Further Degradation of the Gershwin Award

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Blair N. Cummings
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Further Degradation of the Gershwin Award

Post by Blair N. Cummings »

Not that this thing (determined inexplicably by the Library of Congress) had much credibility to begin with, but on the 18th of this month, the George Gershwin Prize for Popular Song will be bestowed on Willie Nelson. Yep, Willie Nelson.
Can a posthumous nod to Michael Jackson be far behind?
I know, I`m being kind of an old fart here but George Gershwin = Willie Nelson? Really?
blueonblue
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Re: Further Degradation of the Gershwin Award

Post by blueonblue »

Should have been Jimmy Webb !
Martin Johnson
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Re: Further Degradation of the Gershwin Award

Post by Martin Johnson »

Off the top of my head I can name six songs that I know were written by Willie Nelson; Crazy, Funny How Time Slips Away, Hello Walls, Night Life, Pretty Paper and On the Road Again. All but the last named were written more than fifty years ago. Yes, without being too mean spirited, you can't help but feel that there might just be one or two writers who are perhaps more deserving of this award.
pljms
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Re: Further Degradation of the Gershwin Award

Post by pljms »

More than one or two, Martin, several and they're so obvious they don't really need to be named. One of the more 'obvious' contenders is, as Blue mentioned, Jimmy Webb. Here's the mega-talented and wonderful composer in his own right, Glenn Tilbrook from Squeeze talking about and performing Webb, and very touching it is too.

Paul
Sara D
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Re: Further Degradation of the Gershwin Award

Post by Sara D »

Is this award open to Canadians? I've always thought that Gordon Lighfoot's chord changes were too sophisticated and his lyrics a tad too cryptic for him to be labelled as a folk singer-songwriter. The series of albums he recorded on Warners in the late 60s to the mid-70s were beautifully written, played, arranged and produced gems. Then there's that extraordinarily distinctive singing voice. This is from his 1974 album 'Sundown'.
Martin Johnson
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Re: Further Degradation of the Gershwin Award

Post by Martin Johnson »

Yes Sara, Lightfoot was very prolific for a while until his Muse seemed to desert him in the early 80s. I saw him around about that time at the Albert Hall and he did his best to alienate a packed house by moaning about his record sales in the UK over the years. He continued in this vein on and off during the concert until someone yelled out, "You're preaching to the converted, Gordon". To give Lightfoot his due he did laugh at that and promptly stopped belly-aching. Difficult to choose a favourite that isn't well known but Can't Depend on Love springs to mind:

pljms
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Re: Further Degradation of the Gershwin Award

Post by pljms »

I don't think I'd played any Gordon Lightfoot for about twenty years when I heard what was a new song in 2004. Once I'd got used to the change in his voice the song's beauty more than slightly took my breath away. Lightfoot has since stated that he longer writes or records so 'Inspiration Lady' from the 'Harmony' album is almost certainly his last great song.

Paul
Blair N. Cummings
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Re: Further Degradation of the Gershwin Award

Post by Blair N. Cummings »

I think the following is at the crux of my problem with the Gershwin (or any such) Award.
In the post-rock era, the concept of "song" changed from being a general - if not universal - expression of common experience (usually of a romantic nature) to a specifically autobiographical one. This was fine, as long as such articulate practitioners as Leonard Cohen, Paul Simon, and Joni Mitchell were in their prime. Their albums are (arguably) works of art. What they were not were demos for professional singers to cover. What was gained in terms of intimacy was lost in terms of universality.
I`m aware of the exceptions but, overall, Carmen McRae was not going to record the Laura Nyro songbook nor was Tony Bennett going to tackle Bobby Zimmerman.
The Aleuts have three or four different words for snow. Maybe we should evolve at least as many terms for song. Much may be clarified thereby.
Or not.
An Enormous BB Fan
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Re: Further Degradation of the Gershwin Award

Post by An Enormous BB Fan »

Sara D wrote:Is this award open to Canadians? I've always thought that Gordon Lighfoot's chord changes were too sophisticated and his lyrics a tad too cryptic for him to be labelled as a folk singer-songwriter. The series of albums he recorded on Warners in the late 60s to the mid-70s were beautifully written, played, arranged and produced gems. Then there's that extraordinarily distinctive singing voice. This is from his 1974 album 'Sundown'.
Sara, Paul McCartney was given the award, so, yes, it is open to Canadians or to anyone from any country.
Martin Johnson
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Re: Further Degradation of the Gershwin Award

Post by Martin Johnson »

Thanks Blair for starting me thinking about that irristible fantasy album, 'Tony Bennett sings Bob Dylan'. Just the idea of Bennett covering the likes of Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues and Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat makes me smile. Joking apart, I can definitely hear him in some of Dylan's more romantic material, especially To Make You Feel My Love, which has become something of a modern day standard with everybody from Billy Joel to Adele covering it.
Martin Johnson
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Re: Further Degradation of the Gershwin Award

Post by Martin Johnson »

The afore-mentioned Gordon Lightfoot returns to the Albert Hall tomorrow evening for the first time in 35 years. I'll be there as I was then and I only hope he's in a better frame of mind this time round (see above message). A song that is always in his set-list is 'Beautiful' which, in my opinion at least, manages to live up to its title:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=xNleC6-9jyI
Blair N. Cummings
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Re: Further Degradation of the Gershwin Award

Post by Blair N. Cummings »

I liked a lot of what Gordon did back in the day, but he sounds like Willie Nelson now.
Completely irrelevantly, here`s a song by John Cale (the `82 version) that he always hoped Frank Sinatra would cover:
https://youtu.be/2Ldk62fO7Rk
He didn`t.
pljms
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Re: Further Degradation of the Gershwin Award

Post by pljms »

Martin Johnson wrote:The afore-mentioned Gordon Lightfoot returns to the Albert Hall tomorrow evening for the first time in 35 years. I'll be there as I was then and I only hope he's in a better frame of mind this time round (see above message). A song that is always in his set-list is 'Beautiful' which, in my opinion at least, manages to live up to its title:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=xNleC6-9jyI
I hope you enjoy the concert, Martin, but you know as well as I do that at the age of 77 his voice is not what it was, and that's putting it politely. However, the main reason I decided not to go is that his set-list these days is devoid of most of my favourite songs of his. How he can perform a set consisting of no less than 25 songs and not find room for gems like 'For Loving Me', 'I'm Not Sayin', 'Canadian Railroad Trilogy', 'The Way I Feel', 'Song for a Winter's Night', 'Wherefore and Why', 'Affair on 8th Avenue', 'Bitter Green', 'Black Day in July', 'Cotton Jenny', 'Don Quixote', 'Daylight Katy', 'The Circle is Small' and 'Inspiration Lady' is mind-boggling.
Paul
Martin Johnson
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Re: Further Degradation of the Gershwin Award

Post by Martin Johnson »

pljms wrote:
Martin Johnson wrote:The afore-mentioned Gordon Lightfoot returns to the Albert Hall tomorrow evening for the first time in 35 years. I'll be there as I was then and I only hope he's in a better frame of mind this time round (see above message). A song that is always in his set-list is 'Beautiful' which, in my opinion at least, manages to live up to its title:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=xNleC6-9jyI
I hope you enjoy the concert, Martin, but you know as well as I do that at the age of 77 his voice is not what it was, and that's putting it politely. However, the main reason I decided not to go is that his set-list these days is devoid of most of my favourite songs of his. How he can perform a set consisting of no less than 25 songs and not find room for gems like 'For Loving Me', 'I'm Not Sayin', 'Canadian Railroad Trilogy', 'The Way I Feel', 'Song for a Winter's Night', 'Wherefore and Why', 'Affair on 8th Avenue', 'Bitter Green', 'Black Day in July', 'Cotton Jenny', 'Don Quixote', 'Daylight Katy', 'The Circle is Small' and 'Inspiration Lady' is mind-boggling.
Yes, it was all rather low-key and muted with a less than full house only really becoming responsive when the more famous songs were performed. As for his vocals on the night, if Bacharach's singing voice these days has more than once been likened to a death-bed croak on this forum, then Lightfoot's wasn't much better and his inability to enunciate properly during the long, wordy songs like The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald was a real handicap. A pleasant surprise for me at least was the inclusion of 'Now and Then', a song of melodic and harmonic complexity that was probably too much for many in the audience who would not be familiar with it:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ClR6WUEXbyw
Sara D
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Re: Further Degradation of the Gershwin Award

Post by Sara D »

I think we may have established on this thread that if there's one living songwriter deserving of the Gershwin Award it's Gordon Lightfoot.

Martin, hearing 'Now and Then' again after all these years made me dig out my LP of 'Cold on the Shoulder', the album from whence it came. However, my personal favourite Gordon Lightfoot song is from his 'Endless Wire' album, the mysterious and haunting 'Daylight Katy'. He does have a way with a chord sequence, doesn't he?
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=c8Fga6CFPgY
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