Uh, oh, the big guns are out now. David, Joe and Jon all weighed in, more
or less saying that whatever arrangement is chosen is A-OK as long as it
sells records. I think I'm gonna cut my ears off. But first I'll listen to
the best version of Miller's Cave, by Don Williams. -- Terry Smith
ps And while Bobby Bare probably doesn't regret making a zillion bucks
from those pop records, will any of you guys entertain the possibility
that he regreted having to sap up his sound in order to make those zillion
bucks? I'm not second-guessing his choices; I'd have done the same thing
probably. But did he like the choices he was given? Judging from the music he
made in the 70s, I'd guess he didn't. Also, I'll argue that Detroit City
would have been just as big a hit if they'd given the hook to the suburban
jingle singers. Who's to say that Chet wouldn't have been just as
successful if he'd been just a tad less, um, busy. This is all idle
speculation cuz I was too busy watching the Andy Griffith Show when these
songs became hits. And one more thing, there's heavy arrangements and
there's heavy arrangements, and some work, and some don't. I'd argue,
again purely from an aesthetic standpoint, that whereas a lot of Skeeter
Davis' stuff cried out for a glossy pop treatment, that a song about a
displaced Appalachian, making do in Detroit, just isn't the type of song
where that kind of crap makes artistic sense. It made money, but that's
not the issue. I'm talking about artistic choices, not financial calculations.
