Rantings Of A Mad Rodent

"They don't write 'em like that anymore.
They just don't write 'em like that anymore." - Greg Kihn


I was listening to Steely Dan the other day, and it got me to thinking about today's songwriting. I've come to this conclusion: songwriters aren't even trying anymore. They're just mailing it in, and the sheeple are swallowing it hook, line, and sinker. Sure you have people like Anthony David, India.Arie, and John Mayer, but they are in the minority. Donald Fagen and Walter Becker (Steely Dan) were song craftsmen. They were 2 literary majors that could squeeze a complete story inside of a 4 minute song, and the great music was a bonus!

Songwriters today lack imagination. Think about it, Earth, Wind, & Fire's "Reasons" was about having a one night stand. Some of you who are reading this didn't even know that, did you? Brilliant, isn't it? Today, singers will literally say, "Hey, let me buy you a drink, and then let's go home and f*ck!", as opposed to "The scent of jasmine fills the air, and flowers are blooming." like A Taste of Honey proclaimed. See what I mean? Imagination. There are some songs that were out back then, that to this day, some still don't know what they were about. Take the O Jay's "Brandy", they were singing about a beloved dog! "Aqua Boogie" wasn't about dancing under water, it was about a black person's ability to juggle many situations. Again, imagination and thought!

Ask yourself this: Do you honestly think that an artist today could come up with an album like "Darkside of the Moon", "What's Going On?", "Houses of the Holy", or "Aja"? I think not. It's too much work for their limited imaginations. Many artists today just simply want to cut to the chase. Stevie Wonder wrote "Songs in the Key of Life". Each song on that album was a soundtrack to different points in a person's life. We'll never hear any shit like that again, but we will hear some shmuck saying that he wants to "make love in this club". Uh, okay. I'll put it to you this way, Limp Bizkit has deemed today's music so bad (oh, the irony!), they feel it necessary to reunite and tour again! Now look at what you've done!

You can call me old or whatever, but while I listen to my Prince, The Doobie Bros., Patsy Cline, Willie Nelson, De La Soul, and Brick cd's, I'll just simply sing along and say to myself, "They just don't write 'em like that anymore."