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From: rcd@opus.UUCP (Dick Dunn)
Newsgroups: net.music
Subject: Re: Cryptic lyrics?
Message-ID: <208@opus.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 5-Nov-85 02:47:25 EST
Article-I.D.: opus.208
Posted: Tue Nov  5 02:47:25 1985
Date-Received: Fri, 8-Nov-85 07:09:20 EST
References: <250@mit-eddie.UUCP> <17083@watmath.UUCP>
Organization: NBI,Inc, Boulder CO
Lines: 41

> >Really?  I've always thought if you can't say it cryptically, why say it
> >all?  I mean if the concept you are trying to get across is so simple ...
> >
> >... I don't have a whole lot of problems with understanding
> >KB's lyrics, though I certainly can't claim to understand everything
> >about them.  I think her lyrics are the definition of perfection...
> ...
> So, what you're saying, Doug, is that Kate's lyrics are so perfect that
> she has to provide a separate explanation so you can understand just what
> the fuck she was trying to say?
> 
> Funny, I always thought that the purpose of trying to get a message across
> to someone was actually getting the message across ...

Cf. opera--even if you happen to know the language (usually Italian or
German) the words may be sufficiently hard to understand and/or the
presentation sufficiently sketchy that you MUST have an explanation
beforehand to make any sense of it.  With the libretto, opera has
institutionalized the incomprehensibility of the performance per se.

The art (if any) in different sorts of music is formed in different ways.
You may get a piece of music in which the lyrics are trivial and the melody
is the "artistic statement" (sorry about that term).  Or there might be
very intricate, subtle lyrics (possibly having multiple meanings,
allegorical, or whatever to make them worth hearing many times) combined
intentionally with a simple melody which won't detract from the "message".
Beware of getting carried away with interpretations; some seemingly subtle
songs with complex lyrics are nothing but the equivalent of an abstract
painting--phrases tossed together for their effects as pieces but not of a
whole.

Sometimes artists manage to marry significant lyrical content and
substantial music and it actually works.  Other times these attempts end up
with words and music fighting for your attention or otherwise being a pain
in the ass to hear.

Sometime the songs end up simplistic on both counts but they still have
some redeeming value as dance music.
-- 
Dick Dunn	{hao,ucbvax,allegra}!nbires!rcd		(303)444-5710 x3086
   ...Never attribute to malice what can be adequately explained by stupidity.