Last night this wonderful man played a show at Messiah. It was free and from 10-12 in the student union. I greatly enjoyed this performance. I am the first person to love a good rock and roll band, but there is just something really neat about a man(or woman) and his guitar. It is clean. It is relaxing. It is beautiful. It takes talent for an artist to keep a crowd with just a guitar. He did an amazing job of this. A great simple show. If you get a chance and he is in your area, go check out Derek Webb.
At one point in the evening, he took a break and talked about an organization that is trying to get clean blood and water to the most impoverished. It is the blood:water mission. They are doing something incredible in that their goal is to build 1000 clean water wells in the poverty stricken areas. They do this by hiring local people to build the well. Not only is it giving clean water, but also creating jobs. That's a great organization making an impact.
Another thing that he mentioned was that he was not going to explain any more what his songs mean. I totally agree with him. We tend to like when song are spelled out for us clearly, but I actually think that it is a cheap form of art. The beauty of all kinds of art is that it means different things to different people. When we have to think and pull our own meaning out of art is when we can truly appreciate it. Enough of these self explanatory lyrics. Let's try to bring the poetry back into songwriting. One person that is incredibly gifted is Derek Webb.
4 comments:
yeah but Seal mumbles so that his lyrics can mean absolutely anything to anyone. Dumb. Say what you mean. If I can't understand ya then it ain't worth my time. I loathe poetry, save Frost. Now that guy could write. Why? He's a good New England boy. Mending Wall, Birches, The Wood-Pile. yeah I'm sure there's metaphor and hyperbole in there somewhere. But man if it doesn't portray the life I've seen in New England. There's nothing to fuss over. His statements are clear. Crisp. Precise. Like New England.
I'm linking this "review" to a Derek Webb forum. Hope that's not a problem. Sounds like the concert was lovely.... :)
Fine with me.
John Kerry, his statements are crisp, precise, like New England.
Anyway, I agree with you Matt, who cares what a song means to the musician. what does it meant to you?
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