I love T.Rex but

[Auton]

Marc Bolan couldn't write a proper song even if his life depended on it.

[DroppinScience]

Get it on - bang a gong - get it on!

If that ain't great songwriting, I don't know WHAT is...

[Ace42X]

If only Marc had taken the swan instead of the mini cooper that dark and rainy night, he might still be with us today...

[Ally Al]

Marc Bolan couldn't write a proper song even if his life depended on it.


LOL

his lyrics always have made me laugh but i do love t-rex. I used to have one really shit high pressured tele-sales job and me and one of the other dudes used to take the pressure off by pissing ourselves to said lyrics all day long. Probably doesn't sound that funny now but when you used to smoke a whole heap of weed in the toilets throughout the day to also help alleviate the pressure. Hot love was a particular favourite, as was ride a white swan

[EN[i]GMA]

Marc Bolan couldn't write a proper song even if his life depended on it.

I don't know, Girl isn't too bad.

O God
High in your fields above earth
Come and be real for us
You with your mind
Oh yes you are
Beautifully fine

O Girl
Electric witch you are
Limp in society's ditch you are
Visually fine
Oh yes you are
But mentally dying

O boy
Just like a boat you are
Sunk but somehow you float you do
Mentally weak
Oh yes you are
But so much you speak


OK, looking at the lyrics, I see your point.

But fuck if it isn't a good song anyway.

[Auton]

i was talking about structure. girl for example, its the same verse (musically) over and over and over again, no chorus or anything. the most complex he ever got was verse-chorus-verse-chorus. i LOVE t-rex, and electric warrior is one of my top 10 favorite albums ever made, but i'm just saying, from a technical standpoint bolan couldnt write his way out of a paper sack.

[Auton]

Get it on - bang a gong - get it on!

If that ain't great songwriting, I don't know WHAT is...

great song, but not great songwriting.

[Ace42X]

but i'm just saying, from a technical standpoint bolan couldnt write his way out of a paper sack.

He could've, he was just too busy living a glam lifestyle.

[Auton]

true, i cant help but wonder what kind of stuff he couldve have written if he wasnt so enveloped in the glam scene. he really did make awesome songs.

[Ally Al]

he wasn't always glam though

in the very early days when it was just him and Mickey Finn when they were Tyrannosaurus Rex, more folky weren't they ?

I don't think glam had much to do with his lyrical content. There was no specific style lyric wise that made an artist glam it was more about the look. Hippies had peace and love, punks had the smash the state ethos but i don't remember glam groups making songs about wearing glam clothes and wearing make up, it was a different type of movement

[Auton]

yes, they were folk. being "glam" didnt have any affect in terms of what he was doing lyrically, you're right. but. artists would often change the music around to what they felt glam kids wanted around the time. that's why everybody hated berlin by lou reed when it came out. he purposefully ditched bowie as a producer so he could avoid the glam label the glam kids were throwing at him because of transformer. i dont really know how to explain the musical differences of glam, but im sure you know what i mean. bolan hit his creative peak in the early seventies, but it was in the musical confines of glam. kids wanted him to be glam, and he catered to them. if he broke out of that specific niche, like bowie and reed, and explored other types of writing within the rock medium i'm sure his writing would have gotten more complex, instead of what he ended up doing for the rest of his career.

that all sounded like a bunch of pretentious tripe, but it's difficult for me to try to explain. i hope some of it made sense.

[saz]

in the very early days when it was just him and Mickey Finn when they were Tyrannosaurus Rex, more folky weren't they ?


no, it was steve peregrin took

[Jontz]

Listen to the Tyrannosaurys Rex album "Unicorn". Probably some of the best songwriting demonstrated in the entire decade of its initial release.

and what about 'Tanx'? if 'Tenemant Lady', 'Children of the revolution'(from tanx sessions) and '20th century man'(also from sessions) arent considered pop masterpieces, then i dont know what would be.

Although, i think were all forgetting that Bolans simple and repetitive nature was part of his cheeky charm, and songs like "New York City" wouldnt be half as effective if there were more than those 4 lines repeated over the duration of the (4 minute)song.

[Ally Al]

no, it was steve peregrin took


my bad i forgot about him, didn't he leave in about 69 ?

[Ally Al]

yes, they were folk. being "glam" didnt have any affect in terms of what he was doing lyrically, you're right. but. artists would often change the music around to what they felt glam kids wanted around the time. that's why everybody hated berlin by lou reed when it came out. he purposefully ditched bowie as a producer so he could avoid the glam label the glam kids were throwing at him because of transformer. i dont really know how to explain the musical differences of glam, but im sure you know what i mean. bolan hit his creative peak in the early seventies, but it was in the musical confines of glam. kids wanted him to be glam, and he catered to them. if he broke out of that specific niche, like bowie and reed, and explored other types of writing within the rock medium i'm sure his writing would have gotten more complex, instead of what he ended up doing for the rest of his career.

that all sounded like a bunch of pretentious tripe, but it's difficult for me to try to explain. i hope some of it made sense.

yes, total sense, i know exactly what you mean

it would've been interesting to see if his love of punk would've led to a new sort of sound, shame really

[abcdefz]

i was talking about structure. girl for example, its the same verse (musically) over and over and over again, no chorus or anything. the most complex he ever got was verse-chorus-verse-chorus. i LOVE t-rex, and electric warrior is one of my top 10 favorite albums ever made, but i'm just saying, from a technical standpoint bolan couldnt write his way out of a paper sack.



That's a pretty limited viewpoint, sir.

Also: I think "Cosmic Dancer" is a pretty great song.

Bolan was great at making doggerel poetry.

[b-grrrlie]

I've got a Rolls Royce, cause it's good for my voice.




Word.

[Auton]

That's a pretty limited viewpoint, sir.

i live with it.

[abcdefz]

i live with it.


Astral Weeks must drive you insane. :D

[Auton]

not at all. i dont find their writing very similar though.

[steve-onpoint]

I love T.Rex but I love one song of their's.

Bang a fuckin' big ol' gong.

[abcdefz]

not at all. i dont find their writing very similar though.


...no: just the idea that you want a pretty formulaic structure for songs, per your earlier post.

[Auton]

i think my pointing out that marc bolan wrote the most simple "verse-verse-verse-the end" songs incidates otherwise. really, that's a very insulting and untrue thing to say, man.

[abcdefz]

i think my pointing out that marc bolan wrote the most simple "verse-verse-verse-the end" songs incidates otherwise. really, that's a very insulting and untrue thing to say, man.


I re-read your post and unsay all my harsh words, sir.

Withdrawn; apologized for.