the age-old question. of many.
I think pundits of some musical styles that lack non-fangirl
credibility like emo poprock or softcore metal whiners (3 doors down,
Seether, Lifehouse, Breaking Benjamin &c...) (my brother listens to
them god help him) like to argue for the subjectivity of the line
between poetry & lyrics because it imbues the hollowly 'addressing'
words with a sort of artificial glow. I just think that posing as
poetry is a lot easier when there's a catchy melody or a distinct sort
of singing voice to hold it up, or rather DRESS it up. it's easier to
catch falseness & shallowness on the page than it is on the airwaves.

god that scene in Annie Hall is such a nightmare. I love it.

KS

On 04/09/07, Jon Corelis <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> In my own experience song lyrics divorced from their music may or may
> not seem embarrassingly naked, depending, interestingly, on what sort
> of songs are involved.
>
> Most rock and popular song lyrics, even good ones, sound quite stilted
> when experienced as a written text.  It's hard to tell whether this is
> true of something like Farewell Angelina, since most of us can't read
> it without playing it to the tune in our heads.  I suspect it wouldn't
> sound as good to someone who had never heard it sung.  (There was a
> hilarious routine relevant to this in Annie Hall, when one of Woody
> Allen's horrible dates talks about how great Bob Dylan is:  "... and I
> really like the one where he says um ... she takes just like a woman,
> yes, she does ... and um ... she makes love just like a woman, yes,
> she does ...")
>
> Traditional ballads (like the Child ones) come across fairly well on
> the page, though finally hearing one familiar to you only through the
> text sung can be a revelation.
>
> Elizabethan lyrics have the best of both worlds:  wonderful on the
> page and even better when sung.  Campion's lyrics are great poetry,
> but some of them become unbearably beautiful when sung.  A good
> performance of his "Never weather beaten sail" is almost enough to
> make me get religion, which is saying something.  I read somewhere
> that this hymn was still sung in Anglican parishes well into the
> twentieth century.  Say what you will about the C of E, they certainly
> have the best language of any denomination I know.
>
> --
> ===================================
>
>    Jon Corelis     www.geocities.com/jgcorelis/
>
> ===================================
>