Rate Go Insane...

[Les]

...but thoughtful, introspective and soulful it itsn't.

Oh, I disagree entirely. I think it's precisely those things. At that point, I think Go Insane was his most revealing ouput. It required a few listens to get over the "gimmickry" which is perhaps the most dated thing on it, but what lies beneath is completely introspective and soulful. It takes a most intimate relationship and begins to peel away the onion, delving into how it all unraveled, until he's left totally bare and questioning his sanity. "I guess I had to prove I was someone hard to lose."

But then I like Lindsey's lyrics.

[jeffles]

I just can't get into his lyrics all that much. Consier these lyrics....
"I want you/
I have for so long/
I want you/
Was i right? was i wrong?/
or
"Two kinds of people in this world/
Winner, losers/
I lost my power in this world/
Cause i did not use it/"
or
"Slow Dancing/
in the moonlight/
want to slow dance/
with you all night"

That, to me, isn't impressive writing. It isn't even a case of being a minimalist-I just don't think he's a great lyricist. I consider some of his contemporaries like Bruce Springsteen and Jackson Browne to be GREAT lyricists. LB is truly great at just about everything else.

[Les]

I'm not particularly "impressed" by most peoples' lyrics, if you want to know the truth. It's more about how the words they do choose make me see or feel something in a particular way, and sometimes specifically in context with the form of the whole song. I do like those lyrics to Go Insane and I Want You because I like how much they suggest in so little space and how they work together with the other pieces of the song to create an overall feeling - if not make perfect sense. I've got quite a long and embarassingly thorough explanation all worked out for how I think those lyrics from I Want You represent something far more complex. But I won't go into that.

I won't defend Slow Dancing though. Not my favorite. Perhaps my least favorite Buckingham tune overall, right behind Lola (My Love). Now, that's something that makes me cringe until the cows come home.