Now, Jon, let's talk. You mean to say that those jingle-singers coming in
dooby-doobying, or whatever, in the middle of the working-man's lament,
"Detroit City," don't bother you? To my ears, the dissonance between the
gritty lyrics and vocals, and the glossy uptown arrangements, is
insurmountable. And, yeah, these songs recorded by Bobby Bare were
hits, with both country and pop, and were obviously calculated to succeed
on those levels. But that's the aesthetic problem -- a producer "managing"
a performer's sound to succeed in the market, but in so doing, diluting
the tunes into mush. I can't believe that Bare, looking back, hasn't
wondered whether he shouldn't have done the songs differently. He probably
doesn't wonder too much, because regretting grand success is sort of a
useless occupation. But still...
But getting back to the earlier point... Isn't there a sound aesthetic
argument for arranging "gritty" songs in a "gritty" fashion, and giving
urbane lyricizing a glossier finish? Jesus, the way they arranged Miller's
Cave, they may as well had Perry Como singing it. -- Terry Smith
