i think about all the classic blues songs out of the 50`s and 60`s and look at the last 40 years it seems that great blues songs are far and few between.there are more people playing blues now,so you would think there would be lots of great songs,i don`t see many.is there too much rehashing the classics??
it's been said that there is nothing new under the sun. meaning that it's all been done. when you get down to it there are only so many basic topics. like in literature, where the topics are man against man, man against nature, and man against self. i can put any song title or the topic of any blues song in one of these categories. there are really not that many song structures either. there are a few different tempos and tricks for getting different emphasis on the musical phrasing.
what IS unique is how individuals interpret their unique take on blues and how they communicate that. sure, stormy monday, king bee, etc etc, have all been done, and sometimes done very well indeed. but along with individuals doing great and good jobs covering songs, we have individuals who are currently writing material based out of their unique experience and laced with their own particular skill set and emphasis.
not everyone is destined for greatness in writing their own takes on life. master card blues, or my hummer has a flat, my baby doesn't like our new $500k house, do not count. my baby left me flat, that counts. my losses send me on a downward spiral that has blues song potential counts if it's raw and real.
some of us want to just make great music based on what's already done. there are some really fine songs out there. others create as best they can from their own experiences and do a good job but these days if it isn't hiphop, country, or some sort of high powered classical, chances are the splash will be much smaller than it would have been pre- rock and roll and pre- formula marketing like we see today.
i write in the classic style of blues and swing and even leaning toward folk or country blues. we're about to shop our songs around and see if any established stars want to buy any of them. it would be very cool to have something we wrote go to the charts!
i write out of my own working class poor background, from hand me down clothes to humble meals on the table to heartbreak to roaming the nation looking for my place in the bigger picture. it's never been as bad as the originators had it no matter how bad i felt. but it has its own validity. i have been fortunate to be able to have enough of a job to get some really great harps and gear and keep a roof over my head and my loved one's head for some years now. we've been able to afford to hang out in the delta with some real blues guys. i have had some real blessings in my life, sometimes they didn't seem like that at the time but hindsight and a clever turn of phrase has brought me satisfaction if nothing else.
i say it like this: if you are tired of what's been written and done and redone, go out on a limb and put pen to paper and try your hand at writing and arranging and performing. ---------- http://www.reverbnation.com/jawboneandjolene
If we sing about what is going on in our life and the world around us, it is an instant classic. IMO most people try to emulate the past and bring the safe subjects into songs. Even when most sing of a controversial topic they keep it pretty tame. It seems entertainment is more a focus than art. The old songs addressed the times of the players and they let their message come out. The guys from the 60's like dylan did the same. This was true of all roots music but seems to be fading as the norm today as a form of entertainment. Walter ---------- walter tore's spontobeat - a real one man band and over 1 million spontaneously created songs and growing. I record about 300 full length cds a year. " life is a daring adventure or nothing at all" - helen keller
thanks! I added more to the post. Walter ---------- walter tore's spontobeat - a real one man band and over 1 million spontaneously created songs and growing. I record about 300 full length cds a year. " life is a daring adventure or nothing at all" - helen keller
Nice post JB I have a song I wrote I played it at a jam and Joe pitts was there and said that was a good blues when I get the courage up I will play at one of the Ar.river blues jam and see what happens.
I recorded these yesterday. they were inspired by this post. For me, life is too short to sing stuff other than the never ending real blues going on in our world today. IMO Blues will forever be modern or ancient depending on the content of the songs. Here are the songs with no sugar coating. Walter
Joe_L: If these become hits I will give you 30% of the take :-)
conflict- the root of our world walls of shame 1 world 1 tear 1 joy 1 hope easy to make $ off greed and war enslaved children chained to walls till they die mankind uses politics & religons to legitimize his immoralities
---------- walter tore's spontobeat - a real one man band and over 1 million spontaneously created songs and growing. I record about 300 full length cds a year. " life is a daring adventure or nothing at all" - helen keller
See Taylor Swift. That kid could write a song about breaking wind and it would be a hit. Writing a blues song and making it a hit would probably be impossible for her? But she has the skills to give it a go...
Willie Dixon died. That's why there are no new classics.
I think it's about writing. Walter is on the right track in that he writes everyday so his sense of songwriting is improving rapidly.
In the harp world, who is known as a writer? Estrin,McCain, Harman and the list stops pretty quick. It is not that there aren't other writers, Piazza writes but I feel it's a weak point. Portnoy is a great writer but is somehow overlooked.
I spent my first 10 years writing like crazy and still have some tunes I perform from that era. I got upset when someone criticized me and I basically quit. I keep trying to revitalize it. I think writing separates the men from the boys when it comes to saying something musically.
Hi Michael: Thanks but I have never written a song. I just sing them as they come out of me. That is what Spontobeat is all about-spontaneous words and music everytime I play music. It is a forgein concept for most musicians to think about doing full time. Writing and repeating is not my thing. For me true music comes out unfiltered. That is what I do. I dig lots of written songs but have no interest in playing in that kind of arena. Every minute of life is a song if we let it out uncensorded Walter ---------- walter tore's spontobeat - a real one man band and over 1 million spontaneously created songs and growing. I record about 300 full length cds a year. " life is a daring adventure or nothing at all" - helen keller
Sorry Walter, but I disagree with you. Improvising a song once and letting it go into the air is writing in my book. Plus, you record lots of your songs, which means they a written down in a sense.
I think what you do not do is rewrite.
Last Edited by on Mar 21, 2012 6:11 AM
Hi Michael: I hear you but I don't write. I go into a dream like trance and stories unfold not in words but in images. I walk into the story. Like when I sing about austin I am literally back there. I see, smell, taste, feel, everything. If it is about addiction I am junkie, etc. I am a time traveler that enters souls and experiences their stories. I have caught a lot of flack for sharing these things but no longer care what people think cause I know where I go. Writing to me means paper and pencil. Singing them involves only my mouth and soul. I never have enjoyed writing. It is physically painful. Being a special education teacher I have learned that is a disorder. Keyboard typing is much less stressful for me. That is the history of why I don't write :-) Thanks. Walter
---------- walter tore's spontobeat - a real one man band and over 1 million spontaneously created songs and growing. I record about 300 full length cds a year. " life is a daring adventure or nothing at all" - helen keller
A huge part of what makes a song a hit is repetition. The more people hear it the more they know what to expect from the song and the artist performing it and it becomes ingrained in the mind. This was explained to me in great detail several times by roger slovine, the then head of BMI. He wanted me to woodshed my songs with nashville ghost writers and he would personally take me to the major labels. All I had to do was sign with BMI, fire my band, not play guitar, very very little harp, and sing with a handpicked band behind me (and I didn't get to pick), sing the songs everynight, and he assured me major label success. He said I have great song ideas but they are not buffed enough. I said no and he said fine, just be content to play small dives to nobody the rest of my life. He said when I got tired of that to call him. I found special education teaching, went to college, and here I type this note during my lunch break, getting ready to head down to the harmonica college weekend and could't be happier cause if you aren't yourself what point is there in living! I have had many such encounters with the big wheels. They say they love you and the first thing they want to do is wreck who you are. A good beat helps but pop music will prove that musical content is not all that important........... Walter ---------- walter tore's spontobeat - a real one man band and over 1 million spontaneously created songs and growing. I record about 300 full length cds a year. " life is a daring adventure or nothing at all" - helen keller
look at a song like "Ican`t quit you babe" done by Willie Dixon, Otis Rush or Led Zepplin ...classic blues, poetic lyrics and bluesiest guitar lines.songs like this are far and few between.you can here 100 songs that beat around the bush but don`t grab you.but a song like "Ican`t quit you babe" you`ll never forget,classic.......
