Great musicians of the 20th century

Black Sabbath's 'Paraniod' when my wife is around could get me into trouble.

Black Sabbath has been sued in court in the US for influencing a person to commit suicide after repeatedly listening to Paranoid.
 
Black Sabbath has been sued in court in the US for influencing a person to commit suicide after repeatedly listening to Paranoid.

I thought that was Suicide Solution by Ozzy Osbourne...anyway I find the music of both Ozzy and Sabbath (with or without Ozzy) a bit too cheaply theatrical for my tastes...
 
jls001 said:
Black Sabbath has been sued in court in the US for influencing a person to commit suicide after repeatedly listening to Paranoid.

Moktan said:
anyway I find the music of both Ozzy and Sabbath (with or without Ozzy) a bit too cheaply theatrical for my tastes...

Maybe the poor chap killed himself because he could not stand the 'sight' of them.

Songs don't kill people. Not unless some of them really heavy ones are played at the wrong volume.

Ajay, sorry for going way OT. Will stop now. :o
 
More Zimmerman riddles. I've been trying to figure them out for three decades now :)

"The geometry of innocent flesh on the bone/Causes Galileo's math book to get thrown/At Delilah who's sitting worthlessly alone/But the tears on her cheeks are from laughter"

"The law of the jungle and the sea are your only teachers/In the smoke of the twilight on a milk-white steed/Michelangeo indeed could've carved out your features/Resting in the fields, far from the turbulent space/Half asleep near the stars with a small dog licking your face"

"You hand in your ticket/And you go watch the geek/Who immediately walks up to you/When he hears you speak/And says, How does it feel/To be such a freak?/And you say, impossible/As he hands you a bone."

"Put your hand on my head, baby, do I have a temperature ?/I see people who are supposed to know better standing around like furniture/There's a wall between you and what you want and you got to leap it/Tonight you got the power to take it, tomorrow you won't have the power to keep it."
 
i will reserve my judgement on his so called protest songs..but my personal Dylan favourite is this one ..an absurd , revisionist take on the discovery of America


"Bob Dylan's 115th Dream"

I was riding on the Mayflower
When I thought I spied some land
I yelled for Captain Arab
I have yuh understand
Who came running to the deck
Said, "Boys, forget the whale
Look on over yonder
Cut the engines
Change the sail
Haul on the bowline"
We sang that melody
Like all tough sailors do
When they are far away at sea

"I think I'll call it America"
I said as we hit land
I took a deep breath
I fell down, I could not stand
Captain Arab he started
Writing up some deeds
He said, "Let's set up a fort
And start buying the place with beads"
Just then this cop comes down the street
Crazy as a loon
He throw us all in jail
For carryin' harpoons

Ah me I busted out
Don't even ask me how
I went to get some help
I walked by a Guernsey cow
Who directed me down
To the Bowery slums
Where people carried signs around
Saying, "Ban the bums"
I jumped right into line
Sayin', "I hope that I'm not late"
When I realized I hadn't eaten
For five days straight

I went into a restaurant
Lookin' for the cook
I told them I was the editor
Of a famous etiquette book
The waitress he was handsome
He wore a powder blue cape
I ordered some suzette, I said
"Could you please make that crepe"
Just then the whole kitchen exploded
From boilin' fat
Food was flying everywhere
And I left without my hat

Now, I didn't mean to be nosy
But I went into a bank
To get some bail for Arab
And all the boys back in the tank
They asked me for some collateral
And I pulled down my pants
They threw me in the alley
When up comes this girl from France
Who invited me to her house
I went, but she had a friend
Who knocked me out
And robbed my boots
And I was on the street again

Well, I rapped upon a house
With the U.S. flag upon display
I said, "Could you help me out
I got some friends down the way"
The man says, "Get out of here
I'll tear you limb from limb"
I said, "You know they refused Jesus, too"
He said, "You're not Him
Get out of here before I break your bones
I ain't your pop"
I decided to have him arrested
And I went looking for a cop

I ran right outside
And I hopped inside a cab
I went out the other door
This Englishman said, "Fab"
As he saw me leap a hot dog stand
And a chariot that stood
Parked across from a building
Advertising brotherhood
I ran right through the front door
Like a hobo sailor does
But it was just a funeral parlor
And the man asked me who I was

I repeated that my friends
Were all in jail, with a sigh
He gave me his card
He said, "Call me if they die"
I shook his hand and said goodbye
Ran out to the street
When a bowling ball came down the road
And knocked me off my feet
A pay phone was ringing
It just about blew my mind
When I picked it up and said hello
This foot came through the line

Well, by this time I was fed up
At tryin' to make a stab
At bringin' back any help
For my friends and Captain Arab
I decided to flip a coin
Like either heads or tails
Would let me know if I should go
Back to ship or back to jail
So I hocked my sailor suit
And I got a coin to flip
It came up tails
It rhymed with sails
So I made it back to the ship

Well, I got back and took
The parkin' ticket off the mast
I was ripping it to shreds
When this coastguard boat went past
They asked me my name
And I said, "Captain Kidd"
They believed me but
They wanted to know
What exactly that I did
I said for the Pope of Eruke
I was employed
They let me go right away
They were very paranoid

Well, the last I heard of Arab
He was stuck on a whale
That was married to the deputy
Sheriff of the jail
But the funniest thing was
When I was leavin' the bay
I saw three ships a-sailin'
They were all heading my way
I asked the captain what his name was
And how come he didn't drive a truck
He said his name was Columbus
I just said, "Good luck."
 
More Zimmerman riddles. I've been trying to figure them out for three decades now :)

Wasn't he often called a poet? And do you mean poems are to be understood? Shouldn't a poem be veiled and mysterious to qualify as a great poem?

It may well nigh be impossible to figure him out due to the simple reason that he probably didn't know it himself:) After all, who knows what he was smoking when he wrought those poems?

All speculations, of course.
 
Wasn't he often called a poet? And do you mean poems are to be understood? Shouldn't a poem be veiled and mysterious to qualify as a great poem?

It may well nigh be impossible to figure him out due to the simple reason that he probably didn't know it himself:) After all, who knows what he was smoking when he wrought those poems?

All speculations, of course.

haha, my thoughts exactly !!!

Ajay123 said:
More Zimmerman riddles. I've been trying to figure them out for three decades now

"The geometry of innocent flesh on the bone/Causes Galileo's math book to get thrown/At Delilah who's sitting worthlessly alone/But the tears on her cheeks are from laughter"

"The law of the jungle and the sea are your only teachers/In the smoke of the twilight on a milk-white steed/Michelangeo indeed could've carved out your features/Resting in the fields, far from the turbulent space/Half asleep near the stars with a small dog licking your face"

"You hand in your ticket/And you go watch the geek/Who immediately walks up to you/When he hears you speak/And says, How does it feel/To be such a freak?/And you say, impossible/As he hands you a bone."

"Put your hand on my head, baby, do I have a temperature ?/I see people who are supposed to know better standing around like furniture/There's a wall between you and what you want and you got to leap it/Tonight you got the power to take it, tomorrow you won't have the power to keep it."

Ajay,

It's been two days since I have laughed as hard.

Could you please name the songs of Dylan where these wonderful words were sung.
 
ssf

Tombstone Blues
Jokerman
Ballad Of A Thin Man
The Groom's Still Waiting At the Alter

Tombstone Blues contains perhaps Dylan's finest imagery, singing and music. The best line from this song goes "the sun's not yellow, its chicken."

I feel the musical arrangements driving Dylan's studio recordings are superb. I would rate him among the best five vocalists in rock music. With Dylan there is seldom a middle ground. Either you like him or you don't.

bob dylan tombstone blues - YouTube
 
Lyrical inscrutability is akin to user instructions on cheap Chinese electronics of a decade ago, or a bad Google translation circa 2011. MAD magazine used do hilarious takes of instruction manuals originating from the far east. They didn't spare pop stars either.
 
Dylan has sung so many different live versions of his songs that it is difficult to decide which one to have in your collection. I have been listening to his music since my teens. I've heard most of his major albums. I feel that Biograph, a 3 CD anthology released in 1985, has the best versions of all his great songs. In my opinion it would be the best introduction to his music for a new comer.

His best studio albums:

The Freewheeling Bob Dylan 1963
The Times They Are A Changing 1964
Another Side Of Bob Dylan 1964
Bringing It All Back Home 1965
Highway 61 Revisited 1965
Blonde On Blonde 1966
Blood On The Tracks 1975
Desire 1976
Street Legal 1978
Slow Train Coming 1979
Infidels 1983
Oh Mercy 1989
Time Out Of My Mind 1997
Love And Theft 2001
Modern Times 2006
 
"Bob Dylan's 115th Dream"

I was riding on the Mayflower
When I thought I spied some land
I yelled for Captain Arab
I have yuh understand
Who came running to the deck
Said, "Boys, forget the whale
Look on over yonder
Cut the engines
Change the sail
Haul on the bowline"
We sang that melody
Like all tough sailors do
When they are far away at sea
....

If I had heard this song but not paid attention to the lyrics, I would have liked it no doubt. I like Dylan's songs, the way he sings them. But with the lyrics, now that is something else !!! He's a kook and I like kooks.
 
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When a singer sings a song which he has himself written, there is more love, pain, empathy and emotion in his voice. Since the 80's, singer/songwriters seem to have become a dying breed, or perhaps I am out of touch with the later music. Most of the post 80's songs seems to have lyrics written by a team of songwriters hired by the studios. There job seems to be to churn out one catchy line, and then keep repeating it ad nauseum, along with a few more simplistic lines, usually about a teeny bopper with a broken heart.

I feel a dumbing down of music started happening in the mid 70's, as singers who had something to say, like Phil Ochs, Bob Dylan, John Lennon, Joan Baez, Joni Mitchell and Paul Simon receded into the background, and the Michael Jackson's and Madonna's took over. With the coming of music videos, dance and spectacle took over, and words became 'powerless'.
 
Joshua

Over the years I have come across many people who feel that Bob Dylan or Leonard Cohen have limited singing abilities. And an equal number who admire their singing abilities. I remember a popular website about rock music which rated Stevie Wonder's singing abilities very highly, but was far less effusive about singers like Dylan, Cohen and Neil Young.

Personally I am not a fan of Stevie Wonder. Would not be able to sit through any of his albums. Therefore it all boils down to personal preference. And there is nothing definitive about anybody's preference.

I think it was Otis Redding or Sam Cooke who remarked that after Dylan, it is no more about how pretty you sound, but about how convincing you sound. I have forgotten the actual quote but it was something on these lines. And I feel that this observation catches something which is true. Earlier in the evening I was at a friends place, and he was playing Glen Frey and Roger Waters. I don't recollect a single word they were singing, because the words were so very ordinary. And the ordinary words made their pretty voices boring.
 
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Life after The Beatles

Brian Epstein managed the Beatles until 1967. He kept the band together and helped to resolve conflicts between the band members. After Epstein's death, Paul McCartney tried to fill his roll, but the by the end of the 60's, the fab four had started drifting apart. Gradually all the members started pursuing individual projects.

John Lennon and Yoko Ono formed the Plastic Ono Band and released Give Peace A Chance as a single in 1969. Cold Turkey followed, with Eric Clapton playing lead guitar. Next came another great single, Instant Karma. The 1970 album John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band had some of Lennon's best songs like Mother, Working Class Hero and God. 1971 was the year of Imagine, one of the greatest albums in the annals of rock music. Mind Games 1973, Walls And Bridges 1974, Rock'n'Roll 1975, Double Fantasy in 1980 and Milk and Honey in 1984 were the later albums of John Lennon.

Paul McCartney released two solo albums called McCartney and Ram in '70 and '71. In 1973 he formed the bands Wings with Linda McCartney and released Band On The Run, his best post Beatles album. Apart from the title track this album had wonderful songs like Let Me Roll It, Bluebird, Jet and Mrs. Vanderbilt. Wings At The Speed Of Sound came out in 1976 with the mega hit Silly Love Songs. Some other nice McCartney songs were Live And Let Die, With A Little Luck, Mull Of Kintyre, Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey and Ebony And Ivory.

George Harrison had a huge back up of songs which had not been recorded by the Beatles. In 1973 he came out with a triple album called All Things Must Pass. The album featured Ringo Starr, Eric Clapton and Dave Mason among others. It became popular and Harrison's best solo track, My Sweet Lord, reached No.1. Harrison released several subsequent albums, the most memorable being Cloud 9 in 1987.

Ringo Starr released Sentimntal Journey in 1970, and followed it up with several more albums. Stop And Smell The Roses was a good album which came out in the 80's.
 
Thanks Ajay for the update.... Silly Love Songs is one of my all time favourite happy mood uplifting songs and there is a very interesting story behind it.

John Lennon was asked post the breakup of the band about what he thought about Paul McCartney and he said that Paul can only write silly love songs.... The song is Paul McCartney's response to what Lennon said....

It is actually a silly love song and if you hear the song McCartney is simply asking what's wrong with that/ I'd Like to know/ Cause here i go/Again...


SILLY LOVE SONGS - Paul McCartney & Wings - 1976 [HQ] - YouTube
 
panditji

There is nothing wrong with singing silly love songs, but at some point we tend to start looking for more 'grown up' material in the music we listen to. Or perhaps it is better not to grow up, because growing up is seldom about finding peace or perfection and more often about finding confusion and cynicism. When I left school and entered college, I stopped listening to Abba, Carpenters, Beegees and Neil Diamond. I started listening to Pink Floyd, Doors, Led Zeppelin, Dire Straits and other similar bands. I thought of them as more grown up bands. But life always comes full circle, and now I would rather listen to my school time favorites than my college time favorites.

Is it better to live in the past, with the sensibility, idealism, innocence and hopes of our youth, or is it better to grow up and learn the lessons which love, literature and life teach you? Never been able to find a satisfactory answer to these questions. But I do feel that Lennon's solo music is more grown up and better than Paul McCartney's, although I would still enjoy listening to the song you posted and also my favorites like Mrs. Vanderbilt and Let Me Roll It. My daughter loves the Ho Hey Ho chorus of Mrs. V :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4HgCtHZQlJM
 
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To each to his own Ajay.... I for one have never bothered to listen to what the artist is singing about but it's the melody and the tune which catches my attention.... Which is why I keep searching for different instrumental versions of the songs I like.... I have grown up listening to Sinatra/Dean Martin/Presley where my dad explains each and every word of what the artist is trying to convey everytime he listens to his music and I find that very boring if the melody is not there....

I love Sintra and his music but have never bothered to hear what he has to convey through his songs...it is the voice and the melody which makes me listen to his music at night especially his work post 1968 most of them with Don Costa handling the orchestra...
 
Panditji

I remember your fascination with Sinatra, and with Harbeth's, from earlier posts. I hope you keep finding happiness from both of them :)

My only exposure to Frank Sinatra is the film "From Here To Eternity", which I saw a long time ago. I think Sinatra got an Oscar for his role.

I have never owned any of his music, but from the 40's and 50's, I like Louis Armstrong, Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Nat King Cole, Sam Cooke, Otis Redding and most of all the gospel singer Mahalia Jackson.
 
Wow, you remember....I love Sinatra in his later years as his voice aged and his orchestras sounded more lush under Don Costa..... Yes he got an Oscar for Supporting Actor in that film but you have to see Ocean's 11 from 1960 as that is super rat pack movie.....

I still have not got a pair of stands for the Harbeths and now have started saving for a used Accuphase or McIntosh integrated....should get there in hopefully less than 2 years and should hopefully then concentrate and enjoy music ..... The harbeths are super speakers but I have not been able to get the best of them as yet...
 
A beautiful, well-constructed speaker with class-leading soundstage, imaging and bass that is fast, deep, and precise.
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