Comments on: Organicism in “Long Time Gone” http://www.midside.com/2007/07/10/long-time-gone/ popular music theory, analysis, and criticism Fri, 21 Nov 2008 02:57:00 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6 By: trevordeclercq http://www.midside.com/2007/07/10/long-time-gone/#comment-323 trevordeclercq Thu, 12 Jul 2007 00:08:09 +0000 http://www.midside.com/2007/07/10/long-time-gone/#comment-323 Wow, <b>Chip</b>, how appropriate that you mention the organicism in the lyric writing! My interest in this song was initially created after reading an article by Jocelyn Neal in the latest issue of <i>Music Theory Spectrum</i> called "Narrative Paradigms, Musical Signifiers, and Form as Function in Country Music." I'm guessing you didn't read the article (since I'd venture to say your dues to the Society for Music Theory are not up to date), but you've basically boiled down the essense of her article. Since Prof. Neal didn't point out the organic musical aspects that I noticed, I thought it was worthy of a blog post. I do take issue with your comment that discussions of lyric writing are out of the scope of this blog. I think any and all facets of creating a successful song are worthy topics. I know I don't talk about lyric structure that much (if at all), but it's mostly because I don't have the dorky nerd terms to describe them in their full geekery. And yes, that last verse is a good'un. Wow, Chip, how appropriate that you mention the organicism in the lyric writing! My interest in this song was initially created after reading an article by Jocelyn Neal in the latest issue of Music Theory Spectrum called “Narrative Paradigms, Musical Signifiers, and Form as Function in Country Music.” I’m guessing you didn’t read the article (since I’d venture to say your dues to the Society for Music Theory are not up to date), but you’ve basically boiled down the essense of her article. Since Prof. Neal didn’t point out the organic musical aspects that I noticed, I thought it was worthy of a blog post.

I do take issue with your comment that discussions of lyric writing are out of the scope of this blog. I think any and all facets of creating a successful song are worthy topics. I know I don’t talk about lyric structure that much (if at all), but it’s mostly because I don’t have the dorky nerd terms to describe them in their full geekery.

And yes, that last verse is a good’un.

]]> By: Chip http://www.midside.com/2007/07/10/long-time-gone/#comment-322 Chip Wed, 11 Jul 2007 13:53:06 +0000 http://www.midside.com/2007/07/10/long-time-gone/#comment-322 Also, (and this is out of the scope of your blog, I know) this song is a great example of organic lyric writing, where the chorus presents a central idea, and then each verse tries to make you look at the theme from a different perspective. The verses give you a view of "long time gone" from the perspective of the people being left, the person doing the leaving, and then Nashville's Heyday, respectively. I think that last verse is especially clever, as it really changes the thematic direction, has a couple clever puns for the folks paying attention, and I'm a sucker for the not-so-subtle irony of dissing Nashville in a song that comes out of Nashville. That's so punk rock. Also, (and this is out of the scope of your blog, I know) this song is a great example of organic lyric writing, where the chorus presents a central idea, and then each verse tries to make you look at the theme from a different perspective. The verses give you a view of “long time gone” from the perspective of the people being left, the person doing the leaving, and then Nashville’s Heyday, respectively.

I think that last verse is especially clever, as it really changes the thematic direction, has a couple clever puns for the folks paying attention, and I’m a sucker for the not-so-subtle irony of dissing Nashville in a song that comes out of Nashville. That’s so punk rock.

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