Guild Tidings
The official publication of
The International Songwriters Guild
Volume 28, No. 11
November 2023
Live meetings are Cancelled due to CoronaVirus.
However, we will be having on-line Zoom meetings.
The next zoom feedback session will be Sunday November 5th.
We will send details under a separate e-mail,
and an announcement on the Facebook group page.
If you want the zoom meeting details,
please e-mail us at isgorlando@gmail.com
Hopefully we will soon be meeting in person again.
Please stay tuned for more info.
Any Details not in this newsletter are at:
If you wish to join our Facebook group, please check us out at
https://www.facebook.com/groups/831814850193553/
WebChatter
by CyberToad
We are asking members to renew their dues for 2023. It costs only $5 per year,
and it helps us to defray costs for the zoom meetings.
We have 2 methods of payment. Either paypal to our treasurer Asli Goncer's
paypal account. The paypal access is at aslivision@gmail.com
or you can mail a $5 check to
Asli Goncer
2849 Babylon Court
Oviedo, FL 32765
Either way, we appreciate your continued support.
Wichita Lineman
by Jackie Mason
A musician friend recommended this video. It’s an interview between Rick Beato and virtuoso songwriter Jimmy Webb. It’s titled “Wichita Lineman: Talking With Tunesmith Jimmy Webb.” It was published on July 21st 2023. In my notes I described Beato as respectful and Webb as humble. It’s a far ranging interview about songwriting. It’s about a successful songwriter and his life. It is both introspective and reflective. Beato is able to draw out the musical decisions that Webb has made in his career and craft.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8pRKAgMaP4
I’ve written about Jimmy Webb before. I talked about his 1999 book on songwriting “Tunesmith: Inside the Art of Songwriting.” It’s available on Amazon.
https://www.amazon.com/Tunesmith-Inside-Songwriting-Jimmy-Webb/dp/0786884886
I was so inspired by the video that I pulled my copy off the shelf. I bought it in 2011, as Amazon kindly informs me. Even now after all this time it still offers me insights. This is a phrase I highlighted. ”We must accomplish our aims and tell our entire story in a time frame of about three minutes (plus or minus.)” That is the conundrum of writing songs. It’s not an easy discipline.
A notable quote from the interview is “with a good song you could go a long way.” This is true of “By The Time I Get To Phoenix.” Jimmy says in the interview, the song, “has a very checkered history.” The song had been written in 1965 and had been turned down by one artist, “I don’t get it.” Another version of the song was recorded by Tony Martin but “never saw the light of day.” There are hard lessons to absorb in this tale. They must have been hard for a young man from a small town in Oklahoma. They must have been heady times. The next artist to record a version was Johnny Rivers. It was released in 1966 on Johnny’s “Changes” album. In 1967 Glen Campbell reinterpreted the song and it became a huge hit. It changed Jimmy’s life and did take him a long way.
He talks fondly about being in LA. It was a “fun time to be around, there was a real demand for music, I mean there was an insatiable demand for good songs. ” It was an interesting time to be a Hollywood musician. It was so alive that you know these guys were living in mansions you know they were.” He is talking about The Wrecking Crew who were the elite session musicians in LA. This is a predominantly music based video on songwriting. After a couple of views I began to grasp some of the musical concepts expressed in the video. He does touch briefly on lyrics. He talks about Simon and Garfunkel and their lyrical influence on young people. “There's a whole generation of college or nearly college educated kids, you know some of them dropped out but everybody had a taste of English lit. And most people had read uh Dylan Thomas.” And later, he adds, “I think that Dylan Thomas was a tremendous influence on my Generation.” I think Jimmy is a great story teller. I can see the influence of poetry. There's precision and economy in his words. I like his description about “By The Time I Get To Phoenix.” Taken from a 2004 NPR Interview.
https://www.npr.org/2010/07/23/128696937/jimmy-webb-from-phoenix-to-just-across-the-river
"Well, it's more of a song about something I wish I had done than something I really did, in that I did not get in my car and drive back to Oklahoma to punish this young woman for not reciprocating my love and affection. In fact, a guy approached me one night after a concert, and he had a map, and he had all the times, and he had a stopwatch. And he showed me how it was impossible for me to drive from L.A. to Phoenix, and then how far it was to Albuquerque and then -- in short, he told me, “This song is impossible.” “And so it is. It's a kind of fantasy about something I wish I would have done, and it sort of takes place in a twilight zone of reality.”
"May I hasten to add that I think that the appeal of the song lies in its sort of succinct tale -- its beginning, middle and end -- and the fact that it sort of has an O. Henry-esque twist at the end, which consists merely of the guy saying, 'She didn't really think that I would go,' but he did. And, in fact, I didn't. I didn't go. I stayed for more punishment.” Next month I will talk about the musical concepts that contribute to this fantasy story. Goodnight from the Song Motel.
ISG Bulletin Board
Meeting space graciously provided by Central Florida Musicians Association,
Local 389. You are invited to join the largest union in the world, representing the
interests of the professional musician. Visit their website at afm389.org for more
information. You may reach them by phone at: 407-894-8666.
Why isn't your gig or live stream announced here? Members in good standing call
SusieCool with your appearance schedule! 407-760-2153 or e-mail her the details
at isgorlando@gmail.com
If you are interested in open mics in the Central Florida area, SusieCool has compiled a list.
Steve Hodak hosts several newly listed open mics on the East coast.
https://sites.google.com/site/susiecoolsongs/Home/open-mic-directory-central-florida
SusieCool is the admin for a Facebook group called "Orlando Creative Music Network"
where we give out info on songwriter meetings, playing circles, open mics, workshops and concerts.
We have a Facebook page for this group if you want to join.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/274152179716552/
No Critique scores for October, since no live meeting.
New members and guests are always welcome!
© 2023 ISG