A letter in today's Guardian...
How can Goldfrapp get five stars when, to quote the reviewer, the lyrics were "only occasionally decipherable". Combining words and music is clearly a problem, in the opera house and musical theatre as well as at pop concerts, but to suggest that a song cycle was as good as it could be when you could hardly hear any of the words seems, well, odd.
We bought the new Goldfrapp album last week and it's the first of theirs that I've really liked (I need to reassess the others). It is excellent and if you want the lyrics, they're printed inside the CD booklet. Personally, I don't want the lyrics. I'm quite happy with the voice and the emotion.
To say understanding lyrics is all important is to declare war on pop music. This sentiment comes from the intellect which is an unwelcome intruder in the world of pop. It is not cool or clever. It is showing yourself up as a reactionary philistine.
Merchants of tat
8 hours ago
"De do do do de da da da
ReplyDeleteIs all I want to say to you
De do do do de da da da
They're meaningless and all that's true"
Deep stuff man, sooo profound.
I saw that letter and thought it was stupid. Lyrics I'm not interested in, singing is good but I don't care what they say.
ReplyDeleteOn another note Geoff (pardon the musical pun) - I heard a radio ad for a classical CD free in the Snail on Sunday today. It's probably Hooked On Classics - don't go there!
ReplyDeleteIstvanski - And Sting was a schoolteacher. What on earth was he teaching our kids?
ReplyDeleteBilly - I thought the comment about the opera house was a good one. How much opera is sung in Italian?
Romo - Thank you, but not even an exclusive DVD box set of The Rock 'n' Roll Years would persuade me to buy the Mail...Maybe I'll see if my mum's got it.
I've never understood the point of reading the words of the Guardian Letters. I just enjoy the shape and structure of the paragraphs and laugh at the silly names at the end.
ReplyDeletePop music should have bite, Geoff. At least your Bach is worse than your bite.
Yes - that's what Mum's are for - reading The Daily Mail so you don't have to. I've just realised where the cd my mother gave me last weekend came from! I have always thought that The Daily Mail should be shut down along with McDonalds and BT.
ReplyDeleteMurph - I was Bach-ing up the wrong tree.
ReplyDeleteRomo - You can shut down McDonalds and The Daily Mail. BT should never have been privatised.
In heavy metal, indecipherable lyrics earn more stars. It's decipherable lyrics that would hold a metal band back!!
ReplyDelete