I enjoy discussing songs immensely, but I don't want to impose. I'll make this brief defense of "Black Water" and fade into the background.
The Doobie Brothers are an artifact of my happy-go-lucky youth. I know a lot of their songs. Over the past twenty years I've eliminated about half of their songs I initially chose for my curated collection. Your comments about "Black Water" inspired me to listen to it for the first time in years. I agree the lyrics are not great. It would've helped if they had made a one-word substitution and sang "I ain't got no worries and I ain't in no hurry at all."
Otherwise, for the purpose of my collection it has much to recommend. It has a rather distinctive timbre, unlike any other major hit song. Songwriter Patrick Simmons built the song around dueling finger-style acoustic guitar parts in double drop-D tuning, with a viola as the primary lead instrument. It was originally the B-side of a single that was eventually flipped over and slowly made its way to being the Billboard No. 1 song in the country, probably one of the last B-sides (Gloria Gaynor's "I Will Survive" came after) to do so. The chord progression features a cool chord substitution known as a borrowed chord (a B flat chord in the key of D) that gives the "Mississippi moon won't you keep on shining on me." lyric a subtle boost. As a matter of song craft, the melody of "Black Water" flows through the verse to the elaborate chorus seamlessly. Finally, it has a most unusual ending, an A capella breakdown different than the previous parts, one in which three young men in 1975 once spontaneously broke out in song, an act never to be repeated, which greatly impressed their two platonic female friends. It's a moderately sophisticated pop song, and one of the Doobie Brothers' best.
After listening to "Black Water" this week, it does sound a bit sterile to me and I'm going to knock it down a peg. Another famous song by the band will likely get the hook.
Finally, I recently had the subjective versus objective argument with friends discussing the merits of another art form. As usual, I took the objectivity side of the argument and was soundly checkmated. I decided once and for all that I was wrong. As hard as one may try, musical preference is purely subjective. There is no objectivity, only intersubjective agreement built around an agreed-upon framework for analysis.
I have had XM in my car for over 20 years so for the most part stopped listening to terrestrial radio. But I started listening to The Current from MPLS when it started broadcasting up north in Duluth. I had missed getting to know DJs. During COVID it was a lifeline. Thanksgiving holiday they play songs from a different year every hour. I had it on the whole time I was making the Thanksgiving meal.
If you're near a phone or computer, you would very likely enjoy the WFMU morning show, Wake'n'Bake. It's like a Bizarro world vision of the old Morning Zoo format that somehow turns out good.
Hi Gina,
I enjoy discussing songs immensely, but I don't want to impose. I'll make this brief defense of "Black Water" and fade into the background.
The Doobie Brothers are an artifact of my happy-go-lucky youth. I know a lot of their songs. Over the past twenty years I've eliminated about half of their songs I initially chose for my curated collection. Your comments about "Black Water" inspired me to listen to it for the first time in years. I agree the lyrics are not great. It would've helped if they had made a one-word substitution and sang "I ain't got no worries and I ain't in no hurry at all."
Otherwise, for the purpose of my collection it has much to recommend. It has a rather distinctive timbre, unlike any other major hit song. Songwriter Patrick Simmons built the song around dueling finger-style acoustic guitar parts in double drop-D tuning, with a viola as the primary lead instrument. It was originally the B-side of a single that was eventually flipped over and slowly made its way to being the Billboard No. 1 song in the country, probably one of the last B-sides (Gloria Gaynor's "I Will Survive" came after) to do so. The chord progression features a cool chord substitution known as a borrowed chord (a B flat chord in the key of D) that gives the "Mississippi moon won't you keep on shining on me." lyric a subtle boost. As a matter of song craft, the melody of "Black Water" flows through the verse to the elaborate chorus seamlessly. Finally, it has a most unusual ending, an A capella breakdown different than the previous parts, one in which three young men in 1975 once spontaneously broke out in song, an act never to be repeated, which greatly impressed their two platonic female friends. It's a moderately sophisticated pop song, and one of the Doobie Brothers' best.
After listening to "Black Water" this week, it does sound a bit sterile to me and I'm going to knock it down a peg. Another famous song by the band will likely get the hook.
Finally, I recently had the subjective versus objective argument with friends discussing the merits of another art form. As usual, I took the objectivity side of the argument and was soundly checkmated. I decided once and for all that I was wrong. As hard as one may try, musical preference is purely subjective. There is no objectivity, only intersubjective agreement built around an agreed-upon framework for analysis.
I have had XM in my car for over 20 years so for the most part stopped listening to terrestrial radio. But I started listening to The Current from MPLS when it started broadcasting up north in Duluth. I had missed getting to know DJs. During COVID it was a lifeline. Thanksgiving holiday they play songs from a different year every hour. I had it on the whole time I was making the Thanksgiving meal.
If you're near a phone or computer, you would very likely enjoy the WFMU morning show, Wake'n'Bake. It's like a Bizarro world vision of the old Morning Zoo format that somehow turns out good.
Sounds good, will check it out. I remember I liked WFMU when I lived in NY