Well, I don't know quite what the logic is behind this one (bold pseudonyms?), but Christ, if this isn't a blow-out... subjective taste, schmubjective taste, if you vote for Sting you're just wrong...
Then again, I've never really understood even the adoration of The Police. To me, they always just seemed a bit too prissy for what they were trying to do. And I'd probably vote for just about anybody who was up against Sting, actually.
EC, however. The man has proved over and over again that he can do just about everything, from country to classical, and I think even the Bacharach album has some pretty great stuff on it. There are more brilliant songs on his first three albums than most people ever record in their lifetimes (Sting included). And there's simply no getting around the fact that even today the man has very few peers who can write as well and as intelligently as he does, and almost no one who can write anything quite as wonderfully acerbic as he can. The bulk of the man's lyrics have just been consistently superb for nearly three decades.
I'll submit one of my favorite verses to the jury, with the note that he wrote this one a decade and a half ago, the first time the US was in Iraq:
They're hunting us down here with Liberty's light
A handshaking double talking procession of the mighty
Pursued by a T.V. crew and coming after them
A limousine of singing stars and their brotherhood anthem
The former dictator was impeccably behaved
They're mopping up all the stubborn ones who just refuse to be saved
Damn you, prescience...
I think what most impresses me about Mr. MacManus, though, is his consistency. Though he has certainly released a handful of weaker records, the overall quality of his songwriting and his music has just been incredibly high throughout his entire career. And that's 21 albums in a span of 28 years. Even his worst records have at least a couple of true gems on them.
All right, that's enough gushing from me. Vote away, people. Just know that if Sting comes even close to winning, I'll cry. And I don't even think they've got an appropriate emoticon for that here...
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