Viewing a single comment thread. View all comments

LeaCTrockboys t1_ix7kjm0 wrote

Reply to comment by Ok_Caterpillar4181 in TIL singer songwriter Leonard Cohen claimed to have written approximately 150 draft verses of his most famous song "Hallelujah", a claim substantiated by his notebooks containing manifold revisions and additions, and by contemporary interviews. by big_macaroons

Also is this an accusation or a question? You're all over the place. In one post Bob Dylan is below you and "just rambles" and in another you're bragging that you can play his music on guitar.

1

Ok_Caterpillar4181 t1_ix7m3o5 wrote

I'm not trying to win an argument I'm simply saying although I enjoy Bob Dylan he is overrated. I was attempting to find common ground and letting you know I'm not anti Dylan. I just don't like the rambling songs...and he does ramble. I'm only aware of a few of his songs that tell an actual story. Maybe you could share a song or two that isn't pretentious rambling.

−1

LeaCTrockboys t1_ix7msku wrote

It's just comparison is tough! With Cohen for example I'm pretty sure artists like Dylan, with their awkward singing and weaving lyrics, inspired him personally to move towards music after being a published poet.

It's just i feel dylans work begat Cohens work, and while it's not illegal to compare I tend to try to separate even super similar artists on their own merits if that makes sense.

1

Ok_Caterpillar4181 t1_ix7neq9 wrote

That's interesting and I didn't know that. I myself started with poetry and then moved to song writing and then once no one wanted to play my songs I learned how to play guitar so I could sing them myself. Since I couldn't sing for shit and preferred acoustic I naturally got into Dylan. I actually started as a rapper but that's another story lmao. From Tupac to Bob Dylan. Then came religion and my fall from religion or leaving religion. So hallelujah has taken on deeper more symbolic meaning in my life. I've kinda lived it in a sense. Music just takes a lot and doesn't give much back, at least the way I was doing it. Which was probably wrong and why I stopped. There are songs that come inspired in ten or fifteen minutes and that's cool but I do respect someone sticking with a song and fine tuning it until it is perfect or as close to perfect as they can get. I'm sure both artist have experienced both.

2

LeaCTrockboys t1_ix7o122 wrote

It's always that need to get the songs out that leads to the singing. I wanted to "be in a band" since I could remember. It's tough when there's diminishing returns and you slowly stop getting back what you're putting in. I totally understand quitting. I'm just hoping to maybe end up like Guided By Voices or something and make something decent in my mid 30s maybe with my wife singing or something lol. I sang best with a pitchy sorta of high voice and age sorta changed it so I kind of have to redevelop all that stuff.

It's hard. You want to do it and get in front of people with your songs more than anything but time goes fast and regular jobs just absorb you.

1

LeaCTrockboys t1_ix7ond1 wrote

Pretentious is tough because I think the pretentiousness comes more from the art assuming it's connecting with you or blowing your mind vs the art just being itself. I find Dylan to be unpretentious in that you are sort of tuning into the world of Bob Dylan when you're listening, he's not really telling you he's great or that he's making anthems, the songs BECAME that with their impact.

Pretentious, to me personally is more like "we built this city" by Starship. The shitty unclear direction of the lyrics with lines like "corporation names" rhymed with "corporation names", the phony forced anthemic production, the song crosses its arms at you and says "Isn't this great? Aren't we speaking directly to you right now!?"

1