So Many Good Songs , So Little Time Left.

[Earl49]

Start another binder. I have several - my personal song binder, my ukulele club binder, my Hawaiian song binder, my bluegrass binder, etc. It just depends on which circle I am running in that day. Fortunately I have great recall and can do maybe 250 songs purely from memory - if they get played periodically to refresh the brain. I can hear and remember chord progressions well, but the lyrics sometimes get garbled. Because there are many more great songs out there than I could ever hope to learn, I feel little need to write my own songs.

But this many binders has grown a bit unwieldy. I have spent a lot of time this year formatting all my songs as PDF's using the largest possible font and embedded chords to put them all on an iPad. When my wife got a new iPad, I inherited her old one. I use Good Reader to open PDF's, but she uses ForScore for her sheet music and as a PDF reader.

[gfspencer]

I'm 74. I'm still singing songs out of "Rise Up Singing" and "Rise Again".

[Earl49]

You reminded me of a dear friend. I mentioned "Rise Up Singing" as a good resource for him as a beginner. He complained about not being able to find it anywhere. Turns out he was asking stores for "Wake Up Singing". Missed it by THAT much......

[Coop47]

Originally Posted by Tahitijack

At 74 I've decided to put down my guitars, buy a keyboard synthesizer and learn to play music from the 80s....Don't You Forget About Me, Jump, Everybody Wants to Rule The World..you get the picture. I am starting to appreciate a whole decade and genre i took for granted. Yes, I realize its pretty darn late but I have all day to practice everyday. We'll see where I am next year at this time.

That's the coolest thing I've read in a while. Tip of the cap to you for exploring a new instrument and a new genre. I'm 51, grew up with all those songs, and still find what you're doing pretty daunting.

[Br1ck]

I picked up Ry Cooder's Chicken Skin Music, and it opened a whole new world of what came before. Heck, at 70 I'm in a race to learn mandolin I took up at 65. I hope to succeed before my body falls apart. The jury is out. But I'm on a mission to be a better player because I know folks who have quit, and it is ugly.
But yes, too many songs...

[Lockback]

What a terrific thread!
At 67, I was blessed to have been musically aware when the Beatles broke out. It was like music from another planet; so fresh, so new, so inspiring, so melodic and such great harmonies and guitar playing.
Of course, dozens of amazing bands and musicians clung to their coat tails.
It was a magical time for music. I'm so glad I got to experience it first hand. My son-in-law, barely 30 is a huge Led Zeppelin fan. We talk for hours about that era and he's fascinated with it and appreciates it.
What passes for music today has no soul, no musicality. It's just a beat. I'm glad we had more.

[jefflaher]

Originally Posted by RP

At 70 I can fully agree with your thoughts, but isn't that a Steve Winwood song???

Warren Zevon wrote it, Steve Winwood made it famous

[HFox]

According to a Bing search it lists Will Jennings and Steve Winwood as songwriters.
I just really like the Zevon version and it sounds great on a 12er.

On another note : My wife is a vocalist who has performed with duos , trios and 5 piece bands and also has a solo act. So we tuned into the recent American Music awards....... I know I'm an old fart (and I remember my parents reaction to the Beatles and Stones ,etc) But seeing J-Lo and some other "Plus size" women in leotards being touted as the "IT" thing in music made me very sad. We turned it off .....almost as fast as the "music" turned us off.
Yes our generation was lucky.

[rokdog49]

Originally Posted by HFox

I'll be 74 in a couple of months ( I was part of the generation that said "Don't trust anyone over 30) and have been revisiting the songs of the 50's , 60's and early 70's. I am constantly reminded of how great that music was/is.
It seems that every commercial on TV is using a soundtrack of the music of those years.
I started playing Warren Zevons " Back In The High Life Again" after hearing it on a " Longmire" episode . ...Great song !
I am an Old Fart now and I have a half dozen three ring binders chock full of songs that I enjoy playing and singing .
As the Horizon gets closer the songs hold more meaning for me and I realize that I will never come this way again......but , I am very Thankful that I experienced those years that produced such great guitar players and song writers .
In this exceptionally weird year it is a comfort to pull out the music and play.
There is just SO MUCH GOOD STUFF......Guess I'll start another binder
Happy Thanksgiving .

I searched out that Warren Zevon version on You Tube which until your post, I was unaware of. Dang...That’s pure holiness! Love me some Warren Zevon anyway. Thanks for bringing it to our attention.

[catdaddy]

Originally Posted by Dru Edwards

There's still a lot of great music being made now, although much of it isn't even on the radio.

I agree Dru. Nothing wrong with being nostalgic and there are a lot of wonderful songs of the half-century vintage, but great music didn't stop being made after 1970s.

[donlyn]

So Many Good Songs , So Little Time Left.


Early septuagenarian here.

Thanks for mentioning Zevon's version of the song. I like how honest it sounds. As an old (in many senses) folk music fan, there's something nice and refreshing about stripping a song down to it's basics and just playing it.

I too am grateful for all the old musical memories. I was also very fortunate to grow up and go to school in Boston. Also to able to attend the Club 47 in Cambridge for folk and the Boston Tea Party in Boston for Rock and Roll. Because of it's Boston location a lot of British acts played here either opening or closing American tours. Saw Zeppelin opening their first tour, Jeff Beck with Rod Stewart, early Fleetwood Mac, and the list goes on.

Many of the songs I play are from the late fifties through the eighties. And the genre doesn't matter.

Don
.

[pickinray]

I like both the Winwood and Zevon versions of the song. James Taylor sang backing vocals on Winwood's version. Winwood and Zevon are/were both supremely talented.

You can always tell a good song when it sounds good as a cover. "Poor Poor Pitiful Me" is another example. Zevon wrote it and recorded it and Linda Ronstadt made it famous. And Richard Shindell does a great cover of Springsteen's "Born in the USA".

[HFox]

Originally Posted by catdaddy

I agree Dru. Nothing wrong with being nostalgic and there are a lot of wonderful songs of the half-century vintage, but great music didn't stop being made after 1970s.

I agree with both you and Dru....There is a lot of great music being made today....H*ll I play a lot of it....matter of fact I think I'll have to make a separate Binder for some of it.....But "Back in the Day" there was a joining of kids of ALL races and backgrounds and an acceptance of the whole of the music "scene". That "scene" was
Classic American Old Time Rock & Roll , Motown , Blues , The British invasion , Folk Rock, Southern Rock , "Real" Country , California Surf Music , All seemed to be played on the radio (at least on WLS and then FM stations ) at the same time and intertwined on the play lists .
It was 15-20 year period of music that changed our outlook on the world.
I really try not to be the "Get Off My Lawn " old guy but I just don't feel the togetherness that the music of those years created.......Of course I could be wrong

[pickinray]

My musical tastes were shaped by the singer-songwriters of the 1960's and 1970's. Neil Young was my inspiration to learn how to play guitar in 1976. Dylan was also a big influence. Later, it was Gordon Lightfoot, Jackson Browne, Dan Fogelberg and Paul Simon. After that, it was artists like Bruce Cockburn, John Gorka, Jorma Kaukonen, Richard Thompson and Rodney Crowell. More recently, it's Richard Shindell and I've enjoyed discovering his amazing songs. There IS so much good music to discover out there. You just have to look for it. The internet has replaced the record store and FM radio as the primary place to find music.

[Heroditus]

Originally Posted by Dru Edwards

There's still a lot of great music being made now, although much of it isn't even on the radio.

Yes...this is absolutely the case. Great music may be a little harder to find these days, but there are so many options for folks to get their music out there. We just have to put in the effort.