Mark's songwriting

[Love Expresso]

Hi, this is going around in my head for a while, so I dare to open a new thread about it. I was thinking about wether MK has improved as a songwriter or not - and I mean the lyrical side in the first place. As English is not my mother tounge it might be difficult to describe what I mean so I will bring up some examples:

Border Reiver is just a text about a lorry driver and his lorry.

So Far From The Clyde is just a text about a ship crashing into the shore.

After going deeper into the lyrics AND reading some liner notes and interview stuff, I know of course that there are some other meanings. Mark compared BR with Southbound Again and the time he remembered hitchhiking to London in his teens. BUT there is no link in the lyrics to it, and that is what disturbs me in a certain way. The same with SFFTC: Where is the idea behind it, I mean, there are different interpretations possible, Mark is from the Clyde himself, he might think about how far he has come since then, but WHERE is that single word, the sentence that opens other dimensions?

Hope this is not too weird.

Another example might show what I mean:

Brothers In Arms, Ride Across The River, The Fish And The Bird, 5:15 am, all those songs have some special idea that IS illustrated with words and meaning in the lyrics. But on (the album) Get Lucky, the only line I find comparable to this quality is "tell it to the bread line" to be honest, because it is just that single word that puts you into the right time and place and gives you the deeper meaning of the lyrics.

Come on, beat me! 

LE

[dustyvalentino]

So Far From The Clyde is just a text about a ship crashing into the shore.

No it isn't.

It's about an old ship that was beautifuuly crafted on the Clyde being taken to India to be dismantled because nobody has any use for it anymore.

It's not one of my favourite songs, possibly because I can't relate to the music side as much as some of the other songs, but lyrically I think it's very good. There are lots of interesting ideas, religious references and the like.

From the last album I find the lyrics to Hard Shoulder and Piper to the End particularly poignant. And I don't want to offend anyone, but I often wonder whether non-native English speakers pick up on all the little nuances in the lyrics.

For example, you mention" Tell it the bread line", but to me the line before is more interesting - "Talk about happiness and money" or whatever it is. He's referring to a saying we have in English that "Money can't buy you happiness". Does everyone pick up on that?

[Love Expresso]

[  There are lots of interesting ideas, religious references...

?

And no, I do not feel offended the slightest, otherwise I could quit being on this forum overall. God knows how many little "nuances" I missed around here in the last years... 

(I hope it was clear that I do not think that SFFTC is really only about a ship going into the shore. It was just a little bit provocative to show what I was talking about. And I like that song very much, too. The same with Border Reiver btw.)

LE

[dustyvalentino]

They had a last supper

The shallow sea washes their hands

Personally I think it's easy to nitpick. There are good and not so good lyrics on all his albums, even back to DS. Is Angel of Mercy a great lyric? No. Does it matter? No.

[Jackal]

I was very interested in learning English in my teens, and one of the things that really increased my vocabulary was studying Mark's lyrics. Today I understand a lot more of his songs, but his songwriting can be pretty cryptic at times, very introverted.

I think his songs range from close to literary masterpieces to downright schmaltz. Telegraph Road being an example of the former, Hand in hand of the latter (man that one is terrible. Musically too.).

[rudiger]

TR is a masterpiece, no doubt. But Hand in Hand is a small gem 

[dustyvalentino]

Agree with Jackal, Hand in Hand has to be up there with One World as one of the worst songs MK has ever released.

[Love Expresso]

Agree with Jackal, Hand in Hand has to be up there with One World as one of the worst songs MK has ever released.

As you said, it is easy to nitpick...

LE

[ds1984]

I am so happy not to read deep into Mark lyrics, or their meaning, I don't have to wonder if they are good or not, just if they sound right when sung. Always had great pleasure to sing the MNF or BIA tune.

[Kay Edvin]

So far from the Clyde is a fantastic song.

When I listen to the song I imagine myself with the captain taking the ship on its last trip...
I can feel the captains sorrow and sadness..Fantastic story!

MK is a fantastic songwriter!!

And dont remember; when MK is being asked about the meaning of his songs he always says that its up to everyone who is listening to it to decide what the song is about 

[Love Expresso]

So far from the Clyde is a fantastic song.
 

Nobody doubts that.

LE

[Kay Edvin]

Good good!! 

[Jarle]

Personally I relate more to the music he has written during his solo career, and to my ears his writing gets better. I really enjoy the storytelling aspect in the way he writes. It's like short movies of people and their lives that are made up in my head when I hear the songs. Personally I believe those songs are the most difficult to write. The songs where you tell a good story with only a few words. Take Prairie Wedding. It's a love song, but not like a clich

[Love Expresso]

Right, Mark was always a great storyteller, from day one. Take Lions, or, SULTANS, these songs are also "just" stories. But maybe I can make my original point clearer: While Sultans was a song about going into a pub and listen to a jazz band, it was a song about the love to simple music and devotion to it at the same time. The line that illustrates the resilience of good music for me is "...and the Sultans played creole"

SFFTC (which was only one example) is great storytelling, too, but I was looking for the relevance of it. The relevance of the story of a ship got driven into the shore. It is a tragedy of course that the work of good people and the energy and the pride is going without leaving any scrap but "only a stain in the sand", but my original question was searching for the "link" word/sentence as I said. Dusty made a good point about some stuff. Maybe the word I should have stressed more is "improved" as a songwriter...

In The Sky is really a masterpiece in my opinion, it is pure art from the heart so to say. The same with 5.15 am, really great lyrics, lyrics you could give to any literature course and fill at least two hours of discussion with it. 

LE

[Mossguitar]

I think his songs range from close to literary masterpieces to downright schmaltz. Telegraph Road being an example of the former

Hehe, not strange at all, because those lyrics were written by Knut Hamsun, and he recieved the Nobel Prize in litterature for them