Nowadays Clancy Can't Even Sing
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Geographer
Well-Known Member
Hmmm...after re-reading this again (and after a good decade since the last time...and at least a decade or two since the time before that), I always get the impression that the writer does not like K&R at all; not because of their music, but dislikes them because America likes them. The writer's contempt for ordinary America is palpable. Probably a product of the time, but reflects more on the way the elite, snobbish Rolling Stone editors and writers have a sense of superiority over middle America; and thus, K&R.
Mark-T
Well-Known Member
^^^ Agreed.
It's interesting, I have been writing a review for my blog on Karen's solo album to post on 2/4. I started with the cover rendering and their image problems. Interesting to read days later this interview. Just show's how others' perceptions of us create issues in our lives both good and bad.
It's interesting, I have been writing a review for my blog on Karen's solo album to post on 2/4. I started with the cover rendering and their image problems. Interesting to read days later this interview. Just show's how others' perceptions of us create issues in our lives both good and bad.
byline
Well-Known Member
This is strange; I never got the sense that the writer disliked them. I'll have to read the interview again and see if I can pick up on that. I got the sense that he took Richard's anger very seriously and wanted to get that across so that Richard and Karen didn't come across in their usual milquetoast way. It seemed like he made a concerted effort to portray them as real people, but that he had a harder time with Karen because, for whatever reason, she wouldn't or couldn't go into her deeper feelings the way Richard did. For me, it was the most honest portrayal of them that I'd read up to that point, and I appreciated the fact that the writer didn't apply the usual smarmy sarcasm (which, for me, was a clear sign of a writer's dislike for them), but simply stuck to his subjects. He at least respected them enough to do that much.
I didn't get that at all. I agree with what 'byline' wrote above -- it certainly COULD have been a hatchet job by RS, but they chose not to do that because of two reasons: They recognized that the Carpenters had excellent musical talent despite their image (note the compliment on Karen's drumming) and, they recognized that these really were two "regular people" who had been badly handled, imagewise. They had this image, but it wasn't their own doing.
I was always kind of surprised that they didn't print out the full spelling of Karen's "f - - -." I mean, that word appears regularly in RS so it probably wasn't censorship. And you can bet that if she said the word and Richard had commented, "please don't put THAT into print!" they would have printed his comment! I was thinking, maybe Karen didn't actually say the word but just the "f" sound, as in "Oh, ffffff......"
Toolman
Simple Man, Simple Dream
song4u
Well-Known Member
Thanks! Don't know why I didn't think to look there.
Nobody is THAT perfect. I'm sure she said her share of F-bombs, etc., just like everybody else. She also said, "When I got sick, it's scared the hell out of me". I also remember her saying, 'It's hard to get a damned break in show business", etc. etc.
I also know the brother of the girl who snuck into her dressing room around 1972, which Karen actually mentions in another interview. The girl's brother told me Karen unloaded on her with a plethora of cuss words.
Humans swear from time to time.
I also know the brother of the girl who snuck into her dressing room around 1972, which Karen actually mentions in another interview. The girl's brother told me Karen unloaded on her with a plethora of cuss words.
Humans swear from time to time.
Back to "Clancy" - I've always loved the lyric "You paint a gold nugget / You can't lay claim." It was such a disappointment to learn that the line is actually "It ain't a gold nugget" - nowhere near as good in my opinion!
And that jazzy organ/brass coda is so groovy. I wonder if Neil Young ever got to hear this recording?
And that jazzy organ/brass coda is so groovy. I wonder if Neil Young ever got to hear this recording?
song4u
Well-Known Member
Don't you hate it when you're singing along with a song and the artist gets it wrong?
newvillefan
I Know My First Name Is Stephen
Don't you hate it when you're singing along with a song and the artist gets it wrong?
"Cos the best love songs are written with a broken arm"
A friend of mine attended the University of Michigan, and knew a girl who always got song lyrics wrong. When INXS released "Suicide Blonde", she thought it was "Soup and Salad Bar"....LOL....
Somebody alerted the local station and told them about it. So, whenever they played that song, that's how they would announce it.
Somebody alerted the local station and told them about it. So, whenever they played that song, that's how they would announce it.
dostros
Member
dostros
Member
I agree. That's the proof I needed. Oh, well, there you go. The Carpenters improved a Neil Young song.
Dave
Well-Known Member
I've always heard "paint a gold nugget" in the original line, myself... Somehow seems to go with "can't lay a claim", as in a "claim, in a gold rush", better than "you ain't a gold nugget", but then again, the latter line is certainly a mild put-down I would use, given the song's "plot" & how the comment would relate in real life...
-- Dave
-- Dave
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