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Okay, I didn’t see the performance, but based on Taylor Swift’s performance on SNL, I believe that she can’t really sing. There’s clearly a ton of production involved on her albums, because she doesn’t sound nearly as good live. And I just flat out don’t like her songwriting. Sorry, all you Taylor Swift fans out there. 8)
Anyway, there’s an interesting blog entry here about her winning album of the year: http://leisureblogs.chicagotribune.com/turn_it_up/2010/02/taylor-swift-and-the-grammys-is-that-all-there-is.html
Perhaps best of all are a couple of the comments about her, and about her duet with Stevie Nicks. About her, someone said “Taylor Swift is to music what Stephenie Meyer is to literature.” About the duet, someone said “They put her on the same stage as Stevie Nicks? That’s like a fire hydrant painter doing his work alongside a Picasso class painter.”
Oh boy…this is a tough one. I’m not even going to attempt to rank these among themselves:
Blue
Essence
Get Right With God
Ventura
Those Three Days
Learning How To Live
Jailhouse Tears
Circles and X’s*
If Wishes Were Horses*
I’m Happy I Found You*** = not sure if these should qualify, since they were written long before this decade
** = not sure if this should qualify, since Hank Williams wrote the lyricsI never would’ve gotten it without the process of elimination that the rest of you provided. Actually, the hardest part for me was looking up the model name of the truck. I remembered that Chevy had produced an El Camino-like truck recently but didn’t realize it had gone out of production (so of course it wasn’t on their website). And I kept thinking HHR, which I knew wasn’t right, but you know how it is when you get the wrong answer stuck in your head.
Thanks for pointing this out, Tom, and thanks also to padchio for pointing out where the essay can be found online (a direct link: http://www.tnr.com/article/pop-women). I plan to read the entire book, too; I enjoyed Positively 4th Street and like Hajdu’s writing very much.
Anyway, first impressions after a quick read: I cringed at hearing Taylor Swift mentioned in the same breath as Lu, so I was relieved that – though I didn’t really think it would be – Hajdu’s essay wasn’t an attempt at equating the two of them. Calling one of Swift’s biggest hits “a marvel of toothlessness” is probably the most dead-on criticism I’ve ever read of her. Her music is so unapologetically and banally adolescent that I can’t figure out how she has such a fan base that extends beyond teenage girls (and as her SNL performance recently demonstrated, it’s not like she’s blessed with a great voice that can make up for weak material).
But enough about her. What I found really compelling were some of the observations Hajdu made about Lucinda and her music, summed up in his statement that her music is “profoundly womanly.” I agree with this assessment (both in terms of gender and age), but I think the real genius of Lucinda’s songwriting is that I can’t think of a single song that is limited by this. Despite being a 25-year-old man, I can strongly identify with many of her songs and the emotions behind them. I think this universality is one of the hallmarks of really great music – that no matter who writes and sings it, a wide variety of listeners can “get” it.
It’s comparatively easy for a singer like Taylor Swift to create music that appeals to a narrow audience. That said, I might feel more complimentary towards her if I was a 15-year-old girl. Lord knows I listened to stuff in high school that meant a lot to me then but didn’t have much staying power when I became an adult.
I should add however that there are tons of live recordings from her entire career, going back before Ramblin’ –in fact today I just found a whole box of cassette tapes of mostly live recordings in her equipment storage space.
Wow! Here’s hoping some of these see the light of day eventually.
I’m not an expert on what circulates unofficially, but I know I’ve found and downloaded only a couple pre-1988 recordings…both of which were radio show appearances if I remember correctly. One of which is the recording that made me fall in love with All I Want; it’s a lovely solo acoustic rendition.
Anything pre-Ramblin’ would be a rare treasure indeed.
Well…I have to admit that I didn’t ever really think I was hearing it correctly, but for the longest time I heard “Bathroom wall reads, ‘Is God the answer? YES!'” from 2 Kool 2 Be 4 Gotten as “After the walrus, he’s gotta answer yes.” 😳
Keep in mind that I also used to think that Dylan sang “My sensitive manatee has gone down the drain” in Not Dark Yet…(rather than “my sense of humanity”)
Last night’s show in Rockford was my 36th Dylan show, and I’d rank it in the top 25% of shows I’ve seen. I was a little disappointed in the setlist, but the performance was great. The new arrangement of Cold Irons Bound is amazing, as is Charlie Sexton. I didn’t start seeing Dylan until 2004, so last night was my first Charlie show. Man, can that guy play guitar!
Setlist from Bill Pagel’s site:
Rockford, Illinois
Rockford MetrocentreOctober 27, 2009
1. Cat’s In The Well (Bob on keyboard, Donnie on violin)
2. Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right
(Bob on guitar, Donnie on lap steel, Stu on acoustic guitar, Tony on standup bass)
3. Lonesome Day Blues (Bob on guitar, Donnie on lap steel)
4. It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue
(Bob center stage on harp, Donnie on pedal steel, Stu on acoustic guitar)
5. Cold Irons Bound (Bob center stage on harp, Donnie on lap steel)
6. Under The Red Sky (Bob on keyboard, Donnie on pedal steel)
7. Summer Days (Bob on keyboard, Donnie on pedal steel, Tony on standup bass)
8. If You Ever Go To Houston
(Bob on keyboard, Donnie on pedal steel, Stu on acoustic guitar)
9. Honest With Me (Bob on keyboard, Donnie on lap steel)
10. Masters Of War
(Bob on keyboard, Donnie on lap steel, Stu on acoustic guitar, Tony on standup bass)
11. Highway 61 Revisited (Bob on keyboard, Donnie on lap steel)
12. Ain’t Talkin’ (Bob on keyboard, Donnie on viola, Stu on acoustic)
13. Thunder On The Mountain
(Bob on keyboard, Donnie on lap steel, Stu on acoustic guitar)
14. Ballad Of A Thin Man (Bob center stage on harp, Donnie on lap steel)(encore)
15. Like A Rolling Stone (Bob on keyboard, Donnie on pedal steel)
16. Jolene (Bob on keyboard, Donnie on lap steel, Tony on standup bass)
17. All Along The Watchtower (Bob on keyboard, Donnie on lap steel)Looks like night 3 was a great one, too. I would’ve loved to hear Ventura and Those Three Days, both of which seem to have been a bit neglected in the past couple of years. And Hot Blood? I bet that was awesome. Also nice to see that she broke out a few less-often-played songs from the last two albums (such as Everything Has Changed, West, Well Well Well, and Real Love) to go along with the standbys like Come On, Unsuffer Me, and Honey Bee.
I wish I could’ve been there last night, as I wish I could’ve been there on Wednesday, but I never planned on attending last night’s show in the first place so it doesn’t sting quite as much. I’m finally getting over the flu that kept me from Wednesday’s show, thankfully.
We did, as a matter of fact…in addition to dancing to I Just Wanted To See You So Bad, we also played Something About What Happens When We Talk toward the end of the night. 🙂
So sorry we didn’t get to meet up in Chicago…I wish I hadn’t had to miss last night’s show, but it was an easy decision to make given how lousy I felt. And reading that night #2 was standing rather than sitting (which normally I’d prefer) only confirms that I made the right choice. Oh well; now I’ve just got to hit an extra show next tour!
Knowing how much you love to see Lu, I’m betting you must feel pretty terrible if you are going to miss tonight’s show!
Yeah. I’m just glad I made it through last night’s show (and more importantly, my wedding last Saturday :)). Still disappointing, though. I can’t wait for reviews so I can read about what I missed…
Thanks for posting the setlist, Paul. I figured someone would get to it before I dragged myself out of bed today (more on that later).
Anyway, I agree that the Park West is a great venue. I didn’t arrive until about 7 and still snagged a seat on the right side of the venue, maybe 5-6 feet from the stage, which I was happy about. Last night was definitely a pretty loose show. Lu had to confer with the band to decide whether they were going to play Stop Breaking Down or Disgusted, and there was a little confusion about who was supposed to be on stage with her during some of the Ramblin’ songs. Butch also ended Factory Blues a little too early, which led to a bit of a tense moment. I could tell Lu was trying to laugh it off, but she was upset. Anyway, no Buick 6 set last night, but Butch was wearing the Buick 6 T-shirt and showed it off to the crowd, mentioning that it was for sale out in the lobby. Lu told us that the picture of her with duct tape over her mouth on the front was “an inside joke that got started in the studio.”
There was a pretty lengthy break between the first and second sets, about half an hour. When Lu came back, she told us they were doing a bit of an impromptu rehearsal backstage (presumably with Robbie Fulks and Rosie Flores). The second set was good, especially Still I Long For Your Kiss and Come To Me Baby. And the encore with the special guests was indeed special.
Anyway, I normally agree with tntracy that standing beats sitting at a Lucinda show. I was surprised to see they’d set up tables and chairs last night. I was grateful in this case, though, since I’ve been fighting the flu for the last couple days and honestly don’t know if I could’ve stood for 3.5 hours. Unfortunately, I think the flu’s going to keep me away from tonight’s show. 🙁 I could probably handle the show itself, but the 5 hours of driving before and after was rough enough last night and I’m not sure I could do it tonight. I expect detailed reports of what I miss! 😉
I am not seeing that much difference save a few newbie songs now and again. Same Buick 6 (opening/backing) and same vein of delivery. And this is by no means meant to be a blanket statement. I am just not seeing anything all that different.
I’ll concede the point about the band, as well as staying out of the debate about the Providence show except to say that based on her comments, she was pretty obviously in a bad mood that night – how that affected the quality of the songs is something I can’t judge. However, I would argue that the last couple years have seen quite a bit more of a setlist shake-up than “a few newbie songs now and again.” Off the top of my head, some of the rarer songs she’s played include I Just Wanted To See You So Bad, The Night’s Too Long, Sweet Old World, and pretty much everything she’s been playing from the Happy Woman Blues album. Up until recently, how long had it been since she’d played Happy Woman Blues, or Lafayette, or especially Sharp Cutting Wings? I’d wager it’s been decades since the latter.
I agree that a few songs have become almost constant in the setlist, such as Honey Bee. I don’t think it’s unusual for an artist to have a few songs that show up just about every night for a couple years; furthermore, even if I disliked Honey Bee (actually, I get a kick out of seeing it live, though the album version does less for me), from this fan’s perspective the inclusion of some real rarities and old gems more than makes up for it.
