Day 4
Alright, you caught me in a lie: I wrote a silly rock and roll song, even though I implied in my last post there wasn’t such a thing. As a writer, I find it difficult to not go for humor. Richard Thompson is another artist who comes to mind: he can’t seem to resist it either. Which is why he’s never had big hits, I think. Humor is popular on community radio, but it doesn’t go over well on the popular stations. I don’t know why that is. I find humor to be universally appreciated. The other artist I think of who usually aims for the funny bone is Louis Jordan. Also a serious rocker–before rock, of course. He was popular (see, you could get away with it back then) through three decades: the 20’s, 30’s and 40’s. You should really check him out if you’re into late swing/early R&B music. He was a true original–but also extremely influential.
Humor and irony are similar concepts, and often go hand in hand. But–whereas the former is pretty genre specific–irony is absolutely essential to anything artistic.
Irony is when you expect one thing but you get something else. It is part of what makes a song–or photograph, story, whatever–worth its salt. For some reason I think of movies and TV shows. I’m the kind of person who predicts dialogue as it happens. If I’m accurate more than occasionally I lose interest. I think most people do. The opposite of ironic is trite. Part of what’s wrong with popular music, in my opinion–Country, in particular–is that it’s trite. Some people really like to have their expectations fulfilled. (A whole bunch of people, if you think about the popularity of Country Music) Trite is safe, and Country music today is the epitome of safe. It seldom goes out on a limb. That’s why Steve Earle, and a slew of other Country singers, can’t get airplay. As one artist puts it, they’re “too country for country”.
Irony does not have to be extreme. In fact, as a rule, it needs to be subtle–if it is to have any claim on popularity. Less subtle irony almost automatically becomes humor. Extreme irony in art becomes avant-garde–or just plain shocking. Admittedly, shock value is kind of an easy way to get someone’s attention. (I’m guilty of this from time to time) But then he or she usually walks out the door. Extreme irony is never popular. And yet, we need it–as a society–to overcome complacency. Artists in particular need to be shocked from time to time, less we become irrelevant. Think of Thomas Swift’s A Modest Proposal, in which he proposes to eat the babies being born on the streets of England (The full title is A Modest Proposal for Preventing the Children of Poor People From Being a Burden to Their Parents or Country, and for Making Them Beneficial to the Publick. )
The best example of shocking art comes from the TV show Six Feet Under. There’s a scene where an avante-garde artist shows a slide of a soiled American flag. He had taken it on a tour of America, and in every city he visited he found a homeless person and had them wipe their feces on it. Shocking.
BTW here are directions (updated) again how to hear the songs:
Go to rapidshare.com, log in as me (tommydean), use my password (songwriter), and the songs should just show up.
[BTW my son Eli says Oh Lord Not Now is my best song ever, so listen to that if you listen to anything!]