18 Jul 2008, Posted by Cat in News, 17 Comments. Tagged music
music
Musician friends often get the shits with me cos I say I don’t care about song lyrics. And I really don’t — music, to me, is all about the sound and I tend to favour things I can shake my arse to. Perhaps this is why I’m quite partial to Middle Eastern and Latino stuff. It doesn’t bother me that I don’t know what they’re singing about so long as it grooves.
I used to work with this guy called Vic. A nice guy, a bit of an outdoorsey type. One day he challenged my musical taste. You don’t really like all that foreign stuff, he said. You’re just pretending because you think its a cool thing to say. Deep down you like Aussie music, same as the rest of us. Aussie music? What the hell was he talking about? Acca Dacca? Crowded House, perhaps? Turns out he was referring to a ghastly performer by the name of John Williamson. I’m not gonna link to it because if you don’t remember his hit ‘Hey true Blue’ then you’re one of the lucky ones.
Vic was wrong. I like what I like and a lot of what I like, soundwise, is shallow and meaningless. And as for foreign lyrics, they are no less edifying than some of the English language stuff I dig. As example, here is my new favourite song, No Sex For Ben by The Rapture. Seems to be part of some game soundtrack, so I’m guessing if I played the game I’d get it.
But I don’t need to get it to love it.
Just to contradict myself, here is a link to another favourite song, The Con by Tegan & Sara. I find these lyrics poetic and intriguing.
17 Comments
July 18, 2008 12:50 am
chrisbarnes
I first heard of Tegan & Sarah a few days ago and my first thought was “Weren’t they both Doctor Who companions?”
July 18 2008 00:56 am
Cat @
Ha! And they're heavily tattooed Canadian twins too. Oops, I spelt Sara's name wrong.
July 18, 2008 1:07 am
murasaki_1966
You like what you like. I like AC/DC, also Gregorian chant, also Bach, and so on ad nasuem (my music collection has been described as schizophrenic). What does that say about me? Nothing much. Enjoy what you like and ignore boguns who don’t understand that people have different tastes. Down with conformity!
July 18 2008 01:10 am
Cat @
yeah, but I gotta admit to making a bit of a wicked sport of it on occasions... the crestfallen look on a musician's face when you tell him/her lyrics don't matter...
July 18, 2008 1:21 am
strangedave
Every sort of genre of music has its own sort of rules of aesthetics, and lyrics really aren’t important to lots of them. I’m guessing the musician friends who get the shits with you because you don’t care about the lyrics and want something to dance to don’t make dance music, because the guys who do that often really do spend much more time getting the groove just right than they do on lyrics, and would love the idea that someone who doesn’t understand/care about the lyrics will still want to shake their booty.
And I don’t think there is anything wrong with that, or anything intrinsically deeper about music that has more words. Some music is more about rhythm and melody than it is about lyrics or complex harmonies or whatever. I don’t think there is anything wrong with music being about music rather than words, or being about rhythm more than chord progressions, or whatever.
Some genres the lyrics really matter a lot. Country music probably most of all. Some genres it doesn’t. I actually do really like some country music (especially Johnny Cash), but not Williamsons simplistic Australiana. But then, I like a really wide variety of music. I like plenty of lyricless dance music too. And lyricless slow melodic stuff too. And weird avant garde stuff. And lots more. And I don’t particularly think that any particular style is deeper. For example, I think my favourite club techno band, Underworld, are often as lyrically deep as anything else I have (though admittedly, their biggest hit having the line about ‘shouting lager! lager! lager!’ doesn’t make them come across as particularly deep, I know).
Vic is a freak. Not many people like John Williamson. Mostly old country people, I think.
I thought that song by The Rapture was great.
July 18 2008 01:24 am
Cat @
I don't mind a bit of Johnny Cash myself... reminds me of that joke -- what happens when you play country music backwards? His wife comes home, the dog returns from the dead, etc etc.
July 18, 2008 1:57 am
girliejones
Me thinks you like that song cause of the title … No Sex for Ben … heh
July 18 2008 01:58 am
Cat @
nup. Its taken days to find out what it was called after hearing it a few times on JJJ where they often don't back announce what they're playing. The title did make me laugh though.
July 18, 2008 2:40 am
murasaki_1966
Music and Dr Who link
Thought you might be interested in this
http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/music/article4352673.ece
July 18 2008 02:51 am
Cat @
Re: Music and Dr Who link
cool! Thanks for that.
July 18, 2008 8:05 am
ex_benpayne119
I’m a lyric person, but I don’t really mind if other people aren’t…
To me the best experience is when words and music work together…
I reckon music is a very contextual thing… the kind of music you like is often the result of where/when you listen….
July 20, 2008 4:13 am
drjon
Oh, thanks for the Tegan and Sara link! I’ve been hearing my friends say how good they were, and I’d heard them independently, but had yet to connect name with sound. Much Excellence.
I keep on forgetting that you don’t read my lj, so here’s a bit of Liquid Awesome which might influence you to listen to the words as well:
The Mountain Goats – This Year
July 20 2008 04:44 am
Cat @
dude, where's the link?
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