"We'll just wait until it comes around on the ole
guitar ...", as Arlo once said. This thread always
kills me, because the results of the poll clearly show
EXACTLY who's been responding. Happens everytime we
do it ...
To Paul IV's comparison of songwriters and baseball
players ... that's not exactly a proper analogy.
Baseball is a constant physical challenge that an
individual player's body either meets or does not as
he ages. *(please see note below)
Songwriting, on the other hand, is dynamic -- allowing
artists to change, grow and remain strong throughout
their career.
So it was that the entire game changed, as Joni grew.
She starts out on acoustic guitar. Then she gets a
band, and her songwriting changes. She gets into
jazz, it changes her songwriting ... blend pop and
jazz it changes again ... throw in a few keyboards &
guitar synths -- well you get the picture.
Sure, a certain set of common elements have remained
in her writing throughout her career ... the extended
phrasing, the poetic/phonetic polish, the alternate
tunings & unique chord voicings. But I at least,
would be hard-put to rank "Night In The City" and say,
"Strange Boy", "The Beat of Black Wings" & "Harlem In
Havana" in any kind of truly relevant compositional
way. They are simply different species of song
written by the same artist.
Which is a round about way of saying ... we know what
we like. Not that I, or anyone else was taking the
poll literally! ;-)
Don Rowe
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