The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #52927   Message #812431
Posted By: Amos
27-Oct-02 - 10:09 AM
Thread Name: Songwriting Standards
Subject: RE: Songwriting Standards
I like your list, Murph, and would add, with Jerry, that many of the strongest voices in my song-writing hall of mirrors are anonymous authors who wrote spare, elegant, clear, resonating lines such as "Alas-- my love, you do me wrong" and "Oh, , cruel Bar'bry Ellen", or simple and powerful phrases like "Git along, l'il dogies" or "I was grabbing for leather as blind as a bat" or "A man ain't nothin' but a man" or "no-one behind but the wild birds to mourn....". "I won't be reconstructed, and I do not give a damn...". "Black is the color of my true love's hair..."



There are thousands of them -- don't get me started -- each of them like the sharpest tip on an arrow.

They (these phrases and lines of magic) condense a life, or a century into a few words in such a way that it unfolds beautifully every time you hear it.

Good thread!

A