Members bigou Posted August 29, 2007 Members Posted August 29, 2007 I watch this DVD last night... My god:eek: Guy Clark what a songwiter. Townes Van Zandt is GOD (sorry Clapton:p). I discover Rodney Crowell to. Another great singer/songwriter.
Members denvertrakker Posted August 29, 2007 Members Posted August 29, 2007 If you enjoyed "Heartworn", check out "Be Here To Love Me", which concentrates on TVZ. Both are excellent. Van Zandt was a complex, frustrating person. His songs are incredible, but he seems to have followed a "who cares?" path through life. It's almost as if a mistake was made, putting this incredible gift in the mind of a no-count bum. Still, I guess that's happened many times before... Guy Clark, OTOH, is a stand-up guy who writes great little story/songs...and builds a pretty good guitar, too!
Members bigou Posted August 29, 2007 Author Members Posted August 29, 2007 If you enjoyed "Heartworn", check out "Be Here To Love Me", which concentrates on TVZ. Both are excellent. Van Zandt was a complex, frustrating person. His songs are incredible, but he seems to have followed a "who cares?" path through life. It's almost as if a mistake was made, putting this incredible gift in the mind of a no-count bum. Still, I guess that's happened many times before... I'm agree with your opinion about Townes but I think his song are never be the same if his personnality was different. He's torture by something... like his songs!! A lot of 70's artist follow the "who cares"... Stephen Stills came in mind. I just bought "Just roll the tape". It supposed to be "demos" that he record in 1968... I hope I can record "demos" like that!!!
Members recordingtrack1 Posted August 29, 2007 Members Posted August 29, 2007 Originally posted by denvertrakker:...Van Zandt was a complex, frustrating person. His songs are incredible, but he seems to have followed a "who cares?" path through life. It's almost as if a mistake was made, putting this incredible gift in the mind of a no-count bum. Still, I guess that's happened many times before... Best description of Van Zant I ever read. I actually met him and heard him play at a place called The Exit-Inn in Nashville in the late 70's. I must say that I was impressed with his lyrics. Past that, I'm not so sure. I was pretty much a kid, so what did I know. RT1
Members LiveMusic Posted August 29, 2007 Members Posted August 29, 2007 Heartword Highways, I was not aware of. The TVZ DVD "Be Here To Love Me," I have and it is excellent. By a review I read, seems that the clip of TVZ singing "Waitin' Around To Die" and his black friend cries is in both DVD's. Which is confusing. I hope there is not much redundancy, as I would like to own both. Whoever in this thread said that Guy Clark is an upstanding citizen or whatever, well, uh, he's a drunk, too. In fact, in "Be Here To Love Me," he is shown several times and each time, he is plastered. He could also be a mean sombitch. By upstanding, if you mean he didn't go off and live with hobo's and throw cash money away indiscriminantly like TVZ, okay. The TVZ dvd really got me, I hated to see it end. It was like experiencing the death of a close friend. I have been a longtime fan and wish I could have seen him live in one of those magical gigs he often nailed.
Members denvertrakker Posted August 30, 2007 Members Posted August 30, 2007 Heartword Highways, I was not aware of. The TVZ DVD "Be Here To Love Me," I have and it is excellent. By a review I read, seems that the clip of TVZ singing "Waitin' Around To Die" and his black friend cries is in both DVD's. Which is confusing. I hope there is not much redundancy, as I would like to own both.Whoever in this thread said that Guy Clark is an upstanding citizen or whatever, well, uh, he's a drunk, too. In fact, in "Be Here To Love Me," he is shown several times and each time, he is plastered. He could also be a mean sombitch. By upstanding, if you mean he didn't go off and live with hobo's and throw cash money away indiscriminantly like TVZ, okay.The TVZ dvd really got me, I hated to see it end. It was like experiencing the death of a close friend. I have been a longtime fan and wish I could have seen him live in one of those magical gigs he often nailed. Well... I never said Clark was "an upstanding citizen", I said he was a standup guy, and I, uh, stand by that. Heck, compared to Townes he's Mother Teresa. Anyway, there's not that much crossover between "Heartworn" and "Be Here", if only because the focus of "Heartworn" is not solely on TVZ, but quite a few people in the "outlaw" country movement back in the '70s. Also, if you're a TVZ fan, I highly recommend the DVD "A Private Concert - Houston 1988" - just him sitting on a couch, playing songs. A little strange, but invaluable, considering how little there is of him on video.
Members Etienne Rambert Posted August 30, 2007 Members Posted August 30, 2007 bigou: "A lot of 70's artist follow the "who cares"... Stephen Stills came in mind. " IMHO, TVZ and GC are writers. Stephen Stills & most others in music are songwriters. There is a huge difference. TVC and GC would have been writers if they'd never gone into music. Music is just the medium in which they write (or wrote). There are other born writers who just happen to use their gift to write songs. Prine is one. Leonard Cohen & Tom Waits are two others. That kind of gift is really rare. I really admire it.
Members Terry Allan Hall Posted August 30, 2007 Members Posted August 30, 2007 Coincidentally, I tried to watch "Heartworn Highways" just yesterday, after waiting for months for it to be available (from Blockbuster OnLine)...the DVD was defective, so I'm still waiting to see it!
Members LiveMusic Posted August 30, 2007 Members Posted August 30, 2007 bigou: IMHO, TVZ and GC are writers. Stephen Stills & most others in music are songwriters. There is a huge difference. TVC and GC would have been writers if they'd never gone into music. Music is just the medium in which they write (or wrote).There are other born writers who just happen to use their gift to write songs. Prine is one. Leonard Cohen & Tom Waits are two others. That kind of gift is really rare. I really admire it. How do you know that? Did they ever say so? Ever seen any of their prose? I can't see it would be a given. There is a huge difference between writing a lyric and prose. Apples and oranges. Similar, they're both fruit but very different. I would think any of those you mentioned could come up with interesting phrases, yes, but I'd think they'd need prodigious editing. I dunno, you may be right but it hit me as a stretch.
Members denvertrakker Posted August 30, 2007 Members Posted August 30, 2007 IMHO, TVZ and GC are writers. Stephen Stills & most others in music are songwriters. There is a huge difference. TVC and GC would have been writers if they'd never gone into music. Music is just the medium in which they write (or wrote).There are other born writers who just happen to use their gift to write songs. Prine is one. Leonard Cohen & Tom Waits are two others. That kind of gift is really rare. I really admire it. I agree 100%. I would add Jackson Browne and Joni Mitchell to that list...and Janis Ian, too. Come to think of it, David Wilcox' songs are like that too. In its way, "Covert War" is one of the most intense, revealing creations I've ever heard.
Members denvertrakker Posted August 30, 2007 Members Posted August 30, 2007 How do you know that? Did they ever say so? Ever seen any of their prose? I can't see it would be a given. There is a huge difference between writing a lyric and prose. Apples and oranges. Similar, they're both fruit but very different. I would think any of those you mentioned could come up with interesting phrases, yes, but I'd think they'd need prodigious editing.I dunno, you may be right but it hit me as a stretch. The test for me is if you remove the music from the lyrics and see what happens. A lot of great songs have lyrics that just sound goofy removed from their musical structure. True writing stands on its own, with or without the music. Yes, lyrics and prose are apples and oranges, but I think the true comparison is between lyrics and poetry. TVZ, above everyone else, wrote lyrics that are true poetry. I'm thinking "Tecumseh Valley" for a start...
Members bjorn-fjord Posted August 30, 2007 Members Posted August 30, 2007 Damn, what about Steve Earle? He was a disciple of Van Zandt and Clarke and IMO, he's the best writer of the bunch (on Heartworn Highways). Every album he has made since getting out of jail is a work of art.
Members bigou Posted August 30, 2007 Author Members Posted August 30, 2007 Damn, what about Steve Earle? He was a disciple of Van Zandt and Clarke and IMO, he's the best writer of the bunch (on Heartworn Highways). Every album he has made since getting out of jail is a work of art. I'm totally agree with your opinion of Steve Earle. I also like his "pre-jail" period too especially Guitar Town. For me it's one of the best "americana" album ever recorded. If someone want to know what "twang" means all you have to do is to give that person a copy of that record. Steve learn with the best and mix it with other influence like Dylan and the Beatles that's why he's so unique.
Members bjorn-fjord Posted August 30, 2007 Members Posted August 30, 2007 I'm totally agree with your opinion of Steve Earle. I also like his "pre-jail" period too especially Guitar Town. For me it's one of the best "americana" album ever recorded. If someone want to know what "twang" means all you have to do is to give that person a copy of that record. Steve learn with the best and mix it with other influence like Dylan and the Beatles that's why he's so unique. I love all of his albums. My problem with the early ones is the way they were recorded and mixed. The Nashville sound of the mid-eighties really irritates me. The acoustic guitars sound thin and "trebly".
Members Etienne Rambert Posted August 30, 2007 Members Posted August 30, 2007 livemusic: "How do you know that? Did they ever say so? Ever seen any of their prose? I can't see it would be a given. There is a huge difference between writing a lyric and prose. Apples and oranges." Some of the greatest writers who ever lived, didn't write prose. They wrote poetry and they wrote for stage. In the 20th Century, you had this young Spanish gentleman: (Federico Garc
Members LiveMusic Posted August 31, 2007 Members Posted August 31, 2007 Damn, what about Steve Earle? He was a disciple of Van Zandt and Clarke and IMO, he's the best writer of the bunch (on Heartworn Highways). Every album he has made since getting out of jail is a work of art. I"m a huge fan of Steve Earle. Since getting out of jail... to me, some of his best work was before that. Just fabulous stuff. He's one of those who I drool thinking of a new release coming out.
Members LiveMusic Posted August 31, 2007 Members Posted August 31, 2007 livemusic: Some of the greatest writers who ever lived, didn't write prose. Well, okay, but you didn't say POET, you said WRITER. I thought you meant writer, as in novels. To me another huge difference between a 'writer' and a poet.
Members denvertrakker Posted August 31, 2007 Members Posted August 31, 2007 Well, okay, but you didn't say POET, you said WRITER. I thought you meant writer, as in novels. To me another huge difference between a 'writer' and a poet. From Wikipedia: "A writer is anyone who creates a written work, although the word more usually designates those who write creatively or professionally, or those who have written in many different forms. The word is almost synonymous with author, although somebody who writes, say, a laundry list, could technically be called the writer of the list, but not an author. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images, whether producing fiction or non-fiction. A writer may compose in many different forms, including (but certainly not limited to) poetry, prose, or music. Accordingly, a writer in specialist mode may rank as a poet, novelist, composer, lyricist, playwright, mythographer, journalist, film scriptwriter, etc."
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