Posts: 9,643
Threads: 255
Joined: Jun 2010
JTRiff Wrote:There's no opinion involved. Music does not require lyrics. It does need melody, rhythm, harmony.
One could draw the line I suppose. Remove the vox and listen to the track by itself. Yukk!
My opinion is: if the music becomes arbitrary (as it often does ) in order to support the opinions, ideas, political stance, etc. of the artist... then it should be called poetry and put away in a dank basement somewhere and forgotten about for hundreds of years.
Like your writing?
Posts: 4
Threads: 0
Joined: Mar 2011
Of course it doesn't need words... But some things are hard to say without them. Of course you could just write an instrumental and then tell everyone what it's about. Besides, poetry definitely doesn't need music:-)
Posts: 9,643
Threads: 255
Joined: Jun 2010
Posts: 53
Threads: 2
Joined: Mar 2011
Oh ha ha. Singer/songwriter syndrome is my only real bugbear. Too many people with a few tunes that will take full advantage of real players and take off with the goods, seen it and seen it and seen it.
3 chord, half-baked tunes that get whipped into shape by the band, then absconded with as if writ by the SS. Forgetest not- the lyricist gets half the dough off the top. The other half is up for grabs, apparently... like bass lines and arrangements and solos just arent worth much anymore. It's all a huge conspiracy of course and yes the biz is now run exclusively by reptilians from the Pleides so, in the words of Fats Waller, don't let it bother you.
Posts: 2,223
Threads: 359
Joined: Oct 2009
13-04-2011, 06:42
(This post was last modified: 13-04-2011, 07:02 by gryphon.)
To be able to respect such views and to give them credibility................... I feel the forum needs to have some more insight into where your experience and education within the field of music comes from........ So come clean JTRIFF.........................What IS your track record ? Show us your credentials !!!:drum:
Nice to be able to go back to trust and friendship!!!!!!!!!
It's a mixed up sensation this being alive
Oh! it wears a man down into the ground
It's the strangest elation
I can't describe it
Oh it leaves a man weary
It makes a man frown..............................Chris Simpson ( "Mixed Up Sensations" 1975 Martin's Cafe )
Posts: 15
Threads: 5
Joined: May 2011
In my opinion, music is able to portray emotions better than words.
But poetry is important also.
Posts: 9,643
Threads: 255
Joined: Jun 2010
I would say that 70% of what I listen to is instrumental.
Posts: 1,387
Threads: 58
Joined: Jul 2010
phoeniximago Wrote:Of course it doesn't need words... But some things are hard to say without them. Of course you could just write an instrumental and then tell everyone what it's about. Besides, poetry definitely doesn't need music:-)
I like this answer. I have to agree.
Posts: 364
Threads: 12
Joined: Apr 2011
I can not imagine "Moonglow", "Theme from A Summer Place" or "Frankenstein" with lyrics but then again the theme from Exodus(This Land is Mine) has lyrics...
This land is mine
God gave this land to me
This brave and ancient land to me
And when the morning sun
Reveals her hills and plains
Then I see a land
Where children can run free.
So take my hand
And walk this land with me
And walk this lovely land with me
Tho' I am just a man
When you are by my side
With the help of God
I know I can be strong.
So take my hand
And walk this land with me
And walk this golden land with me.
Tho' I am just a man
When you are by my side
With the help of God
I know I can be strong.
To make this land our home
If I must fight
I'll fight to make this land our own.
Until I die this land is mine!
I would listen without them as the music can stand alone.
Bob Dylan worte very good lyrics...I consider him one of the best poets of mondern time, but then my son says "Yes Mother." every time we get into talking about writing.
BTW My son teachs writing at Syracuse University.
Posts: 19
Threads: 2
Joined: Jul 2011
Music doesn't need words, however, without lyrics you get emotion, which is brought to you by the melodies, harmonies and bass lines. This can be a very powerful thing, but lyrics add a story to the emotion which makes you both feel and understand what the song is trying to say. Instrumental music in a way, "speaks without talking". I personally listen to a lot of instrumental music, but in the end it all comes down to opinion.
