Originally Posted by Kristi McKeever
Hi Mike,

Hey..yes, playful and persuasive! I agree the lyric of “Your Song” is universal in scope. I actually have the sheet music because it’s a song I learned to play on the piano when I was a teenager. smile The lyric talks a lot more about him & his musings and yeah...he doesn’t spend that kind of time on personal attributes of the receiver. I get what you're sayin'. But it's the best he can do at this moment on the roof....lol...ya know?

Anyway....it’s one of my faves of his...but I couldn’t say why exactly...maybe because it’s been around so long...lol....and to me, it feels like he knows no other way....and as in Mark’s description of him there, being self-deprecating and flawed...I feel for the guy. Ever notice how he chuckles after he sings, “If I were a sculptor...”? Like, no way, how ridiculous, he could never be that! That’s revealing! (and it’s not in the lyric either). I like the piano too.

As with anything, art & music are subjective. That’s what makes it so exciting!

It’s fun to toss about these thoughts and ideas. I do believe talking about lyrics and songs helps us all be better writers!! smile

Kristi


Hi Kristi,

Thanks for making me smile big time and for your generous, nice response.

I truly wish when I heard those opening piano tones, my heart would rise instead of sink, and then the awful permeating dread..Yes, YS generates a visceral response..

I am slowly remembering sitting and listening to YS over and over..for over an hour..in a Public Library, when it first came out..with a friend, at the time, who had bought the 45 and then played it and nothing else for well over an hour. I remember trying to get Jerry to play something else, instead of the same record over and over. Didn't happen..I had to be what? Twelve thirteen..I had forgotten this for..hmmm...over a few decades..I am no psychologist, but I remember feeling like..okay, dude, I know the song by heart, now can we hear something else already? I would hate to think all my theories about YS are just smokescreens for a frustrating adolescent drama I went through, LOL..

BTW, I am with you on writing songs with real friends in mind. The actual content does not need to be real stuff that happened, just that there be an imagined (though real) recipient at the other end. That helps generate real emotion, I believe. smile

But anyway,

Always nice talking. smile

Mike


Last edited by Michael Zaneski; 07/05/19 10:02 PM.
Fate doesn't hang on a wrong or right choice
Fortune depends on the tone of your voice

-The Divine Comedy (Neil Hannon)
from the song "Songs of Love"
from the album "Casanova" (1996)