First of all, I would like to thank Mary for choosing one of my songs to record. I don't know if all of you realize this, but she lives "across the pond". I first ran across her on Open Mike, loved her artistic style, and took the time to compliment her on her talents. In exchange -- almost always without me even asking, she listened to, and commented on a bunch of my tunes.
Some of you guys should try that more often. I'm getting a cut out of it, and having heard it, I'm really proud of it. We'll have it up on Open Mike, and I'll post here when we do.
I also listened to "Arizona". At the risk of sounding like "faint praise", I thought it was very good "for its genre". Which i'm still trying to figure out. He hits war, wife, present age (I'm about to tell my life story, pay attention), PTSD (as has been mentioned before), watching his son turn into a possible alcoholic (first beer), beautiful wife (failing eyesight or really lucky),cutting grass (ah, nature!), grandson (passes on his genes), Red Sox (show, don't tell), granddaughter (prolific), etc.
He hits all the proper motifs - war, family, love, growing old, being an all around good guy, overcoming adversity (war), and does it very well. I actually liked the tune.
Bur I could never ever write a song like that. Every time I hear something like "Red Sox", my conscious song writing muse says, "oh no, he "showed" instead of "telled". Great.! But personally, I've gotten to the point where a big "ooggaahh" goes off in my head when I realize a writer is "showing" instead of "telling". All of a sudden, I'm asking "what's he gonna "show" next ? not because the song has engaged me, but because i'm wondering how many "shows" I'm going to get!
Curmudgeon that I am, I'm also tired of wholesome family scenes. So sue me.
But, I did enjoy it -- for one listen. It did remind me of "Edmund Fitzgerald" in style.
There's today's rant. Merry Christmas to all, and stay off my grass!
Ott
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