Lindsey and Other Songwriters?

[Rod~A~Little]

Although Lindsey is an incredibly talented musician and has the looks...and the "whole package."

I've ALWAYS felt like his songwriting was not his strongest suit. (example "Oh Diane"...just my opinion)

I've often wondered why he never considered using a little extra help from some stellar songwriters to help boost his solo career, all the while incorporating some of his own tunes.

Are there ANY other songwriters or songs that you feel would have suited Lindsey to help catapult his career to the next level?

[shackin'up]

no


......

[holidayroad]

Maybe he should have done more with Christine writing some of the lyrics. His writing has improved over the years.

[michelej1]

Originally Posted by holidayroad

Maybe he should have done more with Christine writing some of the lyrics. His writing has improved over the years.

I love Christine's writing and the evocative, yearning style she can achieve, when her words, voice and keyboard combine, but I think Lindsey's lyrics are more original, with the different phrases he makes up. I wouldn't trade my dusty fury.

Michele

[Angel69]

Originally Posted by michelej1

I wouldn't trade my dusty fury.

Michele

Or....... "a face as soft as a tear in a clowns eye"

[sodascouts]

I love the "dusty fury" lyrics, but I'm not sure sure about the soft face/tears of a clown simile. I honestly find it rather clumsy - the adjective "soft" doesn't really apply well to the liquidity of a tear - but hey, to each his/her own.

I agree that Lindsey's lyrics seemed to have improved over the years - which is how it should be, in my opinion. Live and grow!

In the past, his biggest offense was his repetitiveness - you were lucky to get two verses and a bridge before he started recycling lyrics with the occasional minute variation. He also had a tendency towards simplistic rhymes. Inexplicably, one of the worst offenders in both these areas - "Family Man" - was included in The Very Best of Fleetwood Mac.

However, starting with Out of the Cradle (my favorite of his albums and one which I regard as a masterpiece), he showed a vast improvement in his writing. Complex and interesting lyrics because the rule rather than the exception. That has continued up until the present day, IMHO, although he still misses a few lyrical baskets now and then. He's only human.

[Rod~A~Little]

Well said Sodascouts!...And I thought he shined on Out Of The Cradle!

[GypsySorcerer]

I concur that Lindsey has grown over the years in terms of lyrical quality. I think the original GOS and SYW albums were the high points.

[iamnotafraid]

Originally Posted by Rod~A~Little

Are there ANY other songwriters or songs that you feel would have suited Lindsey to help catapult his career to the next level?

I think it's been talked about before, but I'm sure
it would be awesome if Lindsey would get his behind
down to Nashville and walk in that yellow and black
building and make a serious rock album with it's owner.
It's one of the few things he could do that would get
real publicity at this point.

[BaronVonBielski]

Originally Posted by Rod~A~Little

Although Lindsey is an incredibly talented musician and has the looks...and the "whole package."

I've ALWAYS felt like his songwriting was not his strongest suit. (example "Oh Diane"...just my opinion)

I've often wondered why he never considered using a little extra help from some stellar songwriters to help boost his solo career, all the while incorporating some of his own tunes.

Are there ANY other songwriters or songs that you feel would have suited Lindsey to help catapult his career to the next level?

I think Oh Diane is well written and not too mention well sung. He needs no help.

[Cammie]

We like Our Lindsey just like he is !!!

[David]

Originally Posted by michelej1

I love Christine's writing and the evocative, yearning style she can achieve, when her words, voice and keyboard combine, but I think Lindsey's lyrics are more original, with the different phrases he makes up.

I think he's actually quite a good lyricist, and I've always thought so. I think that much of the time, he's a more interesting lyricist than Stevie is, and he's certainly more interesting than Christine is in the words department.

Lindsey's the wittiest songwriter in Fleetwood Mac--probably since Green & Kirwan. A line like "One thing I think you should know/I ain't gonna miss you when you go" is a funny, funny line. But Macheads besotted with Stevie's moons and mists don't seem to pick up on the comedy.

Lindsey has the widest emotional palette, too--going from exuberance to sadness to anger to resignation to self-doubt to horniness, etc. When he wants to be believable and profound, he often is. "Now the ground has opened/All around me" echoes "Crystal," true, but it's also very touching on its own.

Finally, Lindsey's lyrical skill rests on his ability to meld the right words with the right music. It's more than just an awareness of le mot juste. It's the ability to "see" the melodic line inside the word or phrase, and to match everything up so that the entire unit of words-plus-music conveys his meaning.

I think his words are weakest when he gets analytical or reaches for social or political depth. He starts sounding the way he does in interviews, when he trots out the same descriptions over and over until you're sick of the cliches.

Still, good lyricist all in all.

[McTrouble]

Originally Posted by David

I think he's actually quite a good lyricist, and I've always thought so. I think that much of the time, he's a more interesting lyricist than Stevie is, and he's certainly more interesting than Christine is in the words department.

Lindsey's the wittiest songwriter in Fleetwood Mac--probably since Green & Kirwan. A line like "One thing I think you should know/I ain't gonna miss you when you go" is a funny, funny line. But Macheads besotted with Stevie's moons and mists don't seem to pick up on the comedy.

Lindsey has the widest emotional palette, too--going from exuberance to sadness to anger to resignation to self-doubt to horniness, etc. When he wants to be believable and profound, he often is. "Now the ground has opened/All around me" echoes "Crystal," true, but it's also very touching on its own.

Finally, Lindsey's lyrical skill rests on his ability to meld the right words with the right music. It's more than just an awareness of le mot juste. It's the ability to "see" the melodic line inside the word or phrase, and to match everything up so that the entire unit of words-plus-music conveys his meaning.

I think his words are weakest when he gets analytical or reaches for social or political depth. He starts sounding the way he does in interviews, when he trots out the same descriptions over and over until you're sick of the cliches.

Still, good lyricist all in all.

LOVE this post!!!

[vivfox]

Originally Posted by McTrouble

LOVE this post!!!

You're just a lovesick child.

[michelej1]

Originally Posted by David

Lindsey's the wittiest songwriter in Fleetwood Mac--probably since Green & Kirwan. A line like "One thing I think you should know/I ain't gonna miss you when you go" is a funny, funny line.

And, whether Lindsey intended it or not, it contrasts nicely (painfully) with Don't Let Me Down Again: There's just one thing I'd like you to know
I've got no more to lose if you go.


One of the things that makes the SHN usage funny, is that it is not particularly credible.

It's hard to beat the impish charm of SHN or The Ledge.

Originally Posted by David

Lindsey has the widest emotional palette, too--going from exuberance to sadness to anger to resignation to self-doubt to horniness, etc.

Indeed.

Originally Posted by David

Finally, Lindsey's lyrical skill rests on his ability to meld the right words with the right music. It's more than just an awareness of le mot juste. It's the ability to "see" the melodic line inside the word or phrase, and to match everything up so that the entire unit of words-plus-music conveys his meaning.

Words, plus music, plus vocal. Sometimes it's not so much singing as it is gutteral expression. But it makes the lyrics of a song like Go Insane mean so much more than they appear on paper.

As strange as it sounds, it's the words in Given Thing or Steve's Riff that make me want a completed song. They aren't words, I suppose, syllables, grunts, but they seem to express something that a pure instrumental would not have, even in their inchoate state -- or perhaps because of it. Lindsey has always had the right words for his songs and, within those songs, I've never thought he lacked as a lyricist though obviously Family Man or even something too simplistic like Did You Miss Me, will leave me annoyed or underwhelmed.

Michele