From Matthew Korfhage Sent Mon, Jun 28th 1999, 20:45
From Matthew Korfhage Sent Mon, Jun 28th 1999, 20:45
> In a message dated 6/26/99 2:33:08 PM Mountain Daylight Time, > xxx@xxxxxxxx.xxx writes: > > I find it assinine to clump music and lyrics together into one catagory and > even worse, to call the entire catagory music. Music is music, lyrics are > words.. two EXTREMELY different forms of communication. Music convey's > emotions, words convey definitions in the listeners mind.. I've let this thread go by for a while, perhaps to my credit I dunno, but I feel like I have to respond here. The category of "pure" music, meaning instrumental music, is a myth. Both lyrical and instrumental music express emotion, and both convey meaning. Lyrics are not merely bad poetry set to music, each constituent being independent. Even nonverbal music sets loose or creates associations which have relevance outside of the individual song, and outside of music as a whole, whether it be something as banal(but hot damn entertaining) as spy movies of the 1960's or something as highflown as whatever romantic pretensions you might have for yourself. When words are added, the meaning and emotion elicited often become more fixed, since words are analyzable into other words and hence definitions, but the overall meaning is also made more complex. Those who, unfortunately, can't appreciate instrumental music have merely channeled off a possible source of meaning. The human voice is an easy thing to latch onto, and is the most common conveyer of emotion as far as our experience goes (unless you happen to be a reclusive tech junkie who interacts only with BleepBloop or relateds). Lyrics, by the same token, can't be separated out from "musical aspects"-- most good lyrics make terrible poems, and most good poems make wretched lyrics. One of the better lyricists in our time was Chuck Berry, and I can promise he won't get anthologized in City Lights. I'll add in Modest Mouse for the hell of it, especially because of the aural fixations evident on the first album. Generally, I'd like to say that adding lyrics expands the possibilities for music, though it obviously isn't always a good thing-- finding a good singer is much more difficult than finding a good electronic artist or a good guitar player, as vocals are much more difficult to innovate without appearing contrived. Finding a new way to speak is a helluva lot harder than finding a new way to play-- playing doesn't have to appear natural. Plus, (ohh ohh IDM content) adding song to compositions that are aurally "busy", such as most IDM, is an extremely touchy proposition which usually tends toward mantra-like floating (MBV, Bjork remixes), speaksing (Tricky, Cap'n Beefheart), vocal drumming (some jazz), or calculated weirdness (Thinking Fellers Union). Or just plain yelling (most metal). Just some thoughts, hopefully close enough to topic, when obviously not on, not to piss everybody off. M. Verbal > communication is a flawed form of commication, and music is not. My favorite > is when people refuse to listen to music that does not have words, I love > those people and would like to give them flowers. > > -=Aaron >