Joe Orr Road Rod wrote:
Tall Midget wrote:
Joe Orr Road Rod wrote:
Tall Midget wrote:
Bruce Springsteen is no Jeff Tweedy.
That's an interesting comparison. I'm not sure if you're serious. I like Tweedy better. But there may not be a Tweedy if there hadn't been a Springsteen. Who knows? He had to have been an influence to some degree.
I agree with all of that. The reason I mentioned Tweedy here is that Springsteen is frequently discussed as the greatest American songwriter since 1970 or so (after Dylan's peak). But I'd say Tweedy has Bruce beaten by a pretty wide margin at this point.
I don't know if it's a wide margin, but I certainly think Tweedy is as great and maybe greater than Springsteen as a songwriter. But he hasn't had the same kind of commercial success as Bruce. And he's not part of the culture in the same way that Springsteen is. He'd be closer to Arthur Russell or Jeffrey Lee Pierce or Westerberg than he is to Springsteen or Dylan or Prince.
Springsteen is a very literal straight ahead songwriter. You usually don't need to think too hard to catch the meaning of one of his songs. So, if you're looking for lyrics that are a little harder to unpack, you have to give the edge to Tweedy.
On the other hand, while I know an album like
Summerteeth has a lush sound and
Yankee Hotel Foxtrot has an inventive if not always tuneful sound, I still don't think Tweedy has made something as musically satisfying as
Born to Run or
Darkness on the Edge of Town.