Share your Farewells to the 2020 season

[Aristotelian]

Not about the O's but the spirit applies. 

 

[fansince1988]

This was the first season since my childhood that I did not watch a single game on TV (for various reasons), but I did follow along through Orioles Hangout and the MLB APP and attended two Spring Training games in FL. Looking forward to attending games again.

[UpstateNYfan]

I'm glad they got the exhibition season over and played it. I don't know what anyone can take from it. Numbers?? 162 games is a grind...60 not so much. The schedule...nothing like the real thing. Intensity?? I'm not sure it was there. It would seem the O's may be able to at least pencil in 3-4 starting pitchers, maybe an outfield for 2021, but the infield seems like a mystery to me. I am more worried about the developing players or lack there of. You can certainly work on things but you don't know if they work until you get in real games. I hope MiL gets a chance to come back to some normalcy. I know the owners have other ideas....but, I think America needs it.

[Griffey]

Despite knowing that winning wasn't really our top priority this "season", I watched every game I could on Extra Innings and enjoyed every bit of it.  While we continue to struggle at times, this was a fun team to watch, and it appears that we have at least a few building blocks for the future.  The old saying, "you're either green and growing or ripe and rotting" applies here, and this young group was way more fun to watch than the aging and underperforming 2017 club.  

[spiritof66]

16 hours ago, Philip said:

Paul Simon is a genius. His lyrics are, as a group, the deepest ever written in the rock genre.
 

I admire Paul Simon's longevity and the breadth of musical styles he has composed in over the years. He's also become, over the years, a very fine guitarist.

While he has written some great songs, I have thought he was over-hyped ever since, in 1968 or '69, I listened over and over to Bookends in a futile effort to figure out what the hell he was trying to say.  I'm not sure what you mean by "deepest." If you mean writing impenetrable lyrics and taking himself (or appearing to) very seriously, I see it.

There are probably a couple dozen contemporaries of Simon whose lyrics speak to me more forcefully than his. (Many of them have had much shorter careers or much smaller bodies of work than Simon.) To name a few: John Prine, Leonard Cohen, Gordon Lightfoot, Steve Goodman, Dylan, Jackson Browne, Joni Mitchell, Doc Pomus, Robbie Robertson, Ray Davies. I'm leaving out the harder-core rock and rollers like McCartney, Lennon and Chuck Berry, country types like Johnny Cash and Kris Kristofferson, and humorists, all of whom I would rank ahead of Simon as a writer of song lyrics. For me.

To each his or her own.

[Aristotelian]

2 hours ago, spiritof66 said:

I admire Paul Simon's longevity and the breadth of musical styles he has composed in over the years. He's also become, over the years, a very fine guitarist.

While he has written some great songs, I have thought he was over-hyped ever since, in 1968 or '69, I listened over and over to Bookends in a futile effort to figure out what the hell he was trying to say.  I'm not sure what you mean by "deepest." If you mean writing impenetrable lyrics and taking himself (or appearing to) very seriously, I see it.

There are probably a couple dozen contemporaries of Simon whose lyrics speak to me more forcefully than his. (Many of them have had much shorter careers or much smaller bodies of work than Simon.) To name a few: John Prine, Leonard Cohen, Gordon Lightfoot, Steve Goodman, Dylan, Jackson Browne, Joni Mitchell, Doc Pomus, Robbie Robertson, Ray Davies. I'm leaving out the harder-core rock and rollers like McCartney, Lennon and Chuck Berry, country types like Johnny Cash and Kris Kristofferson, and humorists, all of whom I would rank ahead of Simon as a writer of song lyrics. For me.

To each his or her own.

Van Morrison, Tom Waits, and Townes Van Zandt! Paul Simon is really second tier at best. 

[Can_of_corn]

2 hours ago, spiritof66 said:

I admire Paul Simon's longevity and the breadth of musical styles he has composed in over the years. He's also become, over the years, a very fine guitarist.

While he has written some great songs, I have thought he was over-hyped ever since, in 1968 or '69, I listened over and over to Bookends in a futile effort to figure out what the hell he was trying to say.  I'm not sure what you mean by "deepest." If you mean writing impenetrable lyrics and taking himself (or appearing to) very seriously, I see it.

There are probably a couple dozen contemporaries of Simon whose lyrics speak to me more forcefully than his. (Many of them have had much shorter careers or much smaller bodies of work than Simon.) To name a few: John Prine, Leonard Cohen, Gordon Lightfoot, Steve Goodman, Dylan, Jackson Browne, Joni Mitchell, Doc Pomus, Robbie Robertson, Ray Davies. I'm leaving out the harder-core rock and rollers like McCartney, Lennon and Chuck Berry, country types like Johnny Cash and Kris Kristofferson, and humorists, all of whom I would rank ahead of Simon as a writer of song lyrics. For me.

To each his or her own.

Big John Martyn fan here.  He's my favorite of that sort.

 

[Philip]

3 hours ago, spiritof66 said:

I admire Paul Simon's longevity and the breadth of musical styles he has composed in over the years. He's also become, over the years, a very fine guitarist.

While he has written some great songs, I have thought he was over-hyped ever since, in 1968 or '69, I listened over and over to Bookends in a futile effort to figure out what the hell he was trying to say.  I'm not sure what you mean by "deepest." If you mean writing impenetrable lyrics and taking himself (or appearing to) very seriously, I see it.

There are probably a couple dozen contemporaries of Simon whose lyrics speak to me more forcefully than his. (Many of them have had much shorter careers or much smaller bodies of work than Simon.) To name a few: John Prine, Leonard Cohen, Gordon Lightfoot, Steve Goodman, Dylan, Jackson Browne, Joni Mitchell, Doc Pomus, Robbie Robertson, Ray Davies. I'm leaving out the harder-core rock and rollers like McCartney, Lennon and Chuck Berry, country types like Johnny Cash and Kris Kristofferson, and humorists, all of whom I would rank ahead of Simon as a writer of song lyrics. For me.

To each his or her own.

The best lyrics are those that stand alone without the music and work well as poetry. Although he’s outside this discussion, Oscar Hammerstein was a wonderful lyricist, because he was a wonderful poet.

To read,” I am a rock”, or, “bridge over troubled waters” For example, is to read really fine poetry. Simon also wrote some silly stuff, like “Cecelia“ but when he tried to be meaningful, he succeeded very well. I do not know all the guys that you mentioned, but Among those that I do know, I can’t think of any lyrics that are especially deep.

I suppose it depends upon how you define “deep” as well as what you’re looking for in your music.

If you would like to share some representative examples, I’ll be happy to check them out.

Edited September 28, 2020 by Philip

[spiritof66]

1 hour ago, Philip said:

The best lyrics are those that stand alone without the music and work well as poetry. Although he’s outside this discussion, Oscar Hammerstein was a wonderful lyricist, because he was a wonderful poet.

To read,” I am a rock”, or, “bridge over troubled waters” For example, is to read really fine poetry. Simon also wrote some silly stuff, like “Cecelia“ but when he tried to be meaningful, he succeeded very well. I do not know all the guys that you mentioned, but Among those that I do know, I can’t think of any lyrics that are especially deep.

I suppose it depends upon how you define “deep” as well as what you’re looking for in your music.

If you would like to share some representative examples, I’ll be happy to check them out.

That's not the way I look at it. I listen to songs; with rare exceptions, I don't read the lyrics. Some song lyrics stand alone very well; others don't.  But what I care about is the package of lyrics, melody, arrangement, instrumentation and vocal performance. I realize that some of those elements are independent of the songwriter.

 

[Philip]

26 minutes ago, spiritof66 said:

That's not the way I look at it. I listen to songs; with rare exceptions, I don't read the lyrics. Some song lyrics stand alone very well; others don't.  But what I care about is the package of lyrics, melody, arrangement, instrumentation and vocal performance. I realize that some of those elements are independent of the songwriter.

 

Yes, the whole package is meaningful, but lyrics are words, and the best lyrics are those that have life and meaning and power of their own without the music. Quite a few opera librettos contain lyrics that are no different from daily conversation, but are made beautiful by the music. But great lyrics don’t need the music to be great, and that’s why I think Simon is elite

[rudyrooster]

4 hours ago, Aristotelian said:

Van Morrison, Tom Waits, and Townes Van Zandt! Paul Simon is really second tier at best. 

Huh????

[NCRaven]

On 9/28/2020 at 6:09 PM, Can_of_corn said:

Big John Martyn fan here.  He's my favorite of that sort.

 

Thanks for sharing that.  Don’t believe I’ve heard Martyn before.  Now, I’d like to hear the Foo Fighters cover it.

[connja]

my takeaway from 2020 is Mountcastle, Hays, Akin, Kremer, and to lesser extent Mullins.   Santander and Iglesias did good things.  Means finished strong.  Hope.

[hoosiers]

2020 could have been a long and embarrassing year for the organization - worse than 2019.  There is so much that could have gone wrong over a full season - think of the pitching staff with a returning from injury Cobb and mediocre Milone.  Chris Davis was awful, but only for 60 games.  Some publications rated us the worst MLB team in baseball to start the season.  The downside possibilities for this team seemed very possible and very bad.

So, the biggest thing to me was that we avoided that uber-embarrassing year.  Some talents stepped up, some rookies played well, some free agents performed and the embarrassing year never happened.  In another year, we will be further along with another draft and another international class and closer to our next competitive team.

I do take away that our organization really did shine in a couple areas - most notably the players who were developed at the alternate site.

[Jagwar]

Underrated as a lyricist... Neil Peart