Sammy Kohn

10.7K posts

Sammy Kohn banner
Sammy Kohn

Sammy Kohn

@sammykohn

'And no kinds of love are better than others' -Lou Reed

Toronto,Ontario Katılım Şubat 2011
796 Takip Edilen3.4K Takipçiler
Sabitlenmiş Tweet
Sammy Kohn
Sammy Kohn@sammykohn·
💔🏌🏻‍♂️
ART
2
0
7
0
Just Rock Content
Just Rock Content@JustRockContent·
“Let It Go” - Def Leppard
English
28
166
803
22.2K
Julian Cope
Julian Cope@JulianHCope·
PEGGY SUICIDE – Cope’s Notes #8 – 52p booklet including extensive memoir + accompanying CD Also available – New CD – E-Man Groovin' 15 grooves imbued with the distinctive PEGGY SUICIDE spirit merchandiser.headheritage.co.uk
Julian Cope tweet media
English
6
25
140
4.8K
The Extreme Music Enthusiast
The Extreme Music Enthusiast@TheExtremeMusi1·
Only music lovers with an interest in the I.R.S. will know what this album is.
The Extreme Music Enthusiast tweet media
English
25
5
94
7.5K
Graham Parker
Graham Parker@ItsGrahamParker·
boultoncenter.org Coming right up this Friday 24th, 1st show. (Not really just “acoustic” as it says here, the Telecaster also does plenty work on my shows.)
English
3
0
28
833
Sammy Kohn
Sammy Kohn@sammykohn·
Raoul Duke@batcountry1980

I could, and often do, talk about Elvis Costello’s skills as a songwriter for hours. He’s my favourite lyricist. It’s the edge, the venom dripping from each phrase, coupled with the dexterous wordplay and rapier wit. But one of my favourite Costello moments isn’t a lyric at all. It’s a pause. A half second pause, easily missed. But once you hear it, once you understand what it’s doing, that empty space says more than most writers could manage in a verse. In ‘The Element Within Her’, “la” is everywhere. It comes and goes like a riff, sung over and over so many times that you stop hearing it as a word at all. It becomes melodic filler, something to prop the song up. It’s a meaningless refrain, or so it seems. There’s one moment, just one, where a single “La” is followed by the faintest pause. It’s minuscule, but it’s enough. That one syllable detaches itself from the rest and attaches itself to the lyric. Now, it’s no longer refrain. It has become speech. You can hear it if you listen closely. The lyrics confirm it: But back in the bedroom With her electric heater He says, “Are you cold?” She says, “No, but you are, la” La la la la, la la la la Now this “La” belongs to her, the woman in the room, stuck with this icy-cold character, her electric heater doing what it can. In that single syllable, the song reveals its world. This isn’t just a bedroom, but a bedroom in Liverpool. Not just a voice, but a Scouse voice. This use of “La” gives the moment a lived-in specificity that wasn’t there before. “La” is a Liverpool term of address, something like “mate” or “pal,” but softer, shaped by the rhythms of Scouse speech. They use it a lot. There’s even a band named after it. Costello’s connection to the city runs deep through his family. Yet he is a Londoner. His time living in Liverpool was brief, from about age 16 to 19. Then he returns to London. So that tiny pause, that fraction of a second that splits countless “la”s marks this moment as a specific memory. A set time and place in his life. What’s remarkable is how little he does to underline it. It’s almost for his own amusement. It’s there to be found, but he does less than zero to point it out. If you don’t know “la,” you’ll miss it entirely. Even if you do, you might only half-notice it, something that flickers past without quite settling. The liner notes make it clearer, but the song itself flies past it. And once you do hear it, once you recognise how deliberate that single “La” is, it opens up another possibility. That it came first. That all the other “la”s repeated to the point of meaninglessness, aren’t just there to carry the melody, but to bury this one. To disguise it. To let it pass unnoticed unless you’re paying attention. That’s a songwriter playing games with his own material. And that’s what I love about this moment. Here’s a lyricist celebrated for his words, for packing lines with imagery, with bite, with complexity. But here, he goes beyond words entirely. He’s using breath. With a flickering pause, he’s turning something so simple into character and context. Not through what’s said, but through the slightest space around it. That’s the level we’re dealing with. I don’t know anyone else who could take something as throwaway as “La”, fill a song with it countless times, and yet by pausing for half a second, make one of them unlock hidden secrets. Man, he’s good.

QAM
0
0
1
15
Sammy Kohn retweetledi
Charlie Watts
Charlie Watts@charlieboywatts·
"I can't be a drummer and sit at home and play", Charlie on what he hated about touring.
English
5
68
549
52.3K
Sammy Kohn
Sammy Kohn@sammykohn·
@dukeofcoo No pre-sale. On sale April 16th EST. See you there ?
English
1
0
0
54
Paul
Paul@dukeofcoo·
@sammykohn Hi Sammy, is there an early access ticket code for the Danforth show in November?
English
1
0
0
14
Sammy Kohn retweetledi
LegacyTributes
LegacyTributes@InMemoriamX·
RIP Donald K. Tarlton, Canadian Record Producer Founded Donald K. Donald Productions, Le Groupe DKD, Aquarius Records (April Wine, Corey Hart, Sum 41) Félix Award, Tony Award Nominee, Member of the Order of Canada, Juno's Walt Grealis Special Achievement Award #InMemoriam #RIP
LegacyTributes tweet mediaLegacyTributes tweet mediaLegacyTributes tweet mediaLegacyTributes tweet media
English
0
1
3
316
Sammy Kohn retweetledi
Melodies & Masterpieces
Melodies & Masterpieces@SVG__Collection·
The ’70s didn’t groove harder than this: War’s “Low Rider” — the funkiest video to cruise into your day!
English
101
964
4.3K
111.9K