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Taylor Swift I just don't get it

Axcel said:
for those posters here that refer to her as a song writer may I quote a lyric from one of her songs> " she wears short shorts I wear T shirts" song writer ya
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Well, since the comparison has been make, how about one from the Almighty Bob Dylan?
"Don't wanna be a bum
You better chew gum"
 
Axcel said:
for those posters here that refer to her as a song writer may I quote a lyric from one of her songs> " she wears short shorts I wear T shirts" song writer ya
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this is just a subset of the entire song , It's so easy to take a small bit and judge such an epic songwriter , I'm sure there is warmth and depth to the remaining material.:scratch2:
 
Axcel, you can relax. You're not required to get it. Think of it like social security. You don't get it until age 65. :D
 
For perspective, I have lived in Texas almost all my life. My definition of country may be slightly different than yours if you did not grow up listening to Willie, Waylon, Ray Wylie, and the other cosmic cowboys. That being said, here is a list of new country (or old artists w/ new albums) that is worth listening to:

Sara Jarosz
http://www.sarahjarosz.com/music.html This chick plays banjo, mandolin, guitar, sings lead and writes her own lyrics. Did I mention she's 17? Taylor Swift has nothing, I mean NOTHING on this girl. Check out Song Up in Her Head and her cover of Shankhill Butchers.

Ryan Bingham and the Dead Horses
http://www.binghammusic.com/#home (Dylan's Hard Rain is great, so is bread and water)

Todd Snider
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8eOOzs9nuQM (he is freakin awesome!)
do not click this 2nd link if:
a- you have no sense of humor
b- you are at work
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DVkPKIo2Kew

Charlie Robison (though some may think his new stuff is a little too rockin)
http://www.charlierobison.com/myspace.php

Lyle Lovett

Roseanna Cash
http://www.rosannecash.com/ (the male voice harmonizing on Sea of Heartbeak is Bruce Springsteen)

Raoul Malo
http://www.raulmalo.com/music.html (check out tomorrow night)
 
TejasRichard said:
For perspective, I have lived in Texas almost all my life. My definition of country may be slightly different than yours if you did not grow up listening to Willie, Waylon, Ray Wylie, and the other cosmic cowboys. That being said, here is a list of new country (or old artists w/ new albums) that is worth listening to:

Sara Jarosz
http://www.sarahjarosz.com/music.html This chick plays banjo, mandolin, guitar, sings lead and writes her own lyrics. Did I mention she's 17? Taylor Swift has nothing, I mean NOTHING on this girl. Check out Song Up in Her Head and her cover of Shankhill Butchers.

Ryan Bingham and the Dead Horses
http://www.binghammusic.com/#home (Dylan's Hard Rain is great, so is bread and water)

Todd Snider
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8eOOzs9nuQM (he is freakin awesome!)
do not click this 2nd link if:
a- you have no sense of humor
b- you are at work
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DVkPKIo2Kew

Charlie Robison (though some may think his new stuff is a little too rockin)
http://www.charlierobison.com/myspace.php

Lyle Lovett

Roseanna Cash
http://www.rosannecash.com/ (the male voice harmonizing on Sea of Heartbeak is Bruce Springsteen)

Raoul Malo
http://www.raulmalo.com/music.html (check out tomorrow night)
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Good list , I was just joking around , hey you might like our latest and greatest County /Folk /indi band saltlick ( Eugene Oregon ) http://www.myspace.com/saltlick :thmbsp:
 
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I dont get her and think its a sorta sad commentary on not only Country music (I like) but all music in general. But on the other hand can we atleast say this is a somewhat upbeat and generally positive role model for young girls? I think that is a big deal, if they are gonna listen to what the radio God's throw at them...........and they will, it may as well be positive whenever possible, lord knows far too much must make parents of young kids and in particular girls at minimum concerned. Pop music is and always has been 90% fly by nite songs that disapear months after release into a black hole and much of this will too, but its better than "I kissed a girl and I liked it"....................................right?
 
RayW said:
Well, since the comparison has been make, how about one from the Almighty Bob Dylan?
"Don't wanna be a bum
You better chew gum"
Click to expand...

AMEN! Dylan vomits into a mic with for the most part simple lyrics that only flow in phrase yet folks always seem to "find" some deep meaning because they want to find it, and its gibberish yet its called art. Both are far too often equally simple, except Swift can actually sorta sing.
 
I'll unsub from this thread after my final comment.

The list of singers/songwriters that I "get" is a hell of a lot shorter than the list of those I don't get.
 
One final comment and I'll opt to remain silent.

Much of this conversation has devolved into our own concepts of "good" or "bad", and I think that's unfortunate. Whether or not Taylor Swift's music is good, bad or somewhere in between, is strictly a matter of personal opinion. Personally, I'm long past the point where the musings of a young person on the topics of love and romance are interesting to me. That's not to say I don't appreciate a young person's take on many subjects, but as I alluded earlier in this thread, I've lived that part of my life already, and young love (first love) just isn't a topic I'm interested in revisiting.

For what it's worth, it's not just a country music thing, that's an all music thing. I'm also long past musicians noodling away on their instruments without ever coming to a musical point (endless meandering solos would be an example). If the music doesn't service the story that's being told, I lose interest pretty quickly.

I would never try to tell any of you what you should like. I'm not presumptuous enough (or wise enough) to know that. I only know what I like. What I like (what I need) is music that speaks to my soul. Life is short, and no one is promised tomorrow. I simply don't want to waste 3 or 4 precious minutes on something I've heard a thousand times before.

The question that I would like for each of you to ask yourselves is this: If you knew that your life would end tomorrow, what music would you chose to listen to? Once you've decided what that music is, why aren't you listening to it now?
 
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Country music ain't what it used to be....for at least a decade or two, it's seemed to have placed itself into a country two-step(s) behind rock and roll and eventually incorporating Hip Hop stylings, in it's it's endeavor to "keep up" with the mediocre musical culture of today.
 
TejasRichard said:
For perspective, I have lived in Texas almost all my life. My definition of country may be slightly different than yours if you did not grow up listening to Willie, Waylon, Ray Wylie, and the other cosmic cowboys. That being said, here is a list of new country (or old artists w/ new albums) that is worth listening to:

Sara Jarosz
http://www.sarahjarosz.com/music.html This chick plays banjo, mandolin, guitar, sings lead and writes her own lyrics. Did I mention she's 17? Taylor Swift has nothing, I mean NOTHING on this girl. Check out Song Up in Her Head and her cover of Shankhill Butchers.

Ryan Bingham and the Dead Horses
http://www.binghammusic.com/#home (Dylan's Hard Rain is great, so is bread and water)

Todd Snider
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8eOOzs9nuQM (he is freakin awesome!)
do not click this 2nd link if:
a- you have no sense of humor
b- you are at work
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DVkPKIo2Kew

Charlie Robison (though some may think his new stuff is a little too rockin)
http://www.charlierobison.com/myspace.php

Lyle Lovett

Roseanna Cash
http://www.rosannecash.com/ (the male voice harmonizing on Sea of Heartbeak is Bruce Springsteen)

Raoul Malo
http://www.raulmalo.com/music.html (check out tomorrow night)
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Great list - I'd like to add some Radney Foster & Rodney Crowell to that list, for slight older acts considered "country" I like Prairie Oyster, Desert Rose Band, Vince Gill, Carlene Carter & Mary Chapin Carpenter... Great thread - I can't believe I read the whole thing...
:thmbsp:
 
fotno said:
The question that I would like for each of you to ask yourselves is this: If you knew that your life would end tomorrow, what music would you chose to listen to? Once you've decided what that music is, why aren't you listening to it now?
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If I knew I would die tomorrow, I would only listen to things that I've already heard and love--aka my favorite songs and bands--as a last hurrah. But if I knew I wasn't going to die tomorrow, I might take a chance on something I haven't heard yet. I love checking out new music or giving a chance to something that serves as a new take on old ideas. If it's not better than the old ideas, then I listen to it once but don't return to it.
 
I like music and all but if I had the knowledge of death in that short of time I would spend it doing much more important things than music.
 
As my "country" mother (RIP) used to say (she hailed from near Selma, AL), "that girl can't carry a tune in a bucket." Taylor Swift is sort of a cutie, but she has no vocal range whatsoever. I personally cannot stomach the contemporary country drivel coming out of Nashville. Compare this gal with Patsy Cline to see how far country has regressed.
 
fotno said:
Taylor Swift is just the tip of the iceberg IMO. The music mavens have taken everything that had value out of country music, and replaced it with the same old tired, cookie cutter pop that has taken over the airwaves just about world wide.

She's got an decent voice, and good stage presence, but if that's country music I'm Mahatma Ghandi. True country is ROOTS music. The same as Celtic, African, Bluegrass etc... Country music comes from certain, select instruments, played in a particular way, and it tells a story in a way that other music types don't. You can bend the rules some, but go too far and (for good or bad) it ceases to be country music. Just because it's sung with a southern accent, mentions a pickup truck or a trailer park, or has a fiddle line, it doesn't automatically qualify as country. I'm not saying it's good or bad music (although there's very little of it I like) it's just not country.

I've said this a hundred times in private, but I'm happy to say it here as well. When money becomes the sole object of the enterprise, then the money people will only accept a homogenized product. They want something they can sell to the largest group of people possible, and true country music doesn't appeal to the whole damn world. True country music speaks to a particular audience, one that is not large enough to satisfy the bean counters.

The folks in Nashville can call what they're peddling country all they like, but as my Grandmother was fond of saying; "Just because a cat has kittens in the stove, don't make 'em biscuits".
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You have nailed my philosophy of music. Now as a suburban kid whose teenage years started at the end of the 60s, country was not my cup of tea. I was more interested in folks like CSN, Jethro Tull, Allman Brothers, Beatles, Jefferson Airplane, Hendrix, Zappa, Neil Young, BB King, Muddy Waters, Johnny Winter, Stones, Who, Van Morrison, Jeff Beck, Faces and early Elton John (and yeah, Steppenwolf, Deep Purple, Yes and Grand Funk too, which haven't stayed with me). I was becoming very interested in working-class issues in my late teens - college years, and I found the Bruce Springsteens music had a voice for that area, although his music became more watered down as he coasted on his success.

There are a lot of commercial successes in my list, but it certainly did not appear to me at the time that commercial success was the point of the music. I will say that by the time I was 12, I couldn't stand to listen to top 40 radio any more, having discovered FM. Eventually, of course, AOR became more commercial as well.

As I have grown older, my tastes have broadened quite a bit, but few of the areas into which I have ambled were big commercial successes.

Before rambling too long, I will ask you Fotno, and the others identifying "true country" where you place bands like Uncle Tupelo, and its offspring, Son Volt, Wilco, and the Bottle Rockets? It doesn't sound like any of them designed their sound to fit into any particular mold, although it is pretty clear that each of the last three derived from Uncle Tupelo (as they included personnel from UT). I've heard them called alt country, but to me, they're more true to country than most of what's out there.

Regards,

D-Ray
 
pretty cool never thought my simple thread would drum up so heat/opinion which of course evryone's entitled too, Good stuff guys.It also goes far deepr then using TS as an example for todays music woes
 
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