Re: SJMC "Sweet" Baby James?

[Franklin Shea]

Bob S wrote, concerning a documentary on James Taylor> One comment of interest from JT was to the effect of "I guess there may be some truth to the idea that I have written the same 12 songs 150 times - but, that's pretty much true of all of us".

Franklin> James is exaggerating a wee bit here. He's actually written the same four (OK, maybe six) songs 150 times. The problem is that only the ORIGINAL four to six of them were worthy of recognition - and the attempts at self-emulation were dismal failures, even, at times unwittingly brutal parodies - for all but the most "blinded by the smiling star whose a "good guy", with a very nice voice (certainly no slouch on the guitar either). But the guy has contributed more "filler" to the garbage dump of mediocrity, than mob-run "waste disposal" companies have illegally disposed of "red bag" medical waste to regular dump sites.

I mean, he's got what, four, five songs that even "radio"(speaking of when it was much more heterogeneous and actually wasn't controlled by five "freaks" blackmailing tens of millions from corrupt major label promotions departments, run by rats filled with fear - ready to sacrifice music for their jobs) ever did play? I think at least half of those "hits" were covers. It just goes to ABSOLUTELY PROVE that that ONE OR TWO great songs, a million dollar a year (one MUST tour though) doth make. In Jame's defense; I saw an interview with him on one of the TV magazines where they gave him the prefunctory rhetorical question: You've been accused of never venturing far from your original sound, exploring other musical avenues of expression". He just sort of smilingly, smuggly said something like: "I know where my bread and butter is, I still can knock down a mil or two a year touring and I have a core audience that will pay 50-75 dollars to hear me sing "Fire and Rain" and "How Sweet It Is" (a Motown Cover BTW). Hey, writing A hit song can be alot like winning the lottery - over and over. Particularly with a winning personality. The core audience even sings along to the unintentional "parody" filler - is that intentional, or unintentional? lol

Bob S> Oh really ? Perhaps it would be better for JT to have said ''that's true of pretty much all of us". (Maybe he did :~), but that's not what I thought I
heard - gimme an instant replay, please !)

Franklin> He did inadvertently speak for "pretty much all of us". But once again, the exaggeration applies to all of them - 3 or 4, not 12 originals. At least he did qualify his statement by saying "pretty much all of us". That is what makes the great, inspired songwriters so unique; such a national/international treasure: there are so few of them....

I'm talking ongoing originality, form vs. content, as well as music/melody meets words/thoughts here: Burt Bacharach/Hal David - 3/4 "filler-free. Lennon/McCartney, 4/5 "filler-free" (note, it took TWO of them!) EARLY Jagger/Richards; 2/3 "filler free"; Steve Earle- pretty much 1/2 "filler free"; John Haitt; maybe 1/3 -1/2 "filler-free", Bob Welsh of "Fleetwood Mac" fame - hell of a songwriter (AND extraordinary guitar player) at least 1/2-2/3 "filler-free". Steve Stills/Neil Young - I'd say 2/3 across career; L.A. Cowboy - arguably as close to 100% "filler-free" as per above definition, throughout career as anyone has ever gotten. BTY, if you can get 1/2 "filler-free" designation in a career, that's an extraordinary feat, easily capable of landing one in the "Songwriter's Hall of Fame". Females; Carly Simon, near 1/2 non-filler; Carol King, about the same as Carly. (I'm talking over the span of a career, and I'm limiting this to fast-writing, off-the-top of my head spontaneity, so kindly add to this very abbreviated list rather than criticize, wail or howl about missing persons...any/all disagreements, reassessments also welcome. When it comes right down to it - there are so many tens of thousands of accomplished musicians in America alone - yet just a literal "handful" of great songwriters... that is why they are treasures.


Bob S>Of her 200 or so songs, I would venture to say that there are well over 100 complete originals that have no redundancies or parallels in JM's work.
Certainly, in some cases the musical structure is similar - especially in her
earlier work. And in a lyrical context, there is a revisiting of themes
(although usually with a fresh take). And on nearly all of her post-70's CD's
there is a consistent texture to her music within a given CD - (this was less
true of her earlier works) - though the texture changed significantly from CD
to CD - think WTRF, then DED, then CMIAR, then NRH, then TI, then TTT.

Franklin> Agreed on above statements. She is well into the 3/4 career "filler-free". There were a few clinkers here and there - but WHAT a BODY of WORK. Don't get me wrong - taste-defining contributions all along, everywhere.

As to the original thoughts in this post, Joni can be feisty, and get even come out swinging, get intellectually nasty and still fill sheds, auditoriums etc. James HAS to approach the marketing from a little different perspective - "sweet". And let's face it, from the Arbitron tour grosses and rankings - SWEET STILL WORKS... the ol' honey and flies type thing...I guess if a picture is worth a thousand words, one or two viable "hit" songs are worth millions or dollars. Wow - what a world, That is "if you've got personality -charm- personality -walk- personality, -talk- personality..." Is anyone out there singing along with me????

Franklin
NP Savoy Brown - "Raw Sienna" a truly overlooked band, guitar god. Chris Youlden's BEAUTIFUL voice with Kim Simmond's elegant, smouldering, authoritative guitar - he single-handedly made the original Flying V, famous (and currently worth 80-120.000 for an unfucked-with original) just sliding and soloing so tastefully that it makes me understand why the electric guitar, when skillfully rendered is perhaps the only instrument more beautiful than a violin.