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Does anyone know why Lucinda uses lyric sheets to help her remember lyrics during live performances? ❓
can you remember everything you wrote over the last gawd knows how many years?…..just a normal girl!!!!!, which is why we love her.
chris merry xmas
I expect lyric sheets from amateurs, not from professionals – normal girl or not. Saw Neil Young’s Nashville special last night – no lyric sheets. Also saw some Bob Dylan footage – no lyric sheets. Clapton & Winwood together for the 1st time in 25 years – no lyric sheets. If she doesn’t care enough about the words to remember them, why should anyone else? I’m not tryin’ to start anything, but I think its a valid question.
And to answer your question: If what I wrote, no matter how many years ago, really means something to mean me, then YES, I remember the words. If its something that’s new to me, i.e. I just wrote it, then I practice it until I can perform it in public without a crutch on stage. It not like she’s workin’ 50 – 60 hours as a waitress or pulling 12 hour shifts as a nurse and then getting up on stage. She’s a performer. Learning the words to her own songs is part of her job.
A lot of singers use teleprompters though, hidden away where the rest of us can’t see them. It’s probably not much different to using a book of lyrics. 😉
^^
It’s not any different than using a TelePrompter. Lucinda just isn’t underhanded about using her lyric book. She’s honest about it, rather than having something hidden.
Teleprompters? Can’t say I’ve ever seen any singer/songerwriter of any consequence using a teleprompter. But given that some may (possibly Celine, Madonna, or Brittainy) that doesn’t answer the question: If she doesn’t care enough to remember the words why should anyone else?
i can’t believe these people bitching about her reading from lyric sheets. who cares? if she want to do it, what business is it of yours? if you don’t like it, close your eyes and listen to what’s being communicated. that’s what its all about. she ain’t up there to dance around a pole for you
When & IF lucinda ever goes the way of linda thompson or julie miller, i’ll point the finger at all of you who have bitched and moaned about her lyric book!
don’t go to the show if it distracts you so, most of us don’t care…
everyone’s entitled to their opinion, i just don’t understand what gets people goin’ i guess….
happy new year everyone! (i’m gonna be lovin’ me some jackie greene for new year’s, no matter what jeff tweedy says!)
lisaI don’t understand why people get so upset about the lyric book. I’ve seen both Paul McCartney and Dylan use monitors or sheet music. Who cares? The shows were still awesome.
Bob Dylan does use lyric sheets in concert; some people have speculated that the reason he switched from guitar to keyboard was so that he could have his lyric sheets in front of him without it being too obvious. I don’t know if that’s true and chances are it was a variety of reasons (and thankfully, he’s started playing a few songs a night on guitar again, without lyric sheets), but he definitely has them in front of him.
The keyboard playing was cool when I saw him do it in Kansas City in 2002 but five years later and 12 shows later, i’m ready for a little more guitar.
This has nothing to do with anything, but I was front row by his keyboard in Little Rock a few years ago and he was playing and stopped and spit a huge ball of spit on the floor. It was really funny.
Didn’t make any shows this year, but it is good to hear he is playing some guitar.
Neil Young also has tried teleprompters and uses other lyric helpers, this was confirmed by a Lucinda crew member who used to work with Neil.
Ironically enough many major artists are going back away from teleprompters and using other means of assistance.In Lucinda’s case she does know the words very well but just having them there is a big comfort–sort of like a safety net- getting the words exactly right is very important to her and part of her perfectionism. Another thing to keep in mind– this was a year that, because of the album shows she played every song from her catalog in addition to cover versions etc. By the end of the tour set lists were being made from a master list of over 100 songs. This is more than double and probably triple the average touring band has rehearsed and ready to play. In LA and NY nearly a 100 songs were played over five nights.
That undertaking alone created the need to look a little more than usual, even at songs that were the staples of the set.
After watching nearly every show this year, I also became of the mind that has she got more exhausted towards the end of the tour or even the end of the show she would look a little more. Towards the very end of the tour the book started to be placed slightly differently which also helped.
It is something she has been self conscious about in the past, but is now more comfortable with it (and many night now jokes about it), because of how many people use teleprompters and try so hard to hide them. Its just not in her mental makeup to be less than completely open- hence many of her song- and this is just consistent with that mentality – it is what it is -its open and its real and thats just her way.A good story related to this topic: the afternoon of the Greensboro show when the Viet Nam vet had just given her a very moving letter about how he heard Are You Alright and was so touched by it, that he learned how to play it and went to Arlington cemetary and played it at the gravesite of his best friend/war buddy who had recently passed away. Lucinda was so touched by this letter that she wanted to do a special encore of peace/protest songs. She suggested Masters Of War and picked up her acoustic guitar that she has with her on the bus and played it all the way thru- not missing a word. When she finished she laughed and said “I haven’t played that for years and I remember the words better than my own.” The completely unrehearsed version she closed out the show with that night was one of the most spine-tingling performances that I have ever seen–and it was the only time it was played on this tour.
Really great story IJ, like to hear about these instances as it helps to confirm how we perceive the artist anyway, and it certainly does not come as a surprise to me as far as Lucinda is concerned.
As far as the lyric book is concerned I do not have a particular view either way, and fully understand the desire for Lucinda to give her fans the perfect show everytime.
Happy holidays to all
Love,Peace and Revolution.
I agree that the constant glances down to “the book” are a bit of a distraction. If artists like Dylan and Neil Young use a book or teleprompter of any sort, I’ll just say that they hide it much better than Lu. I’ve never noticed it from them, but with Lu, the constant glances down do make it feel like less of a heartfelt performance that one could play in their sleep and more like something that is mailed in, but that’s only from a visual perspective, and that’s my own opinion (fyi, I’m a semi-pro drummer, and have had to put notes on songs around my drum kit for fill-in gigs or when I was new to a band, but never for a full-time gig that I’d been at for a while).
That said, I agree with previous comments: Lu just feels better that way. It her “safety net” and that’s the way she does it, so deal with it! She’s a fantastic talent and if too much reliance on the notebooks is the worst thing we can say about her, she’s well ahead in the game!
I saw her live her in Austin both acoustic with Doug a couple of years ago and earlier this year after West came out and both times she and the band SOUNDED fantastic, and that’s what counts.
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