[Powderworks] What lyrics!
GrnVillageGirl@aol.com
GrnVillageGirl@aol.com
Wed, 25 Sep 2002 10:23:46 EDT
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Rock and roll is (at its best) about emotion, and the vocal delivery of
lyrics can mean so much more than anything that's written down.
This debate reminds me of the old Steve Allen trick of mocking rock by slowly
reading out such phrases as "a-wop-bop-a-loo-bop-a-wop-bam-boom," to the
general hilarity of the 'sophisticated adult' audience.
Now, if you'd actually heard Little Richard deliver these inane words, all
would become instantly clear.
Same with "Louie Louie." No one could figure out what the guy was singing,
except we were sure it was dirty. Didn't matter; the song worked the way it
was intended to.
And that's why it's a classic.
Another example: I saw Marianne Faithfull the other night, and started
thinking that she has sort of become the Judy Garland/Edith Piaf/Lotte Lenya
for her generation. The woman can't 'sing' in the traditional sense, as
anyone who's ever listened to her knows. That's not the point. Her
world-weary, husky delivery, more of a reading than anything else, hits the
mark and makes you feel what she's feeling.
U2 is a brilliant band, and Bono's voice is so evocative, that even if he
sang the phone book, he would still somehow get that yearning, longing
quality across.
Melody, in particular, hits us in the primeval part of the brain, much as
fragrance does (see: Proust and his madeleines). You can nit-pick all you
want, but the entire tale isn't told in the words.
Even some of the old standards are pretty silly if you read 'em out: "All at
once am I/ seven stories high/knowing I'm on the street where you live." "You
do the voodoo/ that you do so well." "My man/I love him so/He'll never
know/All my life is just despair/He don't care." Pick a song, most any
song...
And finally, "She loves you, yeah yeah yeah." (repeat twice)
Now, how dumb is that?!
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<HTML><FONT FACE=arial,helvetica><BODY BGCOLOR="#ffffff"><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff" SIZE=2>Rock and roll is (at its best) about emotion, and the vocal delivery of lyrics can mean so much more than anything that's written down.<BR>
This debate reminds me of the old Steve Allen trick of mocking rock by slowly reading out such phrases as "a-wop-bop-a-loo-bop-a-wop-bam-boom," to the general hilarity of the 'sophisticated adult' audience.<BR>
Now, if you'd actually heard Little Richard deliver these inane words, all would become instantly clear.<BR>
Same with "Louie Louie." No one could figure out what the guy was singing, except we were sure it was dirty. Didn't matter; the song worked the way it was intended to.<BR>
And that's why it's a classic.<BR>
Another example: I saw Marianne Faithfull the other night, and started thinking that she has sort of become the Judy Garland/Edith Piaf/Lotte Lenya for her generation. The woman can't 'sing' in the traditional sense, as anyone who's ever listened to her knows. That's not the point. Her world-weary, husky delivery, more of a reading than anything else, hits the mark and makes you feel what she's feeling. <BR>
U2 is a brilliant band, and Bono's voice is so evocative, that even if he sang the phone book, he would still somehow get that yearning, longing quality across.<BR>
Melody, in particular, hits us in the primeval part of the brain, much as fragrance does (see: Proust and his madeleines). You can nit-pick all you want, but the entire tale isn't told in the words.<BR>
Even some of the old standards are pretty silly if you read 'em out: "All at once am I/ seven stories high/knowing I'm on the street where you live." "You do the voodoo/ that you do so well." "My man/I love him so/He'll never know/All my life is just despair/He don't care." Pick a song, most any song...<BR>
And finally, "She loves you, yeah yeah yeah." (repeat twice)<BR>
Now, how dumb is that?!<BR>
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