Comments on: How To Make The Whole World Sing: “Ashes Of American Flags”

By: David Mead

David Mead — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 15:58:28 +0000

Sorry Odd Joe, that was a cheap shot. But I have a weak stomach for medical details and I figured Al could take a nudge in the ribs if anyone could. “Eat It” really does it for me, by the way. I will check out his non-parody stuff, too.

By: Odd Joe

Odd Joe — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 19:23:22 +0000

Jeff Tweedy is master of offbeat imagery to be sure! But what is with the knock on Weird Al? Like A Surgeon is done purely for comedic effect and it is a parody at that so it had to fit the constraints of the already reconized pop song. Al is a musical genius and I do not say that lightly! Listen to his original, non-parody songs to really hear some top notch writing…

By: Keith_Charles_Dovoric

Keith_Charles_Dovoric — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 17:33:32 +0000

Very astute point about synecdoche, ‘Housewife; to my knowledge, few songwriters, outside of Dylan and perhaps Mike Scott, have used this application to great affect (by the latter, I am thinking of “Church Not Made with Hands”, “Old England”, and “December”). I am excited to have discovered Jeff Tweedy: He ranks up there in the pantheon of great rock writers for me (Young, Dylan, Byrne…).

By: Kathy Kelley

Kathy Kelley — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 04:55:29 +0000

I have been on a Wilco Kick lately. He is one of those songwriters I can listen to forever, and still find something new. It’s amazing to read through those songs. Thank you for your point of view. It’s such a simply thing, show don’t tell, but as songwriters it’s nice to reminded.

By: DisparateHousewife

DisparateHousewife — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 19:39:48 +0000

I think a lot of Jeff Tweedy’s lyrics employ a puzzle of synecdoche, where he describes parts in vivid detail, without revealing the larger narrative. The listener/reader is compelled to fill in the gaps with their own experience, and so the songs have a Rorschach effect in their emotional resonance.

By: Keith_Charles_Dovoric

Keith_Charles_Dovoric — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 13:26:16 +0000

What a wonderful example to include as a demonstration of “parsimonious description.” Strangely, Jeff Tweedy has often been criticized – by non-fans, I would venture – for mulling over static and inert imagery. What many fail to examine (or not examine, which might be the point, after all) is the warmth that pervades his best writing – read “Flags”, “Chinese Apple” (later “Heavy Metal Drummer”), and “Muzzle of Bees.” In fact, that last work employs so much visual and sonic vividity that it’s hard to know where to start. To paraphrase L. Cohen, some great works need not be “about” anything; they simply have an effect. The pulse, for lack of clearer terms, of J. Tweedy’s work may be said to be that of an ocean of barely discernible, quasi-primitive details, all spontaneously swimming toward a gratifying coda of emotional resolution: As always, the genius lies in a symbiosis of the simplistic and the ambiguous. He has probably listened to “Happiness Is a Warm Gun” more than once!