Mack writes: > Sometimes the subtlety of words can be just as powerful as the convoluted > ones, so to write. And > if I know Joan, she meant them exactly the way that she wrote them.
That's a good point, Mack...I mean, how about: "I made my baby cry, I made my baby say goodbye" That could be a Brill building lyric on some throwaway pop ditty, but we all know where it comes from & it's brilliant and heartbreaking. Sometimes there's an honesty in the simplicity that doesn't require a lot of verbal dressing. And I'm the first to admit that with HOSL/Hejira/DJRD she raised the bar so high that not even she can come near it, let alone anyone else. By the same token, the original post definitely had some "right on" comments regarding the songs from WTRF onward. Joni ain't flawless, and even she admits that she had a difficult time putting words on the Klein melodies because they were much more choppy than she was used to. Bob NP: Tom Rush, "Urge For Going" (live)
