Glad you made a comment, I just sit around think too-much.<
Think too much ? I doubt it. Mental exercise is usually more
beneficial than physical excercise.
But you can bet your bottom dollar county music is true life. <
Maybe YOUR bottom dollar. : ) Kind of explains why ALL gamblers are
not just broke, even worse, they're actually in debt . Gambling is an
addiction and like all addictions the result is always the same and
it's never pretty.
Country music doesn't have a copyright on "true life' . Most all
great music is "true life" . I was just listening to Glen Campbell,
and within a 20 minute span, I heard him cover "My Girl", "Bonaparte's
Retreat", "Lovesick Blues", "Highwayman" and "Marie" . Now before I
give you or anyone who may not know these songs a little infornation
about them, allow me to preface my remarks by saying this was a
compilation tape of Glen Campbell's songs that I made strictly for my
own enjoyment, and are chronologically in order, and I'm gonna guess
they're from the late 70's to the early 80's and are obviously among
my favorites by him. Secondly, as anyone who's been here more than a
couple of weeks will tell you, I'm NOT a HUGE fan of Glen Campbell.
Having said that , here goes :
"My Girl" was a Motown (read black) smash from probably the mid 60's
by I think the Temptations, but it could have been Smokey Robinson, I
forget.
"Bonaparte's Retreat" was a traditional old fiddle tune that some
folks believe may have had it's origin with bagpipes at Waterloo. Glen
actually included bagpipes on his recording .
"Lovesick Blues" was originally a 1920's Tin Pan Alley song that of
course became Hank Williams first #1 song at radio. The rest is
history.
"Highwayman" was another in a long line of Jimmy Webb songs that Glen
Campbell had unbelievable success with. What makes this special, of
course is that although it didn't do much for Glen it went on to be a
#1 hit years later for Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings and
Kris Kristofferson and actually led to them becoming known naturally
as "The Highwaymen" .
"Marie" finally was / is one of the most powerful songs I personally
have EVER heard, and I first heard it by I believe the writer, Randy
Newman almost 40 years ago, and even today listening to Glen Campbell
sing it, it still stops me in my tracks. Has a very Tom T. Hall like
honesty where the mesage is just so powerful, the music almost ceases
to exist and almost doesn't even matter.
Anyhow five songs, none of which is either traditionally "country" or
has traditional country arrangements, but all of which are 'true life"
as you say, and all work for me with Glen's interpretations.
By the way who was the fresh face 4 years ago?.<
LOL ! In all honesty when I wrote the post I couldn't even remember
his name, but now I remember it was Howard Dean. Does ANYONE even
remember him, now ?