Stevie, Lindsey and Christine: all nominees for Songwriters Hall of Fame 2006

[Brwn_eyes0511]

Originally Posted by dissention

I simply cannot tell you how many people I see bouncing up and down on their hydraulics-enhanced rides grooving to "Skies the Limit."

Who the hell knows that song?

Well not THAT one as much as Everywhere. But I can promise you more people know Skies the Limit then they do Welcome to the room...Sara! At least Skies the Limit was a single that did manage to gain some impressions.

[dissention]

Originally Posted by Brwn_eyes0511

At least Skies the Limit was a single that did manage to gain some impressions.

My bare foot in wet sand makes more of an impression.

[Brwn_eyes0511]

Originally Posted by dissention

My bare foot in wet sand makes more of an impression.

I mean radio impressions dear...it did crack AC right?

[Serrart]

Originally Posted by dissention

In what ways?

Lyrically, I can't think of anything any of the Fleetwood Maccers have written that can even stand next to Mitchell's "Ladies of the Canyon" and "This Flight Tonight." Hell, even "For Free" pierces right through me on a lyrical level and remarkably illustrates the beauty of music into something that's almost tangible.

They don't have any remarkable ways with words and their lyrics generally come off as quite awkward, though Christine McVie comes closest amongst the three. Her simplistic lyrics can be trite and dull, but not only are they the most accessible, but they're the most human. Her writing contains no sense of pretension, no sly backslaps that congratulate herself for including bizarre references that no one but the writer can possibly understand. Being accessible does not equate with actually being good, but it does in her case. Sandwiched between two extremes, it becomes painfully obvious how much talent and discipline it takes to compose a simple little ditty about love without having to depend on any sort of schtick to sell it.

Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks essentially rely on stringing together various eccentricities and recylced motifs without much regard or forethought for the end result. Sometimes it works, other times it fails miserably.

JMO.

What you find accessibile, couldn't be for me. Sometimes what is written as plain and simple is interpreted as the result of a complex summary of meanings, and sometimes is. Simplicity is a code too, it can be misleading as all the others, and hasn't any added value in respect to more hermetic approachs, or to the use of motifs, that is a language in itself, IMO. It all returns to the emotions a certain body of work has created, to the impact it had on people .

Romy

[gldstwmn]

Originally Posted by Brwn_eyes0511

But people actually KNOW those songs!

You're right. I've heard them in elevators all across the USA.

[dissention]

Originally Posted by gldstwmn

You're right. I've heard them in elevators all across the USA.

Cool. I generally hear them in pharmacies.

[Brwn_eyes0511]

Originally Posted by gldstwmn

You're right. I've heard them in elevators all across the USA.

And you hear Welcome to the room...Sara!....where exactly?

[gldstwmn]

Originally Posted by Brwn_eyes0511

And you hear Welcome to the room...Sara!....where exactly?

In my heart, snark ass.

[sparky]

Originally Posted by Brwn_eyes0511

And you hear Welcome to the room...Sara!....where exactly?

In a few of my more nagging and terrorized nightmares.

[strandinthewind]

Originally Posted by sparky

In a few of my more nagging and terrorized nightmares.

reading my PM's or soon thereafter

[Johnny Stew]

Originally Posted by Serrart

What you find accessibile, couldn't be for me. Sometimes what is written as plain and simple is interpreted as the result of a complex summary of meanings, and sometimes is. Simplicity is a code too, it can be misleading as all the others, and hasn't any added value in respect to more hermetic approachs, or to the use of motifs, that is a language in itself, IMO. It all returns to the emotions a certain body of work has created, to the impact it had on people.

When it comes to technical proficiency, both lyrically and vocally, Stevie comes up lacking. That's a fact I've never denied (though the folks who dislike either me or my opinions, spin my comments to make it seem that way). But Stevie's lyrics have an abstract and esoteric quality that I react to viscerally. I enjoy the fact that her songs can't be easily pillaged for Hallmark greeting card-style quotes, and that the majority of them can't easily be bastardized as a cover tune for some other artist.

I respect something that's "perfectly" written (and, yes, there are times when I think Stevie could have better written a line or two), but, in the end, if the piece doesn't make me feel something, then I have no interest. Words are cold and impersonal... so it's up to the songwriter to infuse them with character and passion. And "know how" can never match instinct.

As I've said many times, to no avail, it's not that I'm blind to Stevie's limitations as a songwriter... it's just that, to me, it's those very limitations that make the songs so unique and appealing. She doesn't write songs that could have been written by anyone... she writes songs that could only have been written by Stevie Nicks, right or wrong, good or bad.
Sometimes her viewpoint is keen, other times it's myopic or off-kilter... but it's always unapologetically Stevie's.

Otherwise she might as well just be Diane Warren or Desmond Child.

[dissention]

Originally Posted by Serrart

What you find accessibile, couldn't be for me.

That's why I stated that it was my opinion, Romy.

[GypsySongbird]

Originally Posted by markolas

Are you high???

must be

[GypsySongbird]

Originally Posted by sparky

In a few of my more nagging and terrorized nightmares.

[jadegypsy]

Funny this whole Joni Mitchelle thing...I never thought she would end up ranked below Chris or Lindsey...

I gotta say after listening to the album Blue she ranks up there with the best: Lennon/McCartney, Morrison (and yes he belongs), Page/Plant, CSN&Y...Dylan is of course in another building...

And if pushed I might even say Joni is better then Nicks, simply b/c Joni writes songs on more variations of themes (environment, protest, love, loss...)But Stevie is Stevie and her best songs rank up there with anyone, just that I find they are dealing on a much more personal level then a global level and that is what sometimes makes me find her limited...everything is very much an "I" perspective.

As for Chis's simpler songs being trite, well it's kinda like calling McCartneys songs trite, they may not be as abstract as her bandmates songs but they are some of the best constructed pop songs around...but unlike McCartneys I find few of Chris's songs that have much beneth the surface...so I don't rank her with the previously mentioned writters.