That's what they say.
Everything I ever done,
Gotta give it away.
Someone hit the big score.
They figured it out,
That we're gonna do it anyway,
Even if doesn't pay.
I can get a tip jar,
Gas up the car,
And try to make a little change
Down at the bar.
Or I can get a straight job,
I've done it before.
I never minded working hard,
It's who I'm working for.
(Chorus)
Every day I wake up,
Hummin' a song.
But I don't need to run around,
I just stay home.
And sing a little love song,
My love, to myself.
If there's something that you want to hear,
You can sing it yourself.
'Cause everything is free now,
That what I say.
No one's got to listen to
The words in my head.
Someone hit the big score,
And I figured it out,
That we're gonna do it anyway,
Even if doesn't pay.
Gillian Howard Welch (; born October 2, 1967) is an American singer-songwriter. She performs with her musical partner, guitarist David Rawlings. Their sparse and dark musical style, which combines elements of Appalachian music, bluegrass, country and Americana, is described by The New Yorker as "at once innovative and obliquely reminiscent of past rural forms."
Welch and Rawlings have collaborated on nine critically acclaimed albums, five released under her name, three released under Rawlings' name, and one under both of their names. Her 1996 debut, Revival, and the 2001 release Time (The Revelator), received nominations for the Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Folk Album. Her 2003 album, Soul Journey, introduced electric guitar, drums, and a more upbeat sound to their body of work. After a gap of eight years, she released a fifth studio album, The Harrow & the Harvest, in 2011, which was also nominated for a Grammy for Best Contemporary Folk Album. In 2020, Welch and Rawlings released All the Good Times (Are Past & Gone), which won the 2021 Grammy Award for Best Folk Album.
Welch was an associate producer and performed on two songs of the soundtrack of the Coen brothers 2000 film O Brother, Where Art Thou?, a platinum album that won the Grammy Award for Album of the Year in 2002. She also appeared in the film attempting to buy a Soggy Bottom Boys record. Welch, while not one of the principal actors, did sing and provide additional lyrics to the Sirens song "Didn't Leave Nobody but the Baby." In 2018 she and Rawlings wrote the song "When a Cowboy Trades His Spurs for Wings" for the Coens' The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, for which they received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Original Song. Welch has collaborated and recorded with Alison Krauss, Ryan Adams, Jay Farrar, Emmylou Harris, Mark Knopfler, the Decemberists, Sam Phillips, Conor Oberst, Ani DiFranco, Robyn Hitchcock, Barry Gibb and Molly Tuttle.
Timely. I've never heard too much Gillian, myself.
Alison Krauss, Gillian Welch, Emmylou Harris - "Didn't Leave Nobody But The Baby" Live
The Holmes Brothers did it
https://www.flickr.com/photos/nwagner/
Gillian Welch
Beautiful
In this digital world, where songwriter credits have largely disappeared along with royalties, I accept this award in the name of those who labor in anonymity in the song mines, hoping against hope for the hit that so rarely comes. The one that pays the rent and feeds the kids, if actual recognition is hardly to be expected. I accept it in the name of those who pursue this uncertain occupation for the sake of the song itself.
As Ray Bradbury wrote: "Love what you do and do what you love. Don’t listen to anyone else who tells you not to do it. You do what you want, what you love. Imagination should be the center of your life.
True above. True song. Perfect.
In this digital world, where songwriter credits have largely disappeared along with royalties, I accept this award in the name of those who labor in anonymity in the song mines, hoping against hope for the hit that so rarely comes. The one that pays the rent and feeds the kids, if actual recognition is hardly to be expected. I accept it in the name of those who pursue this uncertain occupation for the sake of the song itself.
As Ray Bradbury wrote: "Love what you do and do what you love. Don’t listen to anyone else who tells you not to do it. You do what you want, what you love. Imagination should be the center of your life.
High:
True, but I'm thinking in a much broader sense. Think of the photographer who sends an image of an important news event to the local paper or even a national cable news broadcast without expecting compensation. Think of all the bloggers and freelancers who are contributing to websites for free or dog food wages. Many people are willing to lend their talents for nothing or next to nothing. Why do they do it? Perhaps they want to have their voices heard. Perhaps they just want to get 15 minutes of fame. Perhaps they feel some affinity toward the organization. Perhaps they think this is their chance at the big time. The problem is, so many people out there are so willing to work for next to nothing that it DOES endanger those who have made it to the big time. I've seen it with my own eyes. The wages of my friends, spouse and co-workers are being driven down by those who are willing to give away their talents or freelance for next to nothing. Employers look at their fairly compensated, professional employees and wonder why they are paying them so much when they can get other people to contribute for free. This is why the lyrics strike a nerve with me.
The net has been a great democratizer, and I appreciate that. It gives one individual the opportunity to have his/her voice distributed as far and wide as, say, the editorial page of the Times or the Journal. It gives musicians the opportunity to take their music directly to the people without record company contracts or some suit telling them how to conform to the latest trend. And, yeah, I have to agree with you on one point: You gotta struggle and pay your dues.
But believe me, if you were in my industry you would be astounded and troubled by the changes. My philosophy has always been "adapt or die." I just shake my head watching the changes, knowing that right now it's almost a race to the bottom. And I keep looking over my shoulder because someone out there is willing to do my job for a whole lot less -- or worse -- for free. How do I adapt to that?
Best wishes.
Just a few observations...I think the existing paradigm is terrible. For politics we have terrible choices what to read. I see no reason to keep it. Nearly every single political writer must stake out a career as a mouthpiece for one or other of the parties, or worse be an ideologue associated with a Univeristy or think tank who pays his way. This is abysmal. This means you get a polarized public. This needs to be unlearned and it will take some time. Why should anyone be paid to write their opinions? Pretend that this is a forum where people are speaking, having a conversation. If others want to listen in it is neither here nor there -- it is like the coffee shop. To suggest we should worry about taking a job from a paid opinion peddler is a stretch.
Grammar: A new paradigm? Not really. More like a return to a very old one that's being updated by all the new fangled communications capabilities (read here the 'net). We're back to the day of the troubadour, only an electronic one. Whereas then they wandered from village to village (or town/city take yer pick) for what spare change and food the local citizenry could provide today they do much the same but via the Internet. Yet regardless the dream of the musician/artist (most of them anyway) remains pretty much the same. To hit the BIG time. Now, like then, few make it. You may like them, you may not, but for every Katy Perry and Lady Gaga pulling down the millions via a Global fan base there are a thousand others laboring away in obscurity who're arguably 10 times better. And then you have those in the middle zone; the Gillian Welch's and such, whose popularity allows for a comfortable life even if the (global) visibility is not the same. The saving grace is their music tends to be more....durable (for lack of a better term) than the shooting stars. It's the recognition of this that allows for a modicum of grace for the artist I suppose?.
Just some thoughts.
Highlow
American Net'Zen
High:
True, but I'm thinking in a much broader sense. Think of the photographer who sends an image of an important news event to the local paper or even a national cable news broadcast without expecting compensation. Think of all the bloggers and freelancers who are contributing to websites for free or dog food wages. Many people are willing to lend their talents for nothing or next to nothing. Why do they do it? Perhaps they want to have their voices heard. Perhaps they just want to get 15 minutes of fame. Perhaps they feel some affinity toward the organization. Perhaps they think this is their chance at the big time. The problem is, so many people out there are so willing to work for next to nothing that it DOES endanger those who have made it to the big time. I've seen it with my own eyes. The wages of my friends, spouse and co-workers are being driven down by those who are willing to give away their talents or freelance for next to nothing. Employers look at their fairly compensated, professional employees and wonder why they are paying them so much when they can get other people to contribute for free. This is why the lyrics strike a nerve with me.
The net has been a great democratizer, and I appreciate that. It gives one individual the opportunity to have his/her voice distributed as far and wide as, say, the editorial page of the Times or the Journal. It gives musicians the opportunity to take their music directly to the people without record company contracts or some suit telling them how to conform to the latest trend. And, yeah, I have to agree with you on one point: You gotta struggle and pay your dues.
But believe me, if you were in my industry you would be astounded and troubled by the changes. My philosophy has always been "adapt or die." I just shake my head watching the changes, knowing that right now it's almost a race to the bottom. And I keep looking over my shoulder because someone out there is willing to do my job for a whole lot less -- or worse -- for free. How do I adapt to that?
Best wishes.