicked send-up of Ronstadt during her Torch ballad period) is singing atop a piano in a dark smoky hotel lounge. It's a blues song, with some usual blues lyrics, a-la: Lost my lover, lost my job, ain't got no money, the sun won't shine, all I get is rain, heartache, don't know what i'll do and so forth. At the end, this diva dramatically coda's her song with a downbeat: "So I guess I'm just.......................SCREW-W-WED......" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members blue2blue Posted October 3, 2008 Members Share Posted October 3, 2008 So... I guess according to her 3/4 of country music, 9/10ths of the blues, and just about all of Hank Williams except Jambalaya will never get anywhere with folks? (I mean even Hank's funny songs were hopeless... "Kaw-Liga," for instance... the timeless, unending heartbreak of a wooden Indian... hopeless.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members rasputin1963 Posted October 3, 2008 Author Members Share Posted October 3, 2008 So... I guess according to her 3/4 of country music, 9/10ths of the blues, and just about all of Hank Williams except Jambalaya will never get anywhere with folks?(I mean even Hank's funny songs were hopeless... "Kaw-Liga," for instance... the timeless, unending heartbreak of a wooden Indian... hopeless.) I'm also thinking of Hank's "My Son Calls Another Man Daddy" Ouch. Is that not the ultimate heartbreaker of an "I'm screwed" lyric? I think Sheila Davis's implication was that these songs can indeed be massive hits-- as were each of the songs I listed above, and most of them here are truly majestic in their own way, even that whopper, "Born A Woman"... but they can possibly taint or slow down a career because they, in effect, don't leave the singer "any place to go" so to speak... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Billster Posted October 3, 2008 Members Share Posted October 3, 2008 "Loser" by Beck? Didn't seem to hold him back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members veracohr Posted October 3, 2008 Members Share Posted October 3, 2008 "Creep" by Radiohead certainly didn't do them any harm. I'm a creepI'm a weirdoWhat the hell am I doing here?I don't belong here Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members saktr-iyko Posted October 3, 2008 Members Share Posted October 3, 2008 L6RML0YHOm8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Picker Posted October 3, 2008 Members Share Posted October 3, 2008 How about. B.B. King, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Ernest Buckley Posted October 4, 2008 Members Share Posted October 4, 2008 I read one of Davis` books, not crazy about it. Cash sang so many songs about being a murderer... didn`t hurt him. There is no hit formula to writing lyrics... as a matter of fact, I`m not sure your average music listener actually cares, as long as it has a beat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Cry Logic Posted October 4, 2008 Members Share Posted October 4, 2008 Times've changed.Sheila's ideas may be a little outdated now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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