Originally Posted by rayc
The spin , really, came when Eddie made his comment about "libs"...he span the topic from power ballad to lib/woke/cancel culture. Before that it was a vague drift into a song's underlying narrative. A few people, myself included, responded as is appropriate.
That's more what I was thinking when the term "spin" was used. I was just looking to clarify. Apparently that wasn't the intent. I can honestly say that I wouldn't have guessed the meaning to be what it was.

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Nilsson's Without You is, I would argue, a power ballad though the power comes from strings & his wonderful voice. It ought to have been a power ballad when Badfinger 1st recorded it but they seemed to have seen it "just a ballad" and their version is rather bland & lacks dynamics. Dynamics - the power of a power ballad?
Another version of this song that I enjoy is Mariah Carey's. If you haven't heard it, give it a listen. I would be curious your take. smile

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Creepy ,(power), ballads n pop:
Chicago
The Union gap - Young Girl
Nominally Sonny Boy Williamson - Good Morning Little School Girl.
Neil Sadaka - Happy Birthday sweet sixteen
The Knack - My Sharona
Dragon - Are You Old Enough?
Dave Edmunds - Not A Woman Not A Child.
etc.
Agreed these border on that. For me, I'm not familiar with the stories behind them. I can't overly comment without context...and I'm not thinking I will research it that much. It's not the 16 part of it that ever bothers me, as long as it's made up and has a decent meaning to it. With Benny, it was specifically his age and the age of an ACTUAL person he wrote it about being 16.
It's kind of like for me, ok you wrote a song about some made up 16 year old and you're in your thirties. A little creepy, but whatever.
A different guy in his 30's has a short conversation with a 16 year old girl in a miniskirt named Heidi. You are actually told to leave her alone. None of that made up. Then he decides to write a song about his experience to send a message to her. Higher creepy level for me. MUCH higher. All my opinion. I do take into account it was different times as well. I truly try not to overly judge people of a time by today's standards.

Thanks for your contributions to the thread Ray. Always insightful and appreciated! smile Since this is online, I want to be clear that I'm not being sarcastic. smile

Chad (Hope that makes it easier)

TEMPO TANTRUM: What a lead singer has when they can't stay in time.