Dan's Commentary on C-songs

Thanks, Cory, for putting this together. I know you’ve been stressing out over your CMC contributions, but am glad you were willing to put it all out on the line and give us some music from your heart. Where a lot of the collections to date have been centered around a particular musical theme (even “In The Beginning,” which focused on some hard-hitting stuff), your main theme (beyond the “C” thing, obviously) appeared to be songs that have special significance to you, personally. Beyond just purely liking them, that is. Songs that are attached to memories and experiences and so on. So when I say, “putting yourself on the line,” that’s pretty much what I mean. So, with that…

1. Cheap Is How I Feel: The Cowboy Junkies are a band that I don't know much about, but about which I have been curious for a number of years. The feel of this song is similar to what I picture most of their music being like; and it is definitely one of my favorite styles: alt-country. I think the mandolin & accordian are a nice addition to the song-definitely adding to the soundscape without being over the top. I especially love the ascension on the mandolin that parallels a upward sweeping portamento in the steel guitar. And finally, I love the words in this song. I may have said this in another post, but there are words like the words in "We Live Again" by Beck, where the greatness lies in the evokative images & metaphors, but the exact meaning is a little unclear (U2 can also do this a lot). And then there are the great lyrics by people like Paul Simon & Mike Ireland-a fascinating talent of taking very ordinary words & phrases but using them to express very unique and powerful ideas. The lyrics to this song fit into the latter category. Great song!

2. Carnival: A tale of two songs for me, really. Pretty decent words. And I love the rhythm section in this song and the lilting, responsive phrasing of the electric guitar. Whether from 10,000 Maniacs or in her solo career, I actually use the mix and arrangement of Natalie Merchant songs as a model of what to strive for in recording & mixing a number of my own songs. That said, I've never been a huge fan of Natalie Merchant's voice (and I realize that may put me in some fairly exclusive company with respect to my peers). Just too damned nasally. And that echoey falsetto voice that comes in for "have I been blind/have I been lost;" good Lord, but that annoys me to the point at which I almost lose the ability to focus on much else that's going on at that moment. Not ever really a big fan of the "shadow voice" effect (as I will call it) in any song, and this one in particular. Also-and someone correct me if they think I'm hearing this wrong, or let me know if this struck anyone else as odd: CHRIST, but I think Natalie Merchant thinks the word is Hyp-MO-tized!!! Come on, Natalie! You're by all accounts a bright woman; how can you not get this? This is like GW Bush's "nucular" or Home Simpson's "saxamaphone." It, also, drives me nuts. Between shadow voice and "hypmotize," I think this song is driving...me...CRAZY!!!

3. Cherry: Just not a big fan of Neil Diamond, either as a singer or as a songwriter. I can appreciate his contributions to the history of popular music, and I’m not going to question the talents of a man who has developed and sustained such a deep and devoted following through the years, or who has composed such an extraordinary collection of hits both for himself and other artists; and in addition, I think he, as a person, is a trip. Kind of like in a William Shatner sort of way. But he’s never floated my boat, music-wise. Gibbs once expressed some surprise over this, as I tend to be regarded as a “melody guy;” and I don’t know what to say about that. Is it just his voice? Is it the arrangement? Or are the melodies just a little (or a lot) too simple for me? All I know is that, through all the years of having KOOL-108 on my car radio settings, an occurrence of Neil Diamond always spurred a quick change to DRIVE-105. This song is really no exception; it really just does nothing for me. I think the words are trite and the melody doesn’t get me going at all. Anyone else notice that the song begins almost exactly like Mellencamp’s “R-O-C-K in the U-S-A?” Oh well, I guess when you have two artists whose entire careers were based upon three chords, it’s bound to happen sooner or later.

4. Cover Me: OK, Cory, level with me. Do you really, really love this song, or did you put this song on as a tribute to an album that you really, really love because it was the only one that started with a “C?” I don’t want to get in the habit of questioning song selection in the CMC, but I ask mainly because in your song comments you didn’t really address this song at all, just the album as a whole. For my part, I’ve always considered this one of Springsteen’s weaker songs; in fact (ironically), perhaps my least favorite song I have ever heard from him, though; admittedly, I have pretty much only heard his radio hits. I know he is considered a pretty notable and influential charcter in the history of rock and roll, but I don’t really see much evidence of that groundbreaking musical force in this song; at least from a tune (doesn’t seem particularly interesting to me) or lyrical (seems pretty uninventive to me) standpoint. I don’t think it sounds terrible, but it doesn’t I do a whole lot for me, either. I do think it’s a really good vocal performance-the guy belts out those words. What can I say? He’s The Boss.

5. Crash: This is a really nice song. Nice to know about the personal connexion, Clogger. That’s the sort of thing that, putting all other considerations aside, can lift your appreciation of a particular song to a level that others can never truly understand. I think it also puts status of the song into sort of an “untouchable” sort of status, whereby you are off-limits to any sort of criticism or mockery about your love of the song. That is, unless the song is “Kokomo.” All that said, I do like this song. I think, a month after it was initially said, I would like to finally give some mad props to Gibbons for capturing what, to me, is the essence of the DMB: “They have made beautiful music and they have made boring music and they have made too much music.” Hilarious! And (with all due respect to Aaron Johnson, who loves them so) so true!!! (for me, anyway). The length and craziness and virtuousity and various other factors have conspired to drive me away from listening much to a lot of their more jam-style songs, but I really have enjoyed the “softer side of DMB.” This song and “Satellite” (yes, another band where my knowledge is pretty much limited to radio fare). If you dig through all the flannel and silly dancing and dreadlocks and supernatural instrumentation, what you can find with this band are some really nice words. What a lovely little love song! Simple and elegant, the lyrics. Understated and not overdone, the arrangement and, of course, flawless, the performances. I don’t love his voice but I would say it falls into the same family of singers into which PatMix or PatGib or I once classified Peter Gabriel in saying, “he does the best with what he has.” Dave certainly does. Among other things, I love the little acoustic(?) guitar trill at 2:24. Listen for that, guys, if you can. Hey, could you interpret these words as being sinister? Like if he was a vampire or something? I wonder how pervasive this is in the DMB catalog...You could really come away thinking they’re a pretty twisted little band.

6. Come Together: What can I say? Very groundbreaking, both in terms of arrangement (the Beatles were around their height of uninhibited exploration of sound and arrangement) and crazy, psychedelic tripped-out words. "Dripping with art," as PGibby would say. I love the way John can write these phrases that sound almost like a real phrase or meaningful set of words, but that (at a second look) are actually nonsense. But then, (at a third look) you wonder if there really might be some kind of meaning in there, but you never really know for sure. If anyone ever has the chance to read “In His Own Write,” a book by John Lennon, you will have a hard time coming away from the reading not thinking he had one of the greatest commands over the English language of anyone who has ever lived. That was certainly my experience. He also wrote a book called “A Spaniard in the Works,” which I have not read but want to. Imagine an entire book that basically reads like an extended version of “Come Together” or “I am the Walrus” It’s pretty amazing (I think so, anyway). Beyond that is the (yes, I’m going to say it) underrated arrangement of the Beatles. I’ve never heard anything like Ringo’s drum roll/fill that is the signature of this song. And for those who lean towards listening toward the entirety of a song, rather than concentrating on individual parts of the whole at different times, you are definitely not getting your fullest out of the Beatles. In this song, listen to the drums, of course; Paul’s wild bass line that jumps octaves during the verse, and Paul’s great harmony that comes in during the second verse. I love that harmony of Paul’s. I think he uses that voice a bit for humorous purposes; if I was using a voice like that, I would be. But it definitely sounds great-that back of throat, announcer-sort of calling voice that complements John so well. Like everything the Beatles ever did, this song has been subjected to an insane amount of interpretation through the years; people trying to figure out what he was “trying to say.” More likely than not, he was just plain having fun with words, but maybe hiding a little satirical dig a few places in there. Somehow, though, out of it came this idea that “Come Together” was like one of the primary anthems for the 60s and its assorted leftist movements. Pretty silly, if you ask me. The interpretation, that is, not the movements. One final thing to listen for: growly electric guitar “dang dang dang” during the “Come together/right now/over me” parts. I think that sound may have been supremely influential for legions of hard rock bands that followed. Great song. Great band.

7. City: Bleah. Everything in this song seems to be a tired, old, top-40 alternative music cliché. From the “cool” distorted guitar sound kicking off the song, to the middle-of-the-road crunch of the rhythm guitars, to the very first unimaginative and hair-on-the-back-of-my-neck-raisingly-bad line about drowning “in a river of pain” this song doesn’t let up on things that turn me off. It’s crazy, actually: what is it about some of these phrases? While I don’t think they necessarily have ever been written before, word for word, there is instance after instance of lines with metaphors that seem overused, tired, and just plain bad. As though someone was thinking, “I’m going to write song alternative music words. Doo-dee-doo. Here I am writing alternative music words!” Other instances: “calling out your name,” “heading in my direction,” “change the way they feel,” wonder what you’ve become,” “I left the me I used to be.” It just bugs me. And the tune does nothing for me-I understand you like the song Cory, but to me it just sounds like a “filler song” on an album. Or something from the “Friends” soundtrack. Sorry to rip on the song so much; I understand you like it. And I’m sorry if unleashed a string of perjoratives, but I couldn’t express my feelings in any other way. This is my LFS (Least Favorite Song) from this collection.

8. Cecilia: Whew. On to Cecilia. What’s not to like? Catchy (in a way that, to me, is superior to Neil Diamond catchiness-I guess that’s just the subjective nature of music). Simple words, but probably quite striking to those who heard it in its initial release. Also quite uncharacteristic, arrangement and word-wise for Simon & Garfunkel. Not all that much more to say about this one. Really nice song.

9. Call Me: Once again risking putting myself in rather exclusive company amongst my peers; boy, I just don’t dig Blondie. Aside from “The Tide is High,” I never have. And, as an aside: in the whole “Hot or Not Hot” debate regarding various dolled-up female CMC artists: my vote for Blondie? NOT. I think it’s a realtively interesting song. Words not amazing, but they fit the song well. Tune, reasonably inventive. I can even see why people might like it. For some reason, I don’t. I’m trying hard to be aware of whether I don’t like Blondie songs because they just don’t appeal to me at all or if because I am just sick of them all. I think it’s an objective view, but I can’t say for sure.

10. City of Blinding Lights: Dude, about of a fifth of the music you love is because it reminds you of Minnesota. You really need to move up here. And WOW-favorite song of all time? That’s a pretty weighty piece of knowledge for the commentor to carry into discussion of the song. Strangely, I don’t own this album yet, so this was the first I’d heard this song. As is often the case with U2, it’s been a slow evolution for me of appreciation for the song, and I’m guessing it’s not yet peaked. In the way I appear to feel Natalie Imbruglia is not, I feel Bono is the “master of the metaphor.” A really pleasant little main riff, isn’t it? And some nice words. And Adam Clayton’s bassline? Oh my God, the man is AMAZING! (tee hee). No, I do like the song. It’s not yet achieved any sort of legendary status in my world of U2 song appreciation, but glad I had the chance to hear it on this collection.

Executive summary: Thanks again for putting this together, dog. On a couple of songs that I did not particuarly dig, I hope it didn’t come across as too harsh. Not really having much of a unifying musical theme, it was kind of tough for me to find a flow (as in your mountain-climbing introduction to the collection). There were a couple of songs that I absolutely love on the collection, and I have to give special mention to “Cause Cheap is How I Feel,” because otherwise, it might have been a collection in which I wasn’t introduced to anything that I both didn’t know previously and ended up liking a lot. As such, that’s my vote for BS. SIWHI: there’s lots: Calico Skies (McCartney) Call Me Back Again (also McCartney), Can I Sleep in Your Arms Tonight (Willie Nelson), Cry (Mike Ireland), Crazy (Patsy Cline-written by Willie), Controversy (Prince), Cool Change (Little River Band), Cool Cool River (Paul Simon), Coat of Many Colors (Dolly Parton), Closer to Fine (Indigo Girls), Christmas Past (Mike Ireland), Caroline Says (VU), C-Moon (McCartney), Can I Forgive Him? (Paul Simon) among probably others…Thanks again!