>and i'm w/JCM in that i think it's sad to see you ppl
>perpetuating the sort of rockist hair-splitting that's been
>used to discredit the innovations of non-Rock (and now
>non-Pop) artists. i could throw race in there and point out
>that this sort of bending over backward is often used to
>discredit non-white artists and art made by non-whites,
>generally. but i won't. i'll just keep shaking my head and
>tsking at this whole thing.

i already said in my first post that hes a great writer for several great songs he wrote. ive just said when it comes to comparing him to lamont dozier or prince or ashford and simpson or gamble and huff, he didnt write songs in that mould. its a completely different aesthetic. you guys are saying great songwriting = pop writing which doesnt favour black music, and thats mostly right, but far as i can tell, the best loved R&B is usually the stuff that is on that line that crosses into pop territory.

the reason dylan and mitchell etc are regarded as great songwriters is just cos (white) rock ppl are the establishment so they can decide this. without wanting to get too damaja-ish about this, dylan was a great lyricist who melodically, was often not much to write home about. but he wrote some great pop songs along the way. joni mitchell did a lot of interesting things melodically and was a great lyricist, but again, not everything she wrote was a great song like case of you.

so fine, GC is a great songwriter, but i would maintain he is that for certain songs that fit a certain structure/aesthetic. im fine with being called popist lol.