Friday Influences Thread 02.26.10

[Stackabones]

What has influenced you as a songwriter in the past ... or in the past week?

 

*

 

I'm always on the lookout for songs without choruses or other gimmicks. While listening through some TVZ this week, I added this one to the list.

 

[YOUTUBE]zav3-U5uNf8[/YOUTUBE]

 

 

Rake

Townes Van Zandt

 

Well, I used to wake

and run with the moon

I lived like a rake and a young man

I covered my lovers

with flowers and wounds

my laughter the devil would frighten.

 

The sun, she would come

and beat me back down

but every cruel day had its nightfall

I'd welcome the stars

with wine and guitars

full of fire and forgetful

 

My body was sharp

the dark air clean

and outrage my joyful companion

whisperin' women

how sweet did they seem

kneelin' for me to command them

 

And time was like water

but I was the sea

I wouldn't have noticed it passing

except for the turnin'

of night into day

and turnin' of day into cursin'

 

You look at me now

and don't think I don't know

what all your eyes are a sayin'

Does he want us to believe

these ravings and lies

they're just tricks that his brain's been a playin'?

 

A lover of women

he can't hardly stand

he trembles he's bent and he's broken

I've fallen it's true

but I say unto you

hold your tongues until after I've spoken

 

I was takin' my pride

in the pleasures I'd known

I laughed and said I'd be forgiven

but my laughter turned 'round

eyes blazin' and said my

friend, we're holding a wedding

 

I buried my face

but it spoke once again

night to the day we're a bindin'

and now the dark air

is like fire on my skin

and even the moonlight is blinding

[Lee Knight]

Wow. Great stuff...

 

Well, I used to wake

and run with the moon

I lived like a rake and a young man

I covered my lovers

with flowers and wounds

my laughter the devil would frighten.

 

 

So I've been racking my brain all morning wondering what it has been that's been driving me this week. I love Friday mornings cause I get to think such thoughts and share them with the air and my internet friends on this thread. I have been driven. Something from my past. A certain... flow, emotion and feel.

 

What has been driving me? What...

 

Shel Silverstein.

 

We all know the silly Boy Named Sue by Johnny Cash. Shel Silverstein. Cover of the Rolling Stone? Silvia's Mother? The Unicorn!!!!! One's on the Way for Loretta Lynn...

 

...but what really got me in the gut was his series of children's books. My 13 year old. It's hard to believe she was an infant once. And on that very first day of her life she was read to. My favorite thing to do. Read her Shel. Shel never let up first place for Seuss or any other contender. Shel had depth. Humor. Sadness. Irreverence. Respect. Lack of pretension. Insight. Naughtiness. Hey, he wrote for Playboy for God sakes. And children's books? A dichotomy to some. But really, just human. Shel was both hers and my favorite. She is now an avid reader. I think both Shel and I had something to do with that.

 

Perhaps his influence can be seen on me best in my The World's Tallest Midget. Though everything I do, I try to harness some of his direct, no BS approach to truth.

 

 

The Little Boy and the Old Man by Shel Silverstein

 

Said the little boy, "Sometimes I drop my spoon."

Said the old man, "I do that too."

The little boy whispered, "I wet my pants."

"I do that too," laughed the little old man.

Said the little boy, "I often cry."

The old man nodded, "So do I."

"But worst of all," said the boy, "it seems

Grown-ups don't pay attention to me."

And he felt the warmth of a wrinkled old hand.

"I know what you mean," said the little old man.

 

 

Cloony The Clown by Shel Silverstein

 

I'll tell you the story of Cloony the Clown

Who worked in a circus that came through town.

His shoes were too big and his hat was too small,

But he just wasn't, just wasn't funny at all.

He had a trombone to play loud silly tunes,

He had a green dog and a thousand balloons.

He was floppy and sloppy and skinny and tall,

But he just wasn't, just wasn't funny at all.

And every time he did a trick,

Everyone felt a little sick.

And every time he told a joke,

Folks sighed as if their hearts were broke.

And every time he lost a shoe,

Everyone looked awfully blue.

And every time he stood on his head,

Everyone screamed, "Go back to bed!"

And every time he made a leap,

Everybody fell asleep.

And every time he ate his tie,

Everyone began to cry.

And Cloony could not make any money

Simply because he was not funny.

One day he said, "I'll tell this town

How it feels to be an unfunny clown."

And he told them all why he looked so sad,

And he told them all why he felt so bad.

He told of Pain and Rain and Cold,

He told of Darkness in his soul,

And after he finished his tale of woe,

Did everyone cry? Oh no, no, no,

They laughed until they shook the trees

With "Hah-Hah-Hahs" and "Hee-Hee-Hees."

They laughed with howls and yowls and shrieks,

They laughed all day, they laughed all week,

They laughed until they had a fit,

They laughed until their jackets split.

The laughter spread for miles around

To every city, every town,

Over mountains, 'cross the sea,

From Saint Tropez to Mun San Nee.

And soon the whole world rang with laughter,

Lasting till forever after,

While Cloony stood in the circus tent,

With his head drooped low and his shoulders bent.

And he said,"THAT IS NOT WHAT I MEANT -

I'M FUNNY JUST BY ACCIDENT."

And while the world laughed outside.

Cloony the Clown sat down and cried.

[MDR]

I've long been a fan of Ian Tyson. A recurring theme in his writing is the loneliness of rural life; his best-known song "Four Strong Winds" touches on this.

 

A lesser-known song from the mid-1980s is "Irving Berlin is 100 Years old Today". In it Tyson deals with several subjects: training young horses, prairie drought, marriage breakup, and 100th birthdays. He does this with a remarkable economy of words, in three short verses and a bridge. The topics are mixed together in a way that should be confusing, but isn't. For example, the first verse:

 

I started those fillies in the pen this morning; the buckskin and the bay

Before the wind started blowing too hard in the middle part of the day

The driest spring in 91 years; the radio played on

Saying "Irving Berlin is 100 years old today"

The wind's gone and blown my woman away

 

and the bridge:

 

Good gawd almighty, is it ever gonna rain?

Are you ever coming home?

I wonder if old Irving ever wrote a song

About the blown-out country, marriage gone wrong

And a cowboy on the telephone

[eeglug]

This is my controversial pick; it would be hard to find a more controversial one. For those who don't know any better, this is an actual song and not atonal screaming/squealing. That doesn't mean you'll like it. FWIW, I listen to lots of music that's harder on my ears than this.

 

[YOUTUBE]0VRHmuFVdUQ[/YOUTUBE]

 

I like the groove of this tune. It's hard to know who or what it might be about, given the title and the artist singing it. Some of the confessional admissions she makes in her lyrics (not as apparent in this song) can be painfully/viscerally honest (embarrassing even) in a way that's rare among songwriters. If there's anything I don't like about her songs it's that she needs to vary her harmonic structures a little - she really likes minor chord progressions.

[rhino55]

 

What has been driving me? What... Shel Silverstein. We all know the silly Boy Named Sue by Johnny Cash. Shel Silverstein. Cover of the Rolling Stone? Silvia's Mother? The Unicorn!!!!! One's on the Way for Loretta Lynn... ...but what really got me in the gut was his series of children's books. My 13 year old. It's hard to believe she was an infant once. And on that very first day of her life she was read to. My favorite thing to do. Read her Shel. Shel never let up first place for Seuss or any other contender. Shel had depth. Humor. Sadness. Irreverence. Respect. Lack of pretension. Insight. Naughtiness. Hey, he wrote for Playboy for God sakes. And children's books? A dichotomy to some. But really, just human. Shel was both hers and my favorite. She is now an avid reader. I think both Shel and I had something to do with that.

 

 

My wife is so cool, she got a copy of Where the Side Walk Ends for my little girl and we all love it. We've made it a point to give it to other kids as bday gifts and I'm amazed at how many parents dont seem to get it.

[ido1957]

I've been obsessing with the topic of obsession. There's a few tunes out there that already use this as their title so I'm trying to use it in a new and novel way.

[Mark Blackburn]

It's a cold and overcast Friday, here in the "world's coldest major city" (Winnipeg Canada) and I just had to say thanks to Lee Knight, for those Shel Silverstein 'poems.'

 

Last weekend, my 13-year-old grandson Thomas was playing his new Fender "Strat" (a gift from his "Grumpa" at Christmas) when I happened to mention "A Boy Named Sue."

 

"Oh I know that song," said Thomas.

 

"It was written," I said, "by a man named Shel Silverstein."

 

"Oh yes," said Thomas. "I know that too. He wrote some of our favorite 'kids books'."

 

To answer Stackabones question: There

[Stackabones]

 

I've been obsessing with the topic of obsession. There's a few tunes out there that already use this as their title so I'm trying to use it in a new and novel way.

 

 

I think the Pixies' Cactus is about obsession. And other things, too.

 

[YOUTUBE]dSu7xp0djEw[/YOUTUBE]

 

Sitting here wishing on a cement floor

Just wishing that I had just something you wore

 

I put it on when I grow lonely

Will you take off your dress and send it to me?

[Chicken Monkey]

Check out the Bobby Bare album, Lullabies, Legends, and Lies--it's all Silverstein songs. I play "The Mermaid" and "$100,000 in Pennies" (which is an outtake, I guess), and "The Winner" is a classic, as well.

[light_without_heat]

For me, I've always been drawn to more fusion-y pop artists. Annuals are a big one for me. I love Pinback and their excellent sense of the mid-tempo groove. More recently, I've discovered Gavin Castleton and Jesca Hoop.

 

Jesca Hoop

4m3OH_fXApA

 

 

Gavin Castleton

[YOUTUBE]rtMHLwI3Cm8[/YOUTUBE]

 

As far as lyrical inspiration, there was this episode of Weeds where one of the sons gets shot and doesn't take pain killers because the pain washes everything else away. I thought that would be good for a meditation on pain.

[Dingoist]

Mark B.'s post reminded me about a conversation I had this past week --- I met up some old buddies (also amateur musicians) and sparked up about favorites lines...

 

This song, Night Comes On, by L. Cohen probably has of my favourite quotes of all time, and for me is has those the lyrics that goes straight to the heart and haunts you forever.

 

 

[YOUTUBE]Jeh9FXFZ66I[/YOUTUBE]

 

 

Now here's my favorite bit, it's taken from the last verse:

 

I'll go down to Bill's Bar

I can make it that far

Yes, and here's to the few

Who forgive what you do

And the fewer who don't even care

 

 

Yes, here's to the few... and the fewer. That part just gets me. It does speak to my psyche, one of my big weaknesses, because I know I'm too self-damming and I wish I could forgive myself / care less more often.

[Etienne Rambert]

I love this song so much. And I can do a passable honky-tonk, Mickey Gilley imitation singing & playing piano on it.

I don't think Gilley or his cousin Jerry Lee Lewis ever recorded this. T'is a pity too.

 

68GhcnY4iJk

[rsadasiv]

The modern rock/morning zoo station that the kids like to listen to on the way to school was playing this the other morning (which is a noteworthy event in and of itself). While it was playing, I was suddenly realized who LeonardScaper has always reminded me of:

 

 

Tom Waits, "The Day After Tomorrow"

 

http://vimeo.com/5532025

[rsadasiv]

I've followed Paul Weller for a long time, but had bypassed the Style Council material. A co-worker told me that I needed to revisit that period, and he was right. I respect Paul Weller's songwriting, his musicianship, and his taste - the fact that he continues to try different things and record compelling material well into his fifties is a great inspiration to me.

 

Down In The Tube Station At Midnight

[YOUTUBE]FL_P4jnQs3M[/YOUTUBE]

 

My Ever Changing Moods

[YOUTUBE]QzuQreNPxpI[/YOUTUBE]

 

You Do Something To Me

[YOUTUBE]F3h0T7kvfgs[/YOUTUBE]

[Jersey Jack]

I've been bubbling over the soundtrack to Crazy Heart--especially The Weary Kind, performed by Ryan Bingham and written by Bingham and T Bone Burnett.

 

[YOUTUBE]="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zelvaxvTaUk&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0&border=1">[/YOUTUBE]

[Bright_Midnight]

im having a big interpol fascination right now, their lyrics are just brilliant, music is beautiful in itself, just so inspiring to me.

 

Stella Was a Diver and She Was Always Down

 

 

 

When she walks down the street,

She knows there's people watching.

The building fronts are just fronts

To hide the people watching her

 

But she once fell through the street

Down a manhole in that bad way

The underground drip

Was just like her scuba days

 

Days

Daze

Days

Daze

 

She was all right because the sea was so airtight, she broke away

She is all right but she can't come out tonight, she broke away

She was all right, yeah the sea was so tight, air tight

She broke away, broke away

 

At the bottom of the ocean she dwells

At the bottom of the ocean she dwells

From crevices caressed by fingers

And fat blue serpent swells

Stella, Stella, Stella, Stella I love you

 

[Chorus]

 

Well, she was my catatonic sex toy, love-joy diver

She went down down down there into the sea,

Yeah she went down down down there, down there for me, right on

 

So good, oh yeah, right on

 

(There's something that's invisible,

There's some things you can't hide,

Try detect you when I'm sleeping,

In a wave you say goodbye...)