on 29/12/2000 12:14 pm, Nigel Gatherer at [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
> David Francis wrote:
>
>> ...This thread throws up the major question of what constitutes a good
>> tune. Most of the instrumental music that we play started life as dance
>> music, 'competent and good enough for dancing' as Nigel put it...
>
> There are a lot of tunes written and I have investigated hundreds composed
> during the past fifty years. While I'm aware that different tunes can be
> brought to life by different musicians, I do not think that very many
> tunes can stand beside the great tunes of the past.
I would say that certain tunes are gaining momentum; 'The Sweetness of Mary'
is a good example and it will last. Matt Seattle's 'Lindisfarne' is so
generic you can hardly tell if he wrote it or plucked it out of the etheric
vibrations of all past tunes, but it's another. These are just two tunes
where I can chart their progress from nowhere, to being common in certain
sessions, and then to being immediately recognised in all sessions in the
Scottish Borders; further afield, I don't yet know, but I'm prepared to bet
they are. Another good example is Dick Gaughan's 'Both Sides the Tweed'
which is now becoming popular as a session tune as well as a frequently sung
song. David
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