For the Love of Lyric
A friend once told me that he believed modern music listeners were not interested in the lyrics. I beg to differ. What would Rap/Reggae be without Lyrics? I think we’ll find that the songs that live longer in the collective consciousness of our society are the ones with a good lyric, with a backbone of poetry holding it up.
Words and music have always had a long and healthy relationship. The word song itself is from sonnet. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonnet Sonnets are long poems with a strict rhyming structure. To help remember long epic tales, Bards would put their tales to music, so they could more accurately pass the tale on to the illiterate masses. To this day, the big companies put their messages to music, to be digested by todays illiterate masses; “ba da ba ba ba - I’m Lovin it!” but i digress…
For example, who doesn’t know all the words to Baby Got Back by Sir Mix-A -Lot? Strange example, yes, but that song wouldn’t be anything but a sweet beat without those rhymes! Thats a poem people! Led Zepplins Stairway to Heaven? Poetry! Sting, lead singer of The Police, was an English teacher. Gordon Downie? lead singer of the staple in every Canadians diet, The Tragically Hip? An incredible poet, two words: Nautical Disaster.
Lately, I’ve been appreciating the lyrics to All Hell for a Basement by Big Sugar, a Canadian band from Alberta. The song is about Maritimers and Newfoundlanders who come to Alberta to make a half decent pay check.
Who here hasn’t been feeling down on their luck, stuck at a call centre or a shit job making nothing an hour and dreamt of going to Alberta for the hope of something better? Ever notice the part of that song that sounds like an oldtime Maritime/Newfoundland folk song? That part represents us. The lyrics and the music come together and make a kick-ass song - a comment on Canadas economic state, a tale of a tragic reality for many of us.
Take some time, and look up the lyrics to your favorite song…what is the artist saying? How is the music composed to strengthen their words? Or are the words strengthening the music? What do you think the artist wrote first?
If you think your song is lacking in the lyrics department maybe its not the words themselves, but the sounds the words make that make your tune “catchy”. You can appreciate lyrics in entirely different languages this way.
Point is, lyrics are an important part of song, and song an important part of our culture, and our lives. Lrics should not be ignored, but listened to.
