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  #31  
Old 05-10-2022, 03:31 PM
foxo foxo is online now
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Originally Posted by LiveMusic View Post
And BTW... at this recent concert, his rendition of "Gotta Serve Somebody" was worth the price of admission. It was rockin' and I wish I could get a recording of it.
Glad you enjoyed Bob live! His Spring tour has been magnificent from what I have heard, I am very much hoping he returns to Scotland soon.

I might know of a way for you to get a recording of Gotta Serve Somebody from the recent tour but your PM box is full. Give me a shout once you've cleared some space and I'll steer you in the right direction.
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  #32  
Old 05-17-2022, 06:57 AM
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Has anyone mentioned Willie yet?
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  #33  
Old 05-17-2022, 10:01 PM
Joe Beamish Joe Beamish is offline
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Default Do songwriters have a limited shelf life?

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Has anyone mentioned Willie yet?

Love him, fellow Texan, but as a writer, many of his best recordings are written by other people. My favorite Willie is the Red Headed Stranger period. Not the early derivative stuff like Crazy or Night Life stuff.

That said, I think the latest album is interesting.
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  #34  
Old 05-20-2022, 08:51 AM
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Originally Posted by Joe Beamish View Post
Love him, fellow Texan, but as a writer, many of his best recordings are written by other people. My favorite Willie is the Red Headed Stranger period. Not the early derivative stuff like Crazy or Night Life stuff.

That said, I think the latest album is interesting.
Agree, and agree. Did you hear the story of when he submitted RHS to the suits? Story goes, they rejected it, saying they wanted the final cut, not the basement demo version. After an ensuing argument, the president said “let him have it his way. When it flops, maybe he’ll listen next time”. It became the best selling sound track to date upon release. Ever since, they listen to him.

RHS and Barbarosa are my two favorite western flops, by the way. Can recite entire scripts verbatim! (I know…get a life)
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  #35  
Old 05-26-2022, 03:53 PM
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For me personally it is all about the song (lyrics and melody combined). I didn't listen to what was most popular even as a kid. My favorite songs have usually been ones that didn't get airplay or weren't released as singles. You can't measure success of a songwriter the same way you measure success as a performer. There have been several examples of songwriters mentioned in this tread that have been writing for a long time. To those I would like to add Rodney Crowell. He is still releasing new songs that are articulate and finely crafted. He never had a stunning commercial success on his own but has written some timeless songs.
As a guitar player I can't think of any songs that I play that have been hits. I am just not interested. Many that I play are unknown to many people. I would not like to play just what everyone knows.
Sorry for the rant. I think this is my longest post to date.
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  #36  
Old 05-27-2022, 09:53 AM
Denny B Denny B is offline
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Originally Posted by nowgypsy View Post
For me personally it is all about the song (lyrics and melody combined). I didn't listen to what was most popular even as a kid. My favorite songs have usually been ones that didn't get airplay or weren't released as singles. You can't measure success of a songwriter the same way you measure success as a performer. There have been several examples of songwriters mentioned in this tread that have been writing for a long time. To those I would like to add Rodney Crowell. He is still releasing new songs that are articulate and finely crafted. He never had a stunning commercial success on his own but has written some timeless songs.
As a guitar player I can't think of any songs that I play that have been hits. I am just not interested. Many that I play are unknown to many people. I would not like to play just what everyone knows.
Sorry for the rant. I think this is my longest post to date.

I'm a big Rodney Crowell fan, but you're quite mistaken about him never having a "stunning commercial success on his own."

From Wiki:

Diamonds & Dirt is an album by American singer-songwriter Rodney Crowell, released in 1988. His fifth studio album, it was his second release for Columbia Records. The album was his most successful, achieving RIAA gold certification. All five of its singles reached Number One on the Billboard country charts, setting a record for the most Number One hits from a country album. In order of release, they were "It's Such a Small World" (a duet with then-wife Rosanne Cash), "I Couldn't Leave You If I Tried", "She's Crazy for Leavin", "After All This Time", and a cover of Buck Owens' "Above and Beyond (The Call of Love)".

Stunning, indeed.

I wore that LP out and the tape never came out of my car for the longest time...
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Last edited by Denny B; 05-27-2022 at 06:01 PM.
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  #37  
Old 05-28-2022, 03:40 PM
Joe Beamish Joe Beamish is offline
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I never heard any of those tunes. I do like Bluebird Wine, as covered by Emmylou Harris.
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  #38  
Old 05-28-2022, 04:28 PM
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Originally Posted by Bob from Brooklyn View Post
Think about it. Lennon, McCartney, Fogerty, Elton, Sting, Gibb brothers, etc. have like a 5 year period where they are white-hot. Do their skills fade or is the public just ready to move on?
They give you your whole life to write your first album. Then they give you six months to write your second album... third album... etc.
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  #39  
Old 05-29-2022, 05:25 AM
Bob from Brooklyn Bob from Brooklyn is offline
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Originally Posted by Al Acuff View Post
They give you your whole life to write your first album. Then they give you six months to write your second album... third album... etc.
Well in the case of the artists I named they had many albums of success. I believe, as Mr. Womack so ably stated, that it is more the musical act, not the songwriter, that runs out of steam.
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  #40  
Old 05-29-2022, 06:49 AM
Joe Beamish Joe Beamish is offline
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Originally Posted by Bob from Brooklyn View Post
Well in the case of the artists I named they had many albums of success. I believe, as Mr. Womack so ably stated, that it is more the musical act, not the songwriter, that runs out of steam.

There could be some truth to that. Plus the record labels like to force artists to repeat the same stuff instead of evolve or change. This I am sure can stifle creativity.

Also, I think most artists (even among the most commercially successful) have only so much to “say” before repeating themselves. There are some exceptions, but not many.
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  #41  
Old 05-29-2022, 08:36 AM
tbeltrans tbeltrans is offline
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Q: Do songwriters have a limited shelf life?
A: Nah, they just smell that way.

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  #42  
Old 05-29-2022, 08:42 AM
j3ffr0 j3ffr0 is offline
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All the examples cited by the OP are songwriters who are first known as performers. I'd say that most of these artist/songwriter types do have a shelf life. Some combination of the public moving on (things going out of styes), as well as them having a limit range of that performance thing they do as well as that song writing thing they do.... however brilliant... range/style/genre limited.

I would say that professional song writers who's names are much less common in the public do not have as limited of a shelf life. Some have specialties.... but they don't have a following that expects to hear certain things from them. They have chosen a profession where they are not in the public eye as much as an artist/songwriter. I can't really think of many, because their names are known to me either... but perhaps Ala Menken is an example of someone who eventually achieved success as a song writer. He was good enough to get paid to do work, and he did good enough work that he continued to get paid to do more.

Also worth noting that there are many great songs that no one has ever heard by songwriters and artists that no one has ever really heard of. Songs sit there unconsumed.... some age better than others, but the truly great ones don't expire... even if no one really hears them.
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