LCK wrote:
Lee Knight wrote: a preference. My preference. There are many, many examples of whack prosody in great songs..Such as?
Forget Gershwin and Porter and Mercer. (Ira actually breaks his own rule once in a while.)
Let's look at the Beatles, Dylan, Joni Mitchell, James Taylor.
There is a young cow-boy who lives on the range.
His horse and his cat-tle are his on-ly com-pan-ions.
He works in the sad-dle and he sleeps in the can-yons,
waiting for sum-mer his pas-tures to change...
The words fit the melody perfectly. There is something very sweet and satisfying about how those cadences fit the finger-picked guitar and the tune, as if they're all a part of one big apple pie. It's a pleasure to listen to and sing along.
Now take another listen to: "We took a trip to the coun-try..." It's odd, it's jarring, it introduces an element of rhythmic dissonance where it's not applicable. It takes you out of the moment. (I agree that sometimes a bit of dissonance is a good thing, as long as it's intentional.)
So while this guy has some enviable chops as a songwriter, he's still got a lot to learn.
Hey! I don't disagree with you! I'm just sayin' I hate slapping. And Chuck Rainy is an awesome bass player. And he slaps all the time. In other words, I'm willing to overlook his lapse in taste. 
Or... of course lyric prosody is HUGE. But it is not the only tool in the chest. I'm not suggesting this guy knows that, but he sure seems to know a lot of things I wish I did.
Lee Knight wrote:
I'm just sayin' I hate slapping. And Chuck Rainy is an awesome bass player. And he slaps all the time. In other words, I'm willing to overlook his lapse in taste.
It's not simply a lapse in taste. It's much more than that. As I said before it's like having a tin ear.
And I agree with you about the neck-hair guy's other skills.
Meanwhile, back to the Friday Influences Thread:
Here's a favorite little Mercer song of mine, music by Trummy Young (trombone) and Jimmy Mundy (sax).
LCK wrote:
bee3 wrote:I just listened again... the coun-tree still doesn't really bother me.
It's like knowing the difference between an upbeat and a downbeat.
Not everyone knows that automatically.
I guess the way I listen to music differs from the way you do. (Not that there's anything wrong with that). I tend to focus more on melody and the instrumentation. You... on the lyrics and prosody.
This is reflected in my songwriting and a prime example of why my lyric writing is probably my weakest point.
bee3 wrote:I guess the way I listen to music differs from the way you do. (Not that there's anything wrong with that). I tend to focus more on melody and the instrumentation. You... on the lyrics and prosody. This is reflected in my songwriting and a prime example of why my lyric writing is probably my weakest point.
I wouldn't say that. You may not have as much confidence in your lyric-writing as you do in your musical abilities, but I think you're very good at it. And as we all know by now, no one turns a more critical eye on lyrics than I do, so that's high praise.
Whenever I think I might have a problem with prosody I say the lyric out loud, as if having a conversation with someone. Try it! Try saying, "We took a trip to the coun-tree..." then say "We took a trip to the coun-tree..."
Which sounds more natural?
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