Actually, let’s stack him in with Adam Drucker (Doseone), Yoni Wolf (Why?), Townes Van Zandt, Antony Hegarty, & Sufjan. These would probably fit into a bit larger glob of artists who seem truthful/genuine to me.

Lil’ Wayne assembles jigsaw puzzles with his wordplay/delivery, not that I’m a big fan of his overall thematic content. But his conviction is hard to discount; his far left-field ideas must be the product of his uncensored psyche. He is certainly genuine, retaining personal integrity to rap about exactly whatever the heck he wants.

Adam Drucker writes in a stream-of-consciousness that seems almost completely unedited and directionless, disconnecting the need for words to form complete thoughts in order to make a song have meaning. A bit of his influence can be seen in lyrics off The Devil, You + Me by The Notwist.

Yoni Wolf must write like he’s journaling, and with that would come the advantage the skilled writer possesses over normal writers: he can see what he’s writing before he even writes it, and thus, has the time to revise it as he is putting pen to paper, resulting in what seems like a perfectly-composed thought, flowing with deceptive ease.

Townes Van Zandt only wrote to remember. As a result, it’s nearly impossible to truly judge his genius, which probably surpassed Bob Dylan’s. He had faulty short-term memory, due to electro-shock therapy as a child. His words came whole, like some equation would pop into Einstein’s brain.

Antony Hegarty delivers his music in a quavery, feminine voice that sounds utterly brimming with passion. His articulation illuminates the strong emotions underlying the words themselves.

Sufjan Stevens’ compositional intricacies often take over his music, while his lyricism sounds like a singing encyclopedia when it doesn’t sound like a singing storyteller. His ability must stem from a writer’s background as well. His development of ideas means he must do a ton of research, and thus, he is concerned with the accuracy of empirical information contained in his work.

Joseph Arthur also delivers his lines in a voice that is choked with feeling. Like Angus Andrew of Liars, his delivery is either whispering-quiet or howling-loud, and the sliding scale in-between is only a temporary rest stop on the way between the two extremes… because this is part of the both of them feeling the music as they are performing it and uttering words in time with it.

I had an idea for another song the other day- this is a total “quotes” song, because it would be all about how writing the song took more than 5 minutes. Some songs cropping up on the radio sound like they were penned in literally 30 seconds. “I’m so addicted to everything you do.” must be one of the single worst lines ever uttered in a song… ever ever ever. The guy who wrote it (Jared Weeks of Saving Abel) actually came up with that line while he was working at a hospital, walking the halls at 4:30am, singing to himself. He scribbled it down on some paper. The rest of that song is constructed around that line.

“I’m so addicted to sniffing super-glue.” should be in the Weird Al version.

I think to take up Jimn’s distinction between rational argument and emotion, the question could be reframed to suit that conception of music. Whose emotion strikes you as genuine?

True, Dylan unusually focused on lyrics (such that there is significant push to consider him among our best poets), and Springsteen said of him that he “did for the mind what Elvis did for the body” in popular music. He paved a new way of writing/performing.

The Art 101 or English 101 question is here, yes, of “Can art tell the truth?” but I think we’d open up neverending cans of philosophical worms (the boring kind) :).

I think Lewis’ Toolshed essay is a good model. Songs could, themselves, take the approach of “looking at” vs. “looking along” — perhaps the more emotion-centered songs are “in” the beam and the more rational are looking at it.

Johnny Carson was a true, actual talk show host. Letterman is a parody of the talk show host, aware of himself that even such a job exists, and satirizing the idea of a “talk show.”

As Ebert likes to say, Letterman has “quotes” around his show. And that these days more things have quotes around them than those that don’t, so it’s kind of the opposite – there are no quotes around the parody/satire/playing with, and the truest, legitimate, honest, personal expression is rarer.

Scorsese’s films are deeply, deeply personal, and about flawed people looking for forgiveness, redemption, revenge, etc. Quentin Tarantino spins it on it’s head, stylizes it with “Look at me!” clever, witty, poking fun at people who would take such a forgiveness/redemption/revenge mission so seriously as to treat it like a true story.

I was going to put quotes around “clever” “witty” because I don’t necessarily believe Tarantino is these things, but people who love him would say so.

I personally have fun with both (quote and non-quote art), and find value and entertainment in both. What I am personally more concerned with is Story and Character. I perfectly enjoyed Kill Bill, both as the “Ultimate Revenge Movie” with quotes, and as the tender, hurting mother, who is taken aback to meet her daughter, which injects some non-quote integrity to the films.

In the end, Kill Bills are my favorite Tarantinos. Up next is his “ultimate WW2 action epic” – and you can definitely expect there to be quotes around it. And it could be fun and entertaining – but I will be looking at those moments where Tarantino borrows from the version of the film that would be “true to itself”

just some thoughts…

Second thing that comes to mind is Hendrix’s dictum that “music doesn’t lie”. One semiotician might agree and say that music can’t lie because, assuming we ignore the lyrical aspect, it doesn’t propose to say anything or stand in for anything. Another semiotician might disagree and say that music is most certainly a representation (which gets back to the emotion/reason question) and we tend to associate music with representation (perhaps why it embraces lyrics so easily).

Another thing, i notice that the Cooke quote isn’t about truth, but about believing (unlike Hendrix’s). I wonder sometimes which is more accurate (goes back to semiotics debate above) that music is pure expression transcending rational arguments, or that it makes us believe in the rational argument that it does in fact present. I’m sure it doesn’t have to be one or the other or either.

As to answering the question, who’s voice makes me believe? Will Oldham’s certainly. There is an ease in his songs that seems truthful, similarly with dylan/springsteen I suppose. Emily Haines. Her vocals are always beautiful, but never too beautiful to believe. David Bazan comes quickly to mind. And how can anyone not believe Elliott Smith? I certainly believe he is telling me a wonderfully intricate lie (perhaps the biggest lie) if not the truth.

If you listen to this song, there is such a delicious comic timing to how Dylan delivers these lines.

I have much farther to go
Everything is new and so unpredictable
I should just kick my heels together and go home
But I’m not sure where that is anymore
- Much Farther to Go, Rosie Thomas

Just one of my favorite songs/stories by Rosie. It has been 2 years now since I’ve been listening to her albums, and some of the songs still make me weep because I believe her, I believe in the story that is the song.