Exile on Manning Street: Music (And Lyrics?): Sorry, Hugh Grant
Jack Hittinger
Issue date: 10/11/07 Section: Arts
Stop what you are doing and take a look at music for once. No, that isn't a typo. Look.
When listening to pop music, one must realize that music goes hand-in-hand with lyrics.
If you want to really understand a song, hearing the melody isn't enough: you have to notice the lyrics and the way they fit together.
At this point I probably sound like your Great Books professor, lecturing about writing essays on Shakespearean sonnets. I bet you're wondering when I'll bring in Aristotle.
Relax. It's nothing as highbrow as that.
I'm just concerned that some people don't realize that pop lyrics can be just as "poetic" as, well, "real" poetry.
Music and lyrics (no Hugh Grant jokes please), taken together, form a fearsome tag team.
Most of the time, they need each other in order to make sense. Without the music, lyrics to a song like "Losing My Religion" would sound a little ridiculous.
The line, "I think I thought I saw you try" means nothing out of context, but combined with the melody and harmony, the sweet mandolin strumming and strings in the background, it becomes one of the most poignant parts of the song.
"A personal journey"
Good lyrics are usually incomplete without music. But does good music need perfectly realized lyrics?
Whenever I sift through my music collection, I find that it's not very lyrics-oriented.
As an English major, this troubles me. I've traditionally been more attracted to records in which the lyrics take a backseat to everything else going on in the music.
I usually pay more attention to melody and atmospherics and how the music sounds overall than to the lyrics. I usually notice cool guitar riffs before I notice the words of the chorus.
But I'm getting better. Of course I listen to guys like Bob Dylan and Neil Young, but I'm starting to seek out more modern artists who are lyrics-oriented.
Take John Darnielle, better known by the moniker "Mountain Goats." His wry lyrical musings and his acoustic guitar might seem boring at first. But now that I listen - and look, paying closer attention to the singer's words - I find a certain affinity with the simplicity of it-I feel like I'm getting more out of what I'm listening to, like I could analyze it on critical levels and write a paper on it.
Well, maybe not. I don't think I'd want to. I'd rather keep the academics out of music -although I think certain music becomes just as profound as the great poets of the Western canon.
Woah. I just said that. I must be getting sentimental in my old age or something.
The moral of the story, then: look. And listen. And remember, Johnny Rotten and Yeats both wrote about the apocalypse. Think about it…
When listening to pop music, one must realize that music goes hand-in-hand with lyrics.
If you want to really understand a song, hearing the melody isn't enough: you have to notice the lyrics and the way they fit together.
At this point I probably sound like your Great Books professor, lecturing about writing essays on Shakespearean sonnets. I bet you're wondering when I'll bring in Aristotle.
Relax. It's nothing as highbrow as that.
I'm just concerned that some people don't realize that pop lyrics can be just as "poetic" as, well, "real" poetry.
Music and lyrics (no Hugh Grant jokes please), taken together, form a fearsome tag team.
Most of the time, they need each other in order to make sense. Without the music, lyrics to a song like "Losing My Religion" would sound a little ridiculous.
The line, "I think I thought I saw you try" means nothing out of context, but combined with the melody and harmony, the sweet mandolin strumming and strings in the background, it becomes one of the most poignant parts of the song.
"A personal journey"
Good lyrics are usually incomplete without music. But does good music need perfectly realized lyrics?
Whenever I sift through my music collection, I find that it's not very lyrics-oriented.
As an English major, this troubles me. I've traditionally been more attracted to records in which the lyrics take a backseat to everything else going on in the music.
I usually pay more attention to melody and atmospherics and how the music sounds overall than to the lyrics. I usually notice cool guitar riffs before I notice the words of the chorus.
But I'm getting better. Of course I listen to guys like Bob Dylan and Neil Young, but I'm starting to seek out more modern artists who are lyrics-oriented.
Take John Darnielle, better known by the moniker "Mountain Goats." His wry lyrical musings and his acoustic guitar might seem boring at first. But now that I listen - and look, paying closer attention to the singer's words - I find a certain affinity with the simplicity of it-I feel like I'm getting more out of what I'm listening to, like I could analyze it on critical levels and write a paper on it.
Well, maybe not. I don't think I'd want to. I'd rather keep the academics out of music -although I think certain music becomes just as profound as the great poets of the Western canon.
Woah. I just said that. I must be getting sentimental in my old age or something.
The moral of the story, then: look. And listen. And remember, Johnny Rotten and Yeats both wrote about the apocalypse. Think about it…
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