Tango In The Night Song Survivor! - Page 32

DownOnRodeo · #**466** 08-08-2004, 12:35 AM

I vote off Isn't It Midnight. And tell me... isn't it midnight, on the other side of the world? It's 2pm here in Japan.

And 77Rumours77... one of the guys in my apartment building here is from Wichita. Isn't that weird???

Johnny Stew · #**467** 08-08-2004, 12:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sparky

I just believe that the true great songwriters of this century - Willie Nelson, the Broadway writers, the Motown writers, Arlo Guthrie, Dolly Parton, Lennon and McCartney, Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan, etc - have written many songs that anyone can sing. That is why they are generally regarded as "great". They wrote what became standards and can be moving in other's interpretations. My contention is that Stevie set out to be regarded as one of these writers and the change in her songwriting style thwarted her ambition in this area.

I don't think the covers of this song take a bit away from the original or the power of the song. In fact, it is one of the things many of us crow about. "Look at all the people who cover her songs - she's a legendary and influential writer!"

I see your points. I honestly do. There's certainly nothing wrong with what you're saying, or anything that I disagree with, per se.
I guess I'm just not someone who's impressed if 95 other artists have recorded "Yesterday," or if 57 other artists have covered "Knockin' On Heaven's Door," etc.

Like I said, for me, it just tends to devalue the song if anyone and their mother could pick up a microphone and record their own version. But that's just me.

I'm a snob when it comes to cover tunes, and I'd much rather no one attempted to recorded one of Stevie's tunes or those of anyone else in the band. I mean, yes, there are certainly a couple of cool covers out there, but for the most part, covers just make me cringe.

Quote:

Originally Posted by sparky

I submit "Jane", "Beauty and The Beast", "Rhiannon", "RTTG". "Jane" was a disaster. "RTTG" was effective, and the other two were brilliant. Why ? IMO, because she stuck to the story and didn't alter the POV to be more about her than the subject of the song.

But see, sparky, I've always felt that every one of those songs worked (some to a lesser degree) because Stevie took material from an outside source, and related that to her life and her experiences.
"Beauty And The Beast," for example, is just as likely to be about her and a former paramour, as it is to be about the classic fairytale itself.
Same with "Running Through The Garden"... ostensibly she's relating the tale from Hawthorne's story, but it just as easily could be interpreted as Stevie commenting on the "poisonous" lifestyle she's lead, and how it kills the spirit of any man who tries to get involved with her.

So I don't see those songs as Stevie "writing outside of her realm," because, again, she has taken the outside source material, filtered it through her own life, and then reinterpreted it.
She's not singing about a "cause" or an environmental issue, or something like that.

I know others don't, but I honestly like the evolution in Stevie's writing over the years. I like the tone it's taken on, and the different ways in which she expresses herself now.
It's different from how she did it 25 years ago, certainly, but in many ways it appeals to me far more. But I can see where you, and others, are coming from, and why you feel the way you do.

You're not wrong and I'm not right... it's just personal preference.