Sparks from the Fire

OK, so I’m going to talk a little bit today in generalities.  OK, so there are still great songs being written, still great craftsmen out there who really know what they’re doing, still great records being made.  I’ll allow you all this right from the get go, but I think our industry, besides the death of the record business, is in a serious creative low as well.

Sonically, we’re at an all-time high.  The ability to capture the actual sound of the instruments in perfect, pristine quality has never been better.  Those who still grumble about the “coldness” of digital just haven’t been really listening lately.  The advancement of processing power and ram in computers has finally caught up and now the warmth of analog is back.

But much of the rest of the creative part of our industry is mired in mediocrity.  I blame this on humanity and our penchant to always try to attain perfection the easy way.   Nothing wrong with that except when it doesn’t work.

I just wrote a 7-part blog post (The IRA Awards) on great lyrics just to remind us of what could be, of the greatness of craft, of the delight of a well-lyricised song.  I write “remind us” because I think we’re losing track of a great tradition – the well written lyric.

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Ladies and Gentlemen, tonight we welcome you all to The Ira Awards – the music industry’s evening celebrating its most underappreciated creators – the lyricists.

Ira Gershwin

In the music industry, when the royalty split is determined for songwriters, the industry standard for royalties is that the composer gets 50% and the lyricist gets the other 50%.  Each contributor to the song shares equally.  But when it comes to publicity, notoriety, and public appreciation, that’s where the equality stops.  The composer always gets the lion’s share of the attention.

And so to right this inequality, to re-balance the appreciation for these underappreciated wordsmiths, I’ve decided to create just what this world needs most – another awards show – The Ira Awards, presented by Watchfire Music.  Also I’ve decided to name it after the most underappreciated lyricist of them all – Ira Gershwin.

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I like a song that tells a story. Songs have been doing this for over 5000 years. In fact, it is the song that carried the history of man on Earth for the great part of that time as troubadours passed their tales and cultures on to generation after generation.

Michael Jackson’s Ode To Billie Jean written by Bobbi Gentry is one of the more recent ones and one of my all-time favorites. Johnny Cash’s A Boy Named Sue is another. Some of my other’s I can think of are:

The Temptations, Papa Was A Rollin’ Stone
Joni Mitchell, The Last Time I Saw Richard
Jeannie C. Riley, Harper Valley PTA
Simon & Garfunkel, Save The Life Of My Child
Harry Chapin, Cat’s In The Cradle
Arlo Guthrie, Alice’s Restaurant
Jim Croce, Bad, Bad Leroy Brown
Lennon & McCartney, A Day In The Life
The Kingston Trio, Tom Dooley
The Who, Tommy

Of course this list can go on and on. As I look through the above lyrics, it’s noteworthy to me how different the forms and story telling styles of each of the songs are.

Some are simple and clear; some are illusive on purpose. All have a depth far beyond the typical pop song and all are dramatically revealing of the human condition. They each have one commonality however; they each tell a good story.

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