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Topic: Good Country Song |
Stephen Gambrell
From:
Over there
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Posted 19 Mar 2003 10:07 am |
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I just bought Ray Price's "Time" CD, and it's great, of course. All the musicians play to perfection, Ray's voice is kickin', but I got to wondering---what makes for a good country song? Lyrics? Hank Williams had 'em, good musicians too. Pickers? The aforementioned Cherokee Cowboys? But Ray had good lyrics, too.
I guess what I'm asking, is, is it the words, or the music?
And ain't it amazing what runs through your mind, when it's raining for about the fourth month in a row, and your feet are mildewed, and your dog and your wife are both ignoring you, and you don't have a place to practice? |
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Dennis Atkins
From:
St. Paul, Minnesota
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Posted 19 Mar 2003 11:07 am
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In my opinion, a good country song is a song that sticks in your head after you heard it. Not just for a day or two, but for years afterward. How many of today's current "country" songs can you actually hum or sing the lyrics too while doing something else. Songs that Hank wrote, or that Ray Price sings, or any of the "classic" country singers did, you can still recall, even after 50 years. Lloyd Green said it perfectly in the video he did with Tommy White, "take away the lyrics and you have no melody". The lyrics of today's music are forgetable, and without the lyrics, you have nothing to hang the melody on, unlike the songs that I grew up listening to, you have the lyrics, and the melody that you can recall, and to me that makes a good country song. Hope this helps answer some of your question. Again, this is my own opinion.
Dennis
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Leigh Howell
From:
Edinburgh, Scotland * R.I.P.
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Posted 19 Mar 2003 1:18 pm
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What Dennis said.
Leigh  [This message was edited by Leigh Howell on 19 March 2003 at 01:20 PM.] |
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Tom Olson
From:
Spokane, WA
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Posted 19 Mar 2003 2:35 pm
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I agree with Dennis too. The only thing I could add is that, while I agree that good lyrics are an important part of a great song, I personally tend to give the music much more weight than the lyrics. In some cases, for example, I think I totally ignore the lyrics. This is just my personal idiosyncrasy, though -- I know that some people tend to place equal weight in good lyrics and some even place more weight on lyrics than the music. It's all OK by my book -- all part of what makes us individuals.  |
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David Cobb
From:
Chanute, Kansas, USA
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Posted 19 Mar 2003 3:56 pm
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| Good question. Someone will ask you, "Aren't the lyrics great? and I know I've often said, "I don't know, never paid much attention to them." Most of the time it was the melody that grabbed me first and/or the way the steel, fiddle, guitar, etc. figured into the equation. Some of the music snobs and armchair poets might think this is a shallow way of looking at a song, but if you look out across a crowded dance floor, what got them out there pardner? The lyrics? Naw!! |
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