In the compendium post marking Bob Dylan’s 70th birthday, I claimed that Dylan is a true artist amongst mere approximations; a man pulling stuff out of the ether via a channel that only he can tune in to.
But just as lesser footballers than Messi can sometimes score wonder-goals or minor poets can sometimes pull off an anthologiser, so more modest musical talents than Dylan will occasionally create something remarkable. Here are four examples, none obscure or difficult, of those sui generis conversation-halters and consciousness-snaggers, through which pop music very occasionally attains the level of true art.
Gordon Lightfoot has been described as ‘Canada’s greatest songwriter’ for whatever that’s worth, though none of his songs has ever grabbed me save this one. But then who couldn’t be grabbed by If You Could Read my Mind. What on earth is it all about?
On the face of it, this Talking Heads classic is another anti-consumerist/suburban modern-life-is-rubbish thing, but what I like about Once in a Lifetime is that the message isn’t quite that obvious. “There is water underground,” apparently; and for some reason I’ve always thought “Time isn’t holding us, time isn’t after us” is beautiful and sad. The famous video, featuring David Byrne cavorting epileptically in his oversized suit, is now an exhibit at the New York Museum of Modern Art.
The best-known but nonetheless strangest song on Bruce Springsteen’s strangest album, the stipped-bare spree killer-haunted Nebraska, Atlantic City begins with the line: “Well they blew up the chicken man in Philly last night.” The weird echo effect, the unexpected pause towards the end, “everything dies”… the Boss was in a very different place when this one came to him…
Finally, the kooky (awful word, but here unavoidable) harpist elf Joanna Newsom. Now here is a woman who really does do her own thing, bringing us unearthly messages from the other side, to the rest of us who are stuck here on This Side of the Blue…
Agree with you Brit – none of Lightfoot’s songs has really pulled my cord, including this one. And as for Canada’s greatest songwriter, a big call when Cohen L, Mitchell J, Young N and the Mcgarrigle/Wainwright clan are still above ground – and his Bobness only missed it by 100 miles.
But thank you so much for little Miss Kooky – heard her recently in some over produced gloop by Van Dyke Parks but, for me, she totally bewitches here, and represents a tradition that is dead here in Blighty, namely music born out of actually playing an instrument and singing, at home, perhaps around an upright piano with your family, for pleasure. It still exists in America, and that is why they produce musicians like Ms Newsom, and we produce…Peter Andre.
I don’t think we can be blamed for Peter Andre.
I love Lightfoot’s music. Brit’s choice is a long-time personal favourite. I knocked seven bells out of the vinyl version of ‘Gord’s Gold’; thank goodness for the later release of the CD. The greatest Canadian songwriter? I’m not sure about that – the competition is strong: listen to KD Lang’s ‘Hymns of the 49th Parallel’, an album that pays homage to Canadian songwriters – wonderful.
I’m sure Mahlerman’s belief that the tradition of singing at home to one’s own accompaniment is pretty much dead in Britain, but that doesn’t mean that such singers are non-existent. There is a pool of tremendous talent out there. These girls are special:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azepBhlqmlU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNxar07_9YA
Mahlerman beat me to it on Canadian songwriters: that country, arguably not so remarkably distinguished in other fields of artistic endeavour, seems to be a veritable John Innes No. 1 for songwriters. Heck, Hendrix also missed it by about the same amount. The Lightfoot song is still very good though – thanks for the reminder.
Agree about k d laing’s Hymns – a great CD.
Canada’s best songwriter (if a band can be called a songwriter) by a couple furlongs is Bare Naked Ladies.
Listen to, or just read the lyrics of, War on Drugs, Helicopters, Bank Job, or Tonight’s the Night I Fell Asleep at the Wheel.
IMHO, they are the best lyricists ever, particularly in the Arch, Dark, Sarcastic and Satirical divisions.