I've been told that I play corny music, ie Ragtime Annie, Tennessee Wagoner, Spanish Two Step, etal. So, what is corny music? To me, the type songs I listed are not corny, but to some it is. So, I ask again, what is corny music? Is old time rock and roll corny music to someone who is into punk and rap?
-------- Wisdom does not always come with old age. Sometimes old age arrives alone.
All subcultures thrive on making distinctions between what is really cool, hot, with-it, badass, nifty, copacetic, dandy, ice, far out, hip, fresh....and what is not.
Corny is one sort of "not."
But as you'll notice from the list of terms in the first paragraph, the terms used to denote the good stuff change over time, and at any given historical moment, a list of those terms contains some terms that have themselves become sorta corny with the passage of time. Anybody remember "Twenty-three skidoo!"? That flapper's bob-cut looks really....fresh, honey.
Last Edited by on Jun 06, 2012 10:00 AM
I've got a couple songs that I've written that are designed to be corny. One's called Space Cowboy, and the other one, Wet Dog, is a bunch of dog puns. When I play them for laughs they are funny. When I play them straight they are corny. But that's just scratching the surface. The corniest song of all time, in my opinion, is a song that was meant to be very serious- Red Sovine's Teddy Bear Song. I can't listen to it without bursting into laughter. When you can step back from a 'serious' song and see where the writer is deliberately pulling on your heart strings you are likely floating through the corny zone. A lot of it is very relative though. I'd say it's when the audience is not connecting with the emotional content of the music in the way the artist intends.
I was told my sound was "hokey"...I was thrilled! I can wear hokey no problem. ---------- Sun, sun, sun Burn, burn, burn Soon, soon, soon Moon, moon, moon
nacoran, you almost hit the nail on the head...it is a can of worms but it's All subjective.
billy shines, lawrence welk may be corny to you, certainly not my cup of tea, but all of his musicians could play their butts off. not many of us here could hold their instrument cases. he and the tonight show kept many good musicians in work for a number of years.
Corn is in the ear of the beholder. (pun intended) It all depends on the audience. If you play "Amazing Grace" in church, the congregation might find it uplifting. If you play "Amazing Grace" at a Heavy Metal concert, the crowd will be wondering who died! I think it depends largely on why you play too. If you play for yourself, who cares? But if you learned to play because you want to attract the ladies, well, you might want to learn some tunes from Justin Bieber, Neil Diamond and John Denver. I think most of us play a variety of genres. I enjoy bluegrass and gospel, but wouldn't play it at a blues jam. I also wouldn't play "I got Mojo Working" in church. I think it is all subjective. Except for Slim Whitman, no one wants to hear that. (Just kidding Sarge)
Last Edited by on Jun 07, 2012 1:33 PM
I have been practicing my train rhythms very hard the past week. I also went to a poetry slam and read a poem I wrote. Allow me to indulge myself by passing on a quote from the poetry slam from a young lady (younger than my daughter) verbatim: "Fuck Eric. How I enjoy that poem. Congratulations for taking out the slam the other night x". What's corn? I don't give a S*%T what people think. I play what I want, how I want. No matter how good you are, there's gonna be haters. That's their choice. My choice is to ignore them. I am going to make fritters now with all the corn I'm generating.
One man's princess is another man's sweat hog. One man's freedom fighter is another man's terrorist. One man's inspirational music is another man's corny material. Etc.
Except for train rhythms, of course.
Last Edited by on Jun 06, 2012 3:29 PM
Among his various other gigs, the guitar player in my duo runs a Monday night open mic. I don't really like the acoustic guitar/vocal thing, but when i have time I'll show up at the end of the night and play few tunes with my guitar player (who plays electric) and we use it as a de facto rehearsal.
Anyway, there's this guy who comes in regularly who writes some pretty bizarre poetry and has a decent singing voice. He always asks the guitar player and i to vamp behind him while he reads poetry and sings. Pretty cool most of the time, almost always fun and certainly different. But definitely not corny.
My 10 year old niece thinks Blues is corny she doesnt say corny but its the same way she thinks about it,Hell most my friends think blues is corny,SO I did a song on my 3 string thats played on a distortion setting and has some hard drums behind it,Its rocked out,I been doing allright in the charts on reverbnation in blues and also all genre,Im listed in blues ,(although Im not blues im blusey;-)After her ragging on me and blues,I thought hey I have some rock songs,So I moved myself over to rock,And because of the ranking of my ALL genre I was able to be put on the top spot for locals arouns here for Rock,I had her listen to the rocked out CBG song and showed her the spot i was in the rock charts,Which one of our friends is a rocker that she really digs and I was 35 spots ahead of him,And she kinda admitted maybe some of my music aint corny;-) but she still hates the blues. ---------- Hobostubs
I have also been told that I play "hick" music. I guess I could be deemed as a hick so that description of my music is appropriate. ---------- Wisdom does not always come with old age. Sometimes old age arrives alone.
I think that if you like and enjoy a style of music, whether it is old or new, corny or not, then learn it and play it. To hell with any labels people put on it.
It may or may not work commercially, but you will have the pleasure of having played it, and it will build skill in playing other styles that will serve you well later. And maybe, you will gather an audience by getting off the current beaten path of music in your area and get gigs by being different.
I came to this forum with a different question, but this thread seems like an ideal place to ask it. Apparently I missed a friend give a brilliant performance of Alberta Hunter's Send me a Man: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=miMTR0ie0_E But when I listened to it, I felt like asking this question: Am I the only person to find the sexual innuendo in these songs very, very tedious in the long run? Should I have started a new thread? ---------- Andrew. ----------------------------------------- https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000874537399
Last Edited by on Jun 08, 2012 2:42 AM
Sarge, obviously you opened a can of worms here. Funny how consumers- whether they pay for the privilege or just have an opinion (we know what opinions are like), think they know what is worthwhile and what's not. Some years ago i had a set to play with Jolene and it was early in our duo career. after we'd done our set I overheard a guy I had thought was either a supporter or at least on the fence, say some absolutely cruel things about my playing, our duo, and the tone we set in general. After which he took the stage and played in a totally different style than i would ever play. I think we did not connect on an "art" footing, but it was news to me. And to have someone pass judgement felt like something of a betrayal after we had shared compliments with each other not long before that.
The first thing I always wonder is, do the naysayers have any skill at all to do something positive? Do they USE that skill? If so, then why do they want to decide who is hip and who is not? The couple seated next to a detractor may very well totally love what you're doing. The negative voice seems sometimes to be the loudest.
"Corny" seems to change as one grows older and evolves.
I think that the musicians on Lawrence Welk are awesome, even if that squeaky clean look and sparkling smiles are a bit too sweet, but I can always close my eyes and listen.
Have also evolved to where Polka Music is pretty cool by understanding the culture and happiness it brings.
Have also seen some excellent yodel style Bavarian stuff that knocks me out. ---------- The Iceman
KingoBad, Americana is good, thanks. Maybe I'll change my moniker to Americana Sarge. jbone, I don't see how anyone could say anything bad about your playing. ---------- Wisdom does not always come with old age. Sometimes old age arrives alone.
Adj. 1. corny - dull and tiresome but with pretensions of significance or originality; "bromidic sermons" platitudinal, platitudinous, bromidic unoriginal - not original; not being or productive of something fresh and unusual; "the manuscript contained unoriginal emendations"; "his life had been unoriginal, conforming completely to the given pattern"- Gwethalyn Graham WordNet 3.0 Princeton University
corny adjective (Slang) 1. unoriginal, banal, trite, hackneyed, dull, old-fashioned, stereotyped, commonplace, feeble, stale, cheesy (informal), old hat I know it sounds corny, but I'm not motivated by money. 2. sentimental, cheesy (informal), mushy (informal), maudlin, slushy (informal), mawkish, schmaltzy (slang) a corny old love song Collins Thesaurus of the English Language
If we think about it, we would all agree that we've suffered through corny music at some point in our lives. We might not agree about specific music, but surely we all agree there is such a thing as corny music (as there is "corn" in art in all mediums-- think of the black velvet paintings of a teary eyed child (or Elvis?) you've seen in your neighbour's house or apartment through the decades.)
So.. corny music for me? I haven't listened to pop music for a long while, but going way back, Patti Page singing "How Much Is That Doggie In The Window?" or, from the same decade, Elvis singing "Old Shep".
Corny blues? Any white blues singer affecting a growl with his voice to sound "black". Don't jump on me.
Andrew, I tend to run my metaphors through a whole song. I wouldn't run the same metaphor out song after song though. I also write some songs that aren't about what they sound like they are about. I think because of our sexual taboos 'sex song metaphors with coded meanings' get's used a lot. When you through in deliberate double entendres that are meant for everyone to get for a laugh you've got a pretty specific song, and lot's of versions of it. Everything in moderation. :)
Trains songs and chugging are the ultimate sly sexual innuendo. Engine's humming. Hear that whistle blow! I've got a song called "Getting Off at Redfern" which is Aussie slang for coitus interruptus -- Redfern is a stop before Central Station. Whenever I play it, I can see couples leaning toward each other, whispering and smiling. Another good reason to play train rhythms. I realised the other day while I was busy planting corn that you don't necessarily practice train songs just to sound like a train. It's great for breath control and adding the in-betweeny bits that keep the rhythm and groove going, and the breath happening, especially when you're playing solo. I think the pros do it often without thinking. I don't have a train chug I'm happy with yet, but I think it's down to my lack of application. There is certainly a lot of material on "how to do a train" out there. I aim to rectify that though. Time to plant some more...
Couple years ago Adam was the man who got me chuggin on his youtube lessons, i luv chuggin, i also chug too many beers and then start chuggin and whistle blowin, @bronze, the reason i'm here is my daddy forgot to get off at Redfern.(Wiley park b4 Punchbowl but i'm sure you understand) @billy, i cant figure out how to upload links etc but yt has "how to" stuff and the vid is there about telephone mic's, you can hear it on the harmonica boogie site, sounds crappy but thru a 'smokey amp' not too bad.
@Stan. Many times I have forgotten to keep an eye on the indicators (wink wink) before boarding (ahem) and found myself bound for the wrong destination (nudge nudge).
Nate. You beets me to it. rbeetsme, I was a-maized at your cornmnets. You started it after all. "Corn is in the ear of the beholder. (pun intended)" You reap what you sow. An eye for an eye. An ear for an ear and all that.
the mouthpeice is a carbon mic you need a 6-9 volt battery to make it hot. if it plugs in and works without a battery its the earpiece speaker not the carbon microphone.
Sarge, I like that! I think corny is largely in the presentation. For some reason I think that would busk very well in a park with people walking by with their families, balloons, maybe at a street fair.
Well played Sarge. I agree with Nate that it would be a good busking song. Solid rhythm, recognisable and danceable. I can see little kids jumping around with glee. If you played it once at "normal" speed then once say 30% faster it would be super cool.
I agree hvyj. Thanks nacoran and BronzeWailer. Living in a small town of 106 people, busking is not very profitable. ---------- Wisdom does not always come with old age. Sometimes old age arrives alone.
