Lots of fine and finely-crafted songs here, thanks to Gavin B and Mr.Charlie.
Beeswing is such a nice song that I can almost understand why Richard Thompson is so highly regarded; this has always been a mystery to me, because apart from the title track of
Wanna See The Bright Lights, I´ve never been really struck by his songs.
One thing I liked about the
Vincent Black Lightning track is the way his lyrics are accurate about British biker culture: at one point he mentions "Beezer" which was slang for the now-extinct bike manufacturer, BSA, and early in the song he also mentions riding down to Boxhill.This is a traditional biker haunt about 30 miles south of London:
Sorry that such a big pic doesn´t even show the reason for Boxhill´s popularity. Bikers like it because after the frustrations of London´s busy but orderly streets, Boxhill offers riders a chance to sweep and swoop down some beautiful long steep rural roads; they can lean their bikes into curves, and for once are not roundly cursed by other road users.
Nevertheless, there is always something homely about Britain, and although I just used words like
long, steep and
rural, don´t be deceived; Boxhill, from top to bottom can probably be done in about 2 minutes.It´s like one of those fair-ground rides that´s over before it´s begun. Boxhill can never aspire to the kind of grandeur that seems so readily available to songwriters in the USA.
Stuck Inside of Dorking will always sound laughable where
Stuck Inside Of Mobile carries a harder edge.
So, that´s partly why I have an enthusiasm for Americana; the lyrics, the land, have a kind of epic cowboy swagger which is unavailable to people like Richard Thompson with his ballads of life in the Home Counties. Maybe my current Americana favourites will help illustrate what I´m saying. Their delivery, their lyrics, seem to have a casual, effortless brilliance whether they are in tragic mode (
Don´t Wake The Scarecrow) or having fun (
Loves Me Tenderly):-