Would Todays Country Hits Have Made It Back Then

Larry Robbins · Post by **Larry Robbins** » 15 Mar 2004 4:26 pm

Hey BD,
what do you think about Leanne Rimes"Blue"?
I think it would have gone over back then.
I also think George Straights'"The cowboy Rides Away"might have sold.

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Sho-Bud ProII
"there's been an awful murder, down on music row!"

David L. Donald · Post by **David L. Donald** » 16 Mar 2004 6:35 am

BD, yes I think Three Wooden Crosses would really fit that time period well.

Please keep posting, this was a good thread.

As to differing expressions of differing opinions...

Well some of us have different ways of speaking, and often differntly as individuals at different times.

If we each give the other a grain of salt at first blush, we can accept each others moods and forthrightness of expression, differing senses of humor, sarcasm and irony with relative equanamity....
Much like if we were face to face.[This message was edited by David L. Donald on 16 March 2004 at 09:42 AM.]

Nicholas Dedring · Post by **Nicholas Dedring** » 16 Mar 2004 9:42 am

I think there's plenty of interesting songwriting, and it depends on whether you define "today's hits" as being timewarped back as a total package, or just sent back as a piece of sheet music with words, melody line and chords on it...

Hell, I've heard abba tunes covered as bluegrass music, I've heard Ray Charles doing Johnny Cash so you almost wouldn't know it was the same tune you knew...

I don't think that the recordings being made now, except for a miniscule sample, would be credible to people in a bygone era; but a larger sample would be considered great given the right treatment and production.

FWIW, I do NOT think that "I wanna talk about me" is any good now, and it definitely is way too contextually related to this fabricated male backlash against the supposed culture of women we all apparently suffer under. That's not something that would really resonate, I don't think.

As Steve Earle said, the problem with country music nowadays is there aren't enough songs about killing people... modern day country doesn't want to touch excessive drinking, bottomless sadness, death/crime/murder, or anything at all that is a reflection of honesty and truth. Just my opinion... you can print it out and wrap sandwiches in it or whatever.

It is still true, to reflect on something said above, that the musicians on these current records are to a man as good as anyone you will find anywhere... at least from the session stories I've heard told. Fact is it's not their decision what kind of records get made. I'm not sure WHOSE decision it really is anymore.

David L. Donald · Post by **David L. Donald** » 16 Mar 2004 10:39 am

I ain't no expert, but I detect a bit of a different tone.

THEN *******************

I Held a Knife against her breast
As in to my arms she pressed
She cried Oh Willie don’t murder me
I’m not prepeared for eternity

I wandered home tween twelve and one
I cried my god what have I done
I killed the only one I loved
Because she would not be my bride

********************
Last time I seen darlin Corey
She had a dram glass in her hand
She was trying to drive away her troubles
with a ramblin gamblin man

Dig a hole dig a hole in the meadow
Dig a hole in the cold cold ground
Dig a hole dig a hole in the meadow
Just to lay my poor Corey down
************************************

I don’t drink their champagne and I don’t drink their wine
So if you refuse me, my poor heart will pine
I’ll be.. so lonely, till the day that I die
And as long as I live, You’ll still hear me cry

And NOW *********************

I pulled into the shopping center
And saw a little boy wrapped around
The legs of his mother
Like ice cream melting they embraced
Years of bad decisions running down her face
I wanted to tell 'em it would be okay
But I just got in my Suburban and I drove away

I don't know why they say grown men don't cry
I don't know why they say grown men don't cry
*******************

She's my kind of rain
Like love in a drunken sky
She's confetti falling down all night
She sits quietly there, black water in a jar
Says baby why are you trembling like you are

So I wait and I try
I confess like a child

Chorus
She's my kind of rai ai-ain
Like love from a drunken sky-y-y
Confetti falling down all night
She's my kind of rain

She's the sunset's shadows
She's like Rembrandt's light
She's the history that's made at night
She's my lost companion
She's my dreaming tree
Together in this brief eternity

Summer days, winter snow
She's all things to behold
[This message was edited by David L. Donald on 16 March 2004 at 10:41 AM.]

Walter Stettner · Post by **Walter Stettner** » 16 Mar 2004 12:34 pm

David,

I think you are right, there is a different tone today in many of the songs, but different times, different songs! I think the main question posted by BD is a hypothetical one, we can only guess what would have happened back then.

But one thing I have observed in the last years: Check out the CDs you have of the current stars, you will find much more songs written by professional writers than the actual singer. In the past artists like Merle Haggard, Buck Owens, Mel Tillis, Bill Anderson, Willie Nelson, Tom T. Hall, Floyd Tillman, Dolly Parton wrote a lot material for themselves or others, some of these artists (Bill Anderson, for example) only got recording contracts after they had success with their songwriting.

Also, the major songwriters of the past like Harlan Howard, Whitey Shafer, Shel Silverstein, Marijohn Wilkin, Cindy Walker and Danny Dill were recording, that means they knew first hand about the "singing" experience.

That probably explains the difference between many of the songs then and now (and makes it even more difficult to estimate what would have happened to today's songs years ago).

Kind Regards, Walter

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Donny Hinson · Post by **Donny Hinson** » 16 Mar 2004 2:09 pm

In a word..."yes". As ad men are wont to say, anything will sell if it's packaged and marketed right. John Q. Public don't know spit about music, but he knows about the "beat", he appreciates style, and he's subliminally entranced by sex appeal. That's the three pillars of pop music today...beat, style, and sex appeal, (though not necessarily in that order).

Don't get me wrong, (lyrically) good songs will still occasionally sell well, but they don't (nor have they ever) overwhelmed the market. Likewise, the music itself (an interesting or beautiful melody) is no longer really important. Just look at how many instrumentals have topped the charts in the last few years. That tells you how important John Q. Public thinks "the music" really is!

BDBassett · Post by **BDBassett** » 17 Mar 2004 4:21 am

Thank you all, Nice to get this on track.

The original question actually comes from an idea for a screenplay where a washed out singer is suddenly plopped back in time to the mid 60s. He's been singing for years and knows hundreds of songs, most of which had not been written yet. The question is, would he make it big with that advantage? (plagurism issues aside) Or would he still end up washed up and burned out all over again?

It's easy to imagine either way, it's hard to choose which way to go with it. Thanks for your input.

BD

David L. Donald · Post by **David L. Donald** » 17 Mar 2004 7:25 am

He will be a success, because you can't plagerize what ain't yet been writ!

Ben Slaughter · Post by **Ben Slaughter** » 17 Mar 2004 9:29 am

BD, that's a good thought, run with it. I've had the same thought myself, although not in the context of a screenplay. Your hero could struggle with the context that today's songs are writen in, and finally figure out what makes a good, timeless song.

Just don't tell Garth, since he's a "screenwriter" now (and a crummy left fielder).

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Ben
Zum D10, NV400, POD, G&L Guitars, etc, etc.