Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Now, Carly did NOT write like Carol King, or sing like Janis Joplin, BUT, she definitely had her own style, wrote largely her own songs, and played guitar to boot(Personally I always thought she was hot as hell as well but thats just me).....
So, the jury is out..How talented indeed WAS Carly? WHo could/would you compare her with?
My opinion?..I think she was underrated..not hugely, but somewhat......She def had her own sound and voice...when you heard "Nobody Does it Better" or "You're so Vain"(and didnt you love the son of a gun she says in the beginning), you knew it was her immediately...
My two favs would be "Anticipation", and "That's the way I've always heard it should be"...those both bore into my spirit when I hear them, and did as a young kid.....Anticipation is simply a great sweet nostalgic song, perfectly crafted for that era(singer songwriters).....and yeah, I know it was used for Heinz Ketchup commercial, so sue me..lol...."Thats the way" is powerful, especially the "Marry Me" ending, but the whole tune captivates......
Believe it or not Carly was said to have suffered from stage fright...who know how that effected her career...but it didn't help...I personally liked Linda Ronstadt although she didn't write her own songs...but she had such a beautiful clear strong powerful voice and yet at times so soft and gentle...
I was surprised to hear "That's The Way I've Always Heard It Should Be" on the radio earlier this month. It's such a melodic, deliberate song, compared to the uptempo mandate of today.
I was surprised to hear "That's The Way I've Always Heard It Should Be" on the radio earlier this month. It's such a melodic, deliberate song, compared to the uptempo mandate of today.
That is an incredible song. The imagery of the dad sitting in the dark with his cigarette glowing in the dark ... .
If one were to write about the music of the 70s, then Carly Simon would figure prominently in that book. "Your so Vain" is still discussed as to who she was referring to. She has a distinctive voice and sound. I hope she is still touring; would love to see her.
I was surprised to hear "That's The Way I've Always Heard It Should Be" on the radio earlier this month. It's such a melodic, deliberate song, compared to the uptempo mandate of today.
One of the all time totally fantastic songs wonderfully done by Miss. Simon.
Co-written with Jacob Brackman, CS captures the fears if not total panic many young suburban post war girls felt about marriage.
Born in the great age of domesticity (post war late 1940's through 1950's) these girls came of age during the *swinging* 1960's when it seemed the USA was going to tear itself apart over social issues. You had the Civil Rights and Women's Liberation movements totally upending almost everything persons knew about accepted roles in society.
Unlike their mothers who largely went to college to obtain their "Mrs." degree and or perhaps work a few years in many of the pink collar ghetto sectors until marriage, girls like those in Carly Simon's song were hearing a different message. This was that there was more to life than just becoming Her Indoors and retiring from the world to live in the defined and confined roles of Kinder, Küche, Kirche .
Anyone who grew up in suburbia during the 1960's and 1970's (as one did) knows the setting well. The father and mother seem to inhabit totally different worlds. In the song's case he is downstairs having a cigarette (in the dark) whilst she is upstairs in bed reading a magazine. While not a total implication of a loveless marriage it speaks to persons who did so because one or both felt "that was the way it was supposed to be". Females in particular had a very short shelf life back then. It seems odd today but one was considered spinster material if not married by twenty-five. Certainly by age thirty a woman's prospects fell off a cliff on average. In such situations one married for a whole host of other reasons than *love*. Well not at least for the constant "catch me kiss me, kiss me catch me", that many today seem to believe marriage is about.
Ms. Simon's character can find little solace in looking at the marriages of her girlfriends from college. They seemed to have followed their mother's examples and settled into comfortable suburban marriages of the period. For anyone that knew the 1970's this could include everything from adultery (think the Graduate), endless cocktail parties, the endless pursuit of "happiness" by climbing the social and economic ladder, and of course pills and booze. Everything the children of the 1960's in most cases were rebelling against.
Indeed the whole premise of "That is the way I've always heard it should be" is that the boyfriend/man has decided it is time for the couple to marry. Miss. Simon knows it is what she is supposed to want and that it is what her family and society expects her to do. But like one said back then marriage was not something one left easily, so for many reasons persons remained.
Lawdy, I sure do hate it when favorite performers of mine get written about in the past tense, as if they were dead.
She IS talented enough that she was a featured artist at the ASCAP event at the Library of Congress in May, along with other great composer/performers from that era who are ALSO still alive, like Randy Newman and Jimmy Webb.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
.
.
