On Being a Singer
Feb. 13th, 2006 10:36 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
stoutfellow"Lodi", as I've mentioned, is one of my favorite CCR songs. It's a woeful tale of a singer who arrived in that town1 for a one-night singing gig, but who has met with misfortune:
Thinking about this song led me to the general topic of songs about being a singer, or more generally a performer. There've been quite a few; I suppose songwriters often face the temptation to write them - "Write what you know", as the adage goes. Doing so strikes me as a bit self-indulgent, but enough enjoyable songs of that ilk have been written that I really shouldn't complain.
Being of an ordinological bent, I find myself categorizing and organizing such songs. I will, in mercy, put the results under a cut.
Songs of this type can naturally be classified according to their attitude towards the life of a touring singer. At one pole, there are cheerful songs. Boston's "Rock and Roll Band" is exuberant and, perhaps, a bit naïve; the group is riding the crest of its first popularity, and has no particular thought for the future. The Mamas and the Papas' classic "Creeque Alley" is more reminiscent; the group's members have known lean times, but - like Boston - they're on the rise now, and see nothing but brightness ahead. My favorite in this group, though, is the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band's "Partners, Brothers and Friends"; they've been at it for twenty years, they've been up and down, and they'll happily keep at it as long as they can.
Moving a bit away from that end, we have Abba's "Super Trouper". The singer is not so enamored of her career, but the presence of her - friend? lover? - in the audience is enough to keep her on track. The basic tenor of the song is still positive.
There are two ways, as far as I can tell, of singing about the hardships of the entertainer's life. One way, which I don't much like, is exemplified by Neil Diamond's bathetic "I Am, I Said", although Gene Pitney's "Backstage" fits here too. It might be summarized as "Woe is me; I have these obvious external goods, but I'm lonely and homesick, boo hoo." My instant reaction is to tell the singer to suck it up; if you're not willing to sacrifice your fame and fortune for some other good, then don't whine at me about it. Geez. (The Pitney song, in particular, offends me; I usually like his voice, but in that song it comes out thin and shrill.)
Simon and Garfunkel's "Homeward Bound" belongs with "Lodi" in the last, and to my mind best, category. In these two songs, the singer has every right to be sad; his situation isn't bringing him any joy, and he's trapped, figuratively or literally. Where Neil Diamond complains to his chair, John Fogerty sings
1 I'm not sure which town it might be; there are at least five of them in the USA. Somewhere I got the impression that it's the one in Wisconsin, but I really don't know.
Rode in on the Greyhound, I'll be walkin' out if I go.
I was just passin' through, must be seven months or more.
Ran out of time and money, looks like they took my friends.
Oh Lord, I'm stuck in Lodi again.
Thinking about this song led me to the general topic of songs about being a singer, or more generally a performer. There've been quite a few; I suppose songwriters often face the temptation to write them - "Write what you know", as the adage goes. Doing so strikes me as a bit self-indulgent, but enough enjoyable songs of that ilk have been written that I really shouldn't complain.
Being of an ordinological bent, I find myself categorizing and organizing such songs. I will, in mercy, put the results under a cut.
Songs of this type can naturally be classified according to their attitude towards the life of a touring singer. At one pole, there are cheerful songs. Boston's "Rock and Roll Band" is exuberant and, perhaps, a bit naïve; the group is riding the crest of its first popularity, and has no particular thought for the future. The Mamas and the Papas' classic "Creeque Alley" is more reminiscent; the group's members have known lean times, but - like Boston - they're on the rise now, and see nothing but brightness ahead. My favorite in this group, though, is the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band's "Partners, Brothers and Friends"; they've been at it for twenty years, they've been up and down, and they'll happily keep at it as long as they can.
Moving a bit away from that end, we have Abba's "Super Trouper". The singer is not so enamored of her career, but the presence of her - friend? lover? - in the audience is enough to keep her on track. The basic tenor of the song is still positive.
There are two ways, as far as I can tell, of singing about the hardships of the entertainer's life. One way, which I don't much like, is exemplified by Neil Diamond's bathetic "I Am, I Said", although Gene Pitney's "Backstage" fits here too. It might be summarized as "Woe is me; I have these obvious external goods, but I'm lonely and homesick, boo hoo." My instant reaction is to tell the singer to suck it up; if you're not willing to sacrifice your fame and fortune for some other good, then don't whine at me about it. Geez. (The Pitney song, in particular, offends me; I usually like his voice, but in that song it comes out thin and shrill.)
Simon and Garfunkel's "Homeward Bound" belongs with "Lodi" in the last, and to my mind best, category. In these two songs, the singer has every right to be sad; his situation isn't bringing him any joy, and he's trapped, figuratively or literally. Where Neil Diamond complains to his chair, John Fogerty sings
If I only had a dollar for every song I've sungPaul Simon laments
And every time I've had to play while people sat there drunk
You know I'd catch the next train back to where I live
Oh, Lord, stuck in Lodi again.
Each town looks the same to meThat's the stuff.
The movies and the factories
And every stranger's face I see
Reminds me that I long to be
Homeward bound.
1 I'm not sure which town it might be; there are at least five of them in the USA. Somewhere I got the impression that it's the one in Wisconsin, but I really don't know.
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Date: 2006-02-18 03:39 am (UTC)