Quote:
Originally Posted by sodascouts
I think Lindsey at one time was difficult to work with, but if the Say You Will documentary is anything to go by, he walks on eggshells now around Stevie and I imagine is similarly careful not to upset Christine.
I love Stevie, and honestly there are so many people relentlessly bashing her on the Ledge now that I'm hesitant to criticize her because I feel she's become a punching bag.... but unfortunately I believe that she thinks Lindsey is hard to work with at this point because she's unable to handle constructive criticism, no matter how tactfully given.
Exhibit A: how offended she is by Lindsey's mild suggestion that she keep her "you" and "she" consistent in "Thrown Down" - which is actually good advice, given in a non-confrontational manner. His manner is irrelevant, however. She's outraged that he presumed to criticize her lyrics, and feels personally attacked. She wants to work with a yes-man like Dave Stewart, who tells her lyrics like "What's faster than a fast car" and "What's deeper than a deep well" are brilliant.
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Well, she can be touchy with constructive criticism, but I am realizing more and more how insufferable Lindsey must be to work with. Yes, his surface demeanor seems to be more pleasant, but his carefully-crafted (and long-winded) speeches in interviews and at the mic tell another story: he thinks he hasn't had his due within the band; that his producer's credit isn't enough; that he needs co-writing credits---I can see where Stevie thinks this is bunk. Yes, his productions are often creative and essential to bringing the bare skeleton of a song into its fully-fleshed state. But that is as a producer. I could only imagine him trying to wrestle a co-writing from Stevie, whose demos are a usually lot less fleshed out than Christine's. Stevie knows well enough that the bare skeleton of the song IS the song itself. Christine shrugs her shoulders and says, "You want co-writing credit on "That's How I feel"? Fabulous. Have at it. You want to tinker with my lyrics? Sure. What the hell." I admire her openness and her humility, but I don't blame Stevie one bit in insisting that her songs are her own--and that her words, however ungrammatical, are her own. The I-you pronoun shift in "Throw Down" is grammatically questionable but evocative in the way a a consistent first or third pronoun would not be. She ain't no Bob Dylan, but she is her own brand of poet.
But "Landslide" is NOT about Katrina--a disaster decades after the song's composition. And I doubt the spirit of Rhiannon flows through our soldiers. Hey, all five of them are wackadoo sometimes.