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Hey,

One of the quotes Bluegrass said in his well written and honest post was:

"People who only write songs for personal gain are poorer for it. To me they add nothing to the world but more noise"

Every songwriter, be it Springsteen to Earle to Bob Jones down the road from me write for personal gain.  I write the odd song from time to time and I have no intention of making it my profession, I do it for personal gain to make me feel better about myself.  If anyone happens to also enjoy what i do, then thats a bonus.

There are also plenty of people out there that would think our beloved Steve Earle's music is just noise.  I've heard it said and it usually comes from those that prefer their music mixed from a Kenwood food processor rather than those that truely appreciate music made the old fashioned way - with instruments and a human touch.

Each to their own, but personal gain is the ulitmate goal for any serious song writer. 

DB 

A tremendously interesting interview, thanks for posting the link. Everyone should read this.

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"I got me a fearless heart"

hey bobcat, good post, you are right...when i talk of Steve to friends, or even strangers, i mostly get, "i've never heard of him," or "man, that guy can't even sing," which, of course, is simply not true.  i think his music must touch a place in the heart that does not exist with a lot of folks...on the other hand, my heart is not touched by the Stones or Metallica...not to bash them, that music just does nothing for me....

but, i guess a lot of singers i love aren't loved by a lot...Guy Clark and Jerry Jeff Walker, Waylon and John Hiatt...

but, that's what makes the world a wonderful place and a free country better even.  we are able to love what, and who, we love...

on that note...gotta get to the laundry (which i do not love...)

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But nothing is something that there's plenty of
In time we'll all get our share

Hey DubiousBobcat.

Just to clarify - what I wrote could certainly be taken as the opposite of what I actually meant the way I wrote it.

When I said personal gain, what I meant was personal fame or fortune, not the kind of spiritual gratification that comes from writing a song you love. (The latter being more in the spirit of my post.)

So you're right - honest songwriters write because they are driven to and have to express themselves (intangible personal gain) - it's the ones who sit down and bang out a tune that sounds just like the other ten tracks of drivel on the radio they just heard so they can sell something nobody should want to put their names to that I was thinking of.  

Anyway, thanks for pointing that out. I hope people didn't take it the wrong way, cuz it ain't what I meant at all! 

 

 

 

Thanks for clarifying. I frankly took it the way you did not intend, so am glad to hear that what I thought you meant wasn't right. Whew! Hope that made sense. Anyway, I don't subscribe to the steady decline theory or whatever it is. Wish this subject never got started actually. I love Steve Earle and have every recording he ever did that I could get my hands on, whether it be studio, concert, whatever. Can't wait for the next one.

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"I got me a fearless heart"

I personally love the harder edge on Jerusalem and, especially, TRS...N. Some beautiful songs on WSS, but I'm still a bit too mc-phobic to give it a fair chance. Songwritingwise though, you're right, late 90s were his strongest years.

I can't believe this topic has been revisited, again. 

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"I got me a fearless heart"

I know! Hand the dead horse beater a fresh whip.LOL Peace Hippie

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With a song in my heart and an attitude from the start

  No decline. Possibly the greatest singer/songwriter of the times, the spot Dylan occupied throughout  the 60's. I just finished reading the Onion interview and read a bunch of these posts and all I can offer is this. Don't put Steve (or anybody else) in a box. A person shouldn't confine theirself either. I'm sure Steve is the same guy he was 22 years ago, and the same guy that left home at a young age to follow his instincts. But Steve's been to Texas, and now he's been to Nashville. Point being he now calls NYC home and your "good rockin' daddy ain't from Tennessee" no mo'. Or Texas either, well, you can't change where you're from, but you can change where you're coming from, and Washington Square Serenade is a fine album. Even if it was recorded digitally from the git-go. It didn't knock anything off on my top 12 Steve Earle list, but what the heck. It's a good listen and I can appreciate where he's at in his life right now. I don't expect him to blow my mind with his next album, but he might. Like Emmy said, Steve's like 100 proof.

No decline in 2009! I'm anxiously awaiting the new album, and I'm certain he will not disappoint me.... hurry, hurry, hurry....

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" Shut up and learn something. "

New album in 2009? :D I really doubt, remember how long we had to wait for WSS.

And no hurry! Not again :-P