Singer/Songwriter: The Sub-Categories

The phrase/term singer/songwriter is over/used, in/accurate and/utterly bull/shit. It’s time someone speaks up about this. I/think I/ shall. 

There have been very few artists in my generation who deserve to be deemed singer/songwriter and many of them barely qualify in both categories. In my humble opinion here are some artists who make the list: Stevie Wonder, Smokey Robinson, Otis Redding, Paul Simon, Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Billy Joel, Lennon & McCartney, Dolly Parton, Roger Miller, Tom Waits, Bruce Springsteen, Janis Ian, Neil Young, Cat Stevens, James Taylor, John Prine – and yes, I am leaving many off the list – probably your favorites. Even within this list of stellar artists many of you will question my choices. Perhaps you can’t stomach the sound of Dylan’s voice – especially in recent years when it sounds as if people dragged a jagged rake over his vocal chords and washed them off with a mixture of coal dust, cheap whiskey and burley tobacco. Well, you are certainly welcome to disagree. 

I suppose at least two questions regarding my thesis are merited: how does one truly define a singer/songwriter and who gave me the license/authority to act as judge/jury? Well, since I started this, let me try to explain my logic.

I’ll answer the second question first. No one gave me this authority; it’s just that I have this web site and I’m free to fill it with my own brand of madness. I’ve also sat with a guitar in my lap and a tablet and pencil on my kitchen table for the past 35 years and have managed, with some great effort, to keep my family fed, clothed and sheltered by making up songs. Along the way I have had the good sense to do everything in my power to keep the moniker ‘singer/songwriter’ detached from my name. I find the term to be both shallow/arrogant and I don’t like it – never have. I do not sing well and my modest success as a person who writes songs arrived ‘on a train bound for nowhere*’ along with carloads full of hard work, heavenly blessings and luck. So, if I had to give myself one of those defining ‘slash phrases’ like singer/songwriter I’d go with something like ‘not a good singer/has written songs.’ 

Now, on to the other question. Singers, I think, should possess, at least, one of two qualities: an exquisite ability to sing or a vocal personality that is compelling. A rare few have both. For example - Every local, oh-so-hip-rag of a free newspaper in every almost-a-city in this wonderful country of ours sells advertisements based primarily on the fact that young people want to know where the music is or need a roommate. Punk had its moment, as did glam-rock, new wave, head-slammer, disco, folk-rock, psychedelic, etc. And now, in the endless cycle of popular music there seems to be great benefit to be considered a singer/songwriter; at least, the large percentage of musical offerings listed in the ‘What and Where To Hear It’ columns in these local rags are of the singer/songwriter category. When photos of these performers are included they tend to have that distant look of torture, confusion, contemplation, surprise, constipation and hopelessness. Very appealing. From what I have heard in recent years, the music these artists offer is reflected in their photos. 

I am of the opinion that the term singer/songwriter needs sub-categories: new, ‘defining titles’ to be given to this host of artists based on their music, persona and performances. Here are some suggestions: 

angry/stupid

sad/fractured

singer/potential ax murderer

boring/really boring

sings sharp/incapable of using a hammer

lesbian/really pissed off

terrible singer/really bad songwriter

can’t play/can’t sing

amelodic/without a soul

born too late/born too soon

detached/depressed

thinks he’s the shit/awful

darkly good-looking/vacuous chamber

poet/creep

potential ax murderer/songwriter

the next Bob Dylan/junkie

drunk/drunk

oh so hip/idiot

as cool as it gets/never had a job

brooding/psychotic

self involved/unoriginal

Hope/this/helps…