David Berman vs Gram Parsons

good poll but I have never clicked with either artist in this case! I guess Parsons for the FBB album.

hold the world to its word

Went with Parsons on the basis of the records he left behind, but Berman struck me as a wonderful and tragic human being, and it's not like his stuff wasn't great. (He gets brief mentions in the Pavement movie, and even in those moments he sounds pretty awesome.)

lol this is the kind of dumbass poll I’d start

hottake: Parsons is boring

“Yes, you loved me and you sold all my clothes”

I like Gram quite a bit but I love David.

Big Gram fan but David Berman still hasn't gotten his due as one of the greatest songwriters ever.

I have this problem thinking critically about Berman because all I end up doing is quoting my favorite lyrics.

He almost walked into a wall
Oh man, she was a sight to see

TBF I like some of the Emmylou Harris versions of Parsons songs

xp that's one of only two songs that makes me choke up every single time I hear it, the other being Landslide

Never heard anything by David Berman!

The Gilded Palace of Sin is an all-timer, but Berman's catalog is deeper in every sense of the word.

Yeah, that damn song about the guy in thecoma has made me cry more than any other song. Almost every damn time.

“Little Green” is the only other song that consistently fucks me up.

The line that always gets me is "And they slow danced so the needle wouldn't skip/unitl the room was filled with light"

Gram in a heartbeat, and I say that as a DCB fan.

Go put on $1000 Wedding and then report back.

Gram's voice makes me cry more than any other singer.

I know Berman will win with this group and I admit I haven't listened to much of his stuff but I've loved Gram since high school, he was my backdoor into country music and he basically birthed a whole genre, so this one's easy.

Parsons, though I've only heard Tanglewood Numbers by Berman, which apparently isn't regarded as his best. Gram's voice, faltering though it is, nonetheless conveys feeling that I have to reach past Berman's singing to access.

I only have one album by Parsons, the first Burrito Brothers album, but it’s a stone classic. I’ve never clicked with any music by Berman, but I’ve been impressed by some of his poems. So this one is easy.

kind of unfair because david berman's career spanned multiple decades and everything that gram did happened in a 5-year span

i don't think they're particularly similar songwriters. i think malkmus has a much more parsons-y sense of melody

Sometimes you wanna enjoy a singer’s voice and solid, comfortable composition, you go to Gram

Other times you’re in the mood for poetry and turn of phrase, you go to DB.

Apples vs oranges, incomparable

he was my backdoor into country music

That’s funny because Berman played a similar role for me, particularly with modern country. I remember loving the lyrics to “Friday Night Fever”and learning that it was a George Strait song written by Dean Dillon. That opened up a whole new world of country music for me

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yessssss

Called it

It’s crazy how on his game Berman was before he died. “Snow falling in manhattan” should be an American standard

the year ends in the next room
it is autumn, and my camouflage is dying