A Song Writer's Rant

People argue all the time over what is a good song.   I know what I like and, more than likely, you know what you like and that’s what makes a good song as far as most folks are concerned.

For me, I need to hear some authority and originality in the creation of it.    I want to hear a lyric that scans and meters.  These are much more difficult to write than to simply write a sentence and then crowbar it into your melody.

To me it is a challenge to figure out what you want to say and then say it in such a way that it fits into the meter. 

And I still enjoy melodies.  I like it when I am pulled into a melody and thrilled when it goes to some place I wasn’t expecting and then delivers the sonic equivalent of an orgasm.   I love the arc, the momentum, the implication of destination and the arrival.   I love it.   Particularly when it's a melody that i have not heard before.   Originality is a big deal with me.

I find rap and hip hop incredibly boring  and tediousbecause of the lack of those things that move me.  The rhyme schemes for me are infantile and frequently just ignorant.    The kind of poetry we wrote in the second grade; every line rhymes and the world seen from an incredibly narrow viewpoint.   Kidstuff.

Evidently Devo was right.   We keep climbing down the evolutionary ladder.

A friend of mine recently sent me to Youtube to hear The Ghost of Tom Joad by Bruce Springsteen with Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine sitting in.   My friend waxed rhapsodic about the look on Springsteen’s face and how great the song is.

I was mystified.   

The melody is that unmemorable melody that everyone writes.   It doesn’t go anywhere, it doesn’t promise anything and it doesn’t deliver.    The lyrics are absolute jammed into that song with a crowbar with no regard for meter or craft.    Some of the imagery is good, but it still didn't move me.

I don’t believe I have ever heard a more poorly written song.    If it does deliver some promise somewhere I guess I’ll never know as a I could not sit thru the entire song.   

I don’t want to address the singing as that’s another can of caterwauling worms.

There are so many truly wonderful players, singers and writers out there doing remarkable and inspiring music. 

Don’t believe the critics.  They seem to all celebrate the same mediocrity.   And there opinion is no more valuable than yours…or mine.

We are now being fed the corporate version of music,  Katy Perry and the like.   Vapid.   You need more than nice breasts to make important music.

Go find the real music.   And the only way to do that is to listen to everything.   Find out what is really out there and embrace what speaks to you.    It’s out there for you and for me.  And for the folks who enjoy Springsteen, I say, good.   You have found what resonates for you.   It speaks to you and I’m happy for you.    It doesn’t do so for me.    And that’s okay,too.

Comments

[Andy]

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