Fun Stuff > BAND
Will Oldham
Jackie Blue:
One thing I've always found odd is that, at least in the 90s, he was more popular in the UK than in the States.
I think his best song title is "Exit Music (For a Dick)".
And, I don't think he was trying to cultivate an image in his music, I think he actually was/is a pretty rustic Southern fellow. He's from Louisville, after all. Like with Smog, I always assumed any rustic-ness was genuine. Iron & Wine strikes me as very sincere music, too. And I'm a pretty cynical bastard.
Inlander:
I dunno, I think the rustic thing is in a large part an act. What I think people often don't get about Will Oldham, is that he's a storyteller. His songs often aren't about him, they're about characters. (Although generally I find that the Bonnie "Prince" Billy songs seem to be a bit more personal than the Palace songs, but that's just a gut feeling.)
What do people think of the Greatest Palace Music album? I think most people rate it pretty lowly, but I think it's generally pretty enjoyable, and I think some songs actually come out better: for example, I think performing "Agnes, Queen of Sorrow" as a duet is absolutely revelatory (though I love the original version as well).
Jackie Blue:
--- Quote from: Inlander on 17 Jan 2007, 05:07 ---I dunno, I think the rustic thing is in a large part an act. What I think people often don't get about Will Oldham, is that he's a storyteller. His songs often aren't about him, they're about characters.
--- End quote ---
Well, right, I'm just saying that he IS a Southerner and from all accounts I've heard of people who met/hung out with him, he's not exactly a "big city feller" pretending to have folk roots. Regardless of lyrical content.
fish across face:
Yeah, good points. I was meaning more what Inlander mentioned - that he's using that in his act, using the myths of where he's from. For the record, I really like Iron & Wine too, I'm not trying to slag them, but something about it niggles. It's more about their reception than their music, though.
--- Quote from: Inlander on 17 Jan 2007, 05:07 ---What I think people often don't get about Will Oldham, is that he's a storyteller. His songs often aren't about him, they're about characters.
--- End quote ---
I think this is a common misconception about most lyricists, really. I think the default approach is to expect a song a person wrote to be about them, unless you have prior knowledge that they're not that kind of writer.
Inlander:
Ooh! Now I'm super-excited because I've just found out that the best Will Oldham song never to be released on C.D., "Barcelona", was apparently . . . umm . . . released on C.D.! On an excessively limited-edition disc called Little Lost Blues, apparently, that came as a bonus disc with the first 1000 or something copies of the Letting Go. Naturally, now it's all over the internet.
Now I just have to wait for the damn torrent to start downloading . . .
Seriously, I've been waiting for this song to become available (other than as the b-side to a hard-to-find 7-inch) ever since I first heard it performed live about 5 or 6 years ago.
EDIT: BAH! Three hours! 6KB/s!! But I want it noooowwww . . .
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