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| From | <zoogang@cox.net> |
| Subject | Re: McCartney is God Get over it |
| Date | Wed, 25 Apr 2007 10:25:34 -0400 |
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There is a perception that those of us who grew up in the sixties "know better" when it comes to music than folks who grew up in any succeeding decade. I guess that's because us sixties cats think we grew up in a time where songs were songs written by professional songwriters who knew how to structure a tune.
Well, I think there's a good measure of truth to this. And please don't call me an aging whiner--I really believe that songs in general were better written, arranged and performed in the sixties and into the seventies (but not when it comes to disco).
Whether this applies to Macca and other songwriters and performers who came up in the sixties and are still in the game today is up for discussion. I mean, I'm like the biggest Macca fan on the planet, and even I don't like everything he does, and I'm not afraid to say it. But I don't compare what he's doing now, or has done since the Beatles broke up, to the songs he wrote and performed as a Fab. There is just no comparison.
As far as pledging allegiance to Macca, well, I would suspect that he deserves more than a bit of that, just for being one of the four geniuses who set the standard for great pop music (yes, Ringo's a genius, too). Blind allegiance--well, that's another thing entirely.
And speaking of other things, there is a tendency for some people to come out and tear apart new music by McCartney, sometimes even before they've heard it. I'll listen first and reserve my judgment for after taking the record for a couple of spins.
The new song is great, an instant favorite. Whether the new album will also be great is another thing. I hope it is.
If I ever meet Macca, I just know the only things that will be going through my head are: 1, Macca is God; 2, Hey, it's one of the Beatles; 3, I'll never wash this hand, and 4, I'll never wash the other hand either, just in case he touched it too. Oh, and 5, all of the above.
Alan
http://www.buhdge.com
http://www.purepopradio.com
---- "Sager wrote:
> Date: Tue, 24 Apr 2007 20:03:48 -0400
> From: mogleyb@aol.com
> To: audities@smoe.org
> Subject: McCartney is God Get over it
> Message-ID: <8C954E455AAA409-B18-7D28@FWM-R08.sysops.aol.com>
>
> Imo <<
>
>
> Since it was established in pop culture years ago that "Clapton is God",
> I guess that this makes us all polytheists.
>
> Seriously, the only thing I've gotten over where McCartney or his three
> '60s associates are concerned is the feeling that I'm somehow expected
> to give obeisance to the unblinking Beatles worship still widely
> practiced within pop culture -- and I say that as someone who has an
> abiding love of the Fab Four's music. Paul McCartney has thoroughly
> established over the past three decades that he has feet of clay as both
> a songwriter and a creative force in the studio, and I can't understand
> why anyone would still subscribe to the credo that Macca somehow
> operates on some other plane above everyone else as a recording artist.
>
> Perhaps it's a generational thing. I'm not a child of the '60s (I was a
> child *in* the '60s), so my allegiance to the era of the Beatles is
> neither hyperbolic nor suffused with the type of nostalgia that deadens
> the critical faculties. I consider myself lucky to be a child of a
> decade (the '70s) that didn't have an artist or group who was so
> overwhelming both in terms of cultural impact and musical regard that it
> made such imperative demands upon my loyalty. I don't think we're ever
> going to see many fortysomethings post messages to Audities entitled
> "Fleetwood Mac is God Get over it" or "Kiss is God Get over it".
>
> (I'm holding out hope that Bruce Brodeen sends us a post called "Foghat
> is God Get over It", though. ;-) )
>
> At this point I view Paul McCartney as a very good songwriter and
> recording artist ... but, given his highly-erratic success rate, I can
> think of numerous other people I rank above him in both of those
> categories.
>
> Sorry to dump a teaspoon of heresy into your morning coffee, but that's
> how I roll.
>
>
> Greg Sager
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