Quote:
Originally Posted by Iktomi
Actually, sometimes it's not necessarily even the words that tell the story, but the music itself that can give me that same feeling. Time Precious Time is a song that for some reason reminds me of driving on isolated country roads here in nowhere South Dakota.
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Yes, sometimes lyrics are very evocative, but sometimes it's really the vocal (combined with the music) that brings a sentiment home and for me that happens a lot in country not because of the twangy accent, but because there's often a roughness to a country vocal, where the singer sounds either old or tired or hoarse and it gives me this sense that they're a little world weary or emotionally spent or breaking. Loss seems more palpable. It adds extra
gravitas to the song's words and music, somehow, even if they're very simple. Or maybe it's
because they're very simple.
I cried when George Jones died, not because I was saddened by his passing, but because they kept playing "He Stopped Loving her Today" and that song and the way he sang it
still gets to me.
But Stevie can do that with a vocal too. That's why as awful as the
Gate and Garden lyrics are, I can get wrapped up in the passionate way she says "do I love you, well I always did. Nobody knows nothing about it . . ."
I like murder ballads too.
Ruby Don't Take Your Love To Town is a favorite.
Ode to Billie Joe.
The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia.
Michele