Many years ago we had a musician friend who would bring around his guitar and play some lovely songs he had written.
One day he brought around his guitar to play some tunes – and he also brought an LP. “Here. Listen to this! It's special!” he said, putting it on the turntable.
I heard someone vaguely plucking at a guitar, then groaning about some woman called “Suzanne”. The “tune” droned on, and on... and o-o-on; the “singer” groaned and groaned.
“Errr... Thanks Paul. It does nothing for me. Think your songs are much better.”
“What about the lyrics? Didn't you just love the lyrics? He's a poet!”
“Hmmm. P'raps he could have just recited the words, no?”
Thus my introduction to Leonard Cohen started with a strong feeling that he was some Glum Person who wrote a few words that he felt would make a Good Song – but he couldn't sing 'em properly (even though the “tune” was simple and banal).
That didn't matter 'cos people thought he was a Poet. “Don't worry about the voice or the tunes; it's the words that are important!”
This highlighted for me the distinction between words and music; between the ordinary, everyday and the sublime.
I grew up singing songs.
Did I know the words? Of course. I sang songs. I also sang the tunes if there were no words. But did I “know” and understand the words? Hmmm. Not always. Did I care?
As a child, there were comedy songs, like the Stanley Holloway stuff and “The Laughing Policeman”.
Along came the Beatles and the Stones. We had the records (I would often get the LP for my birthday or for Christmas). I would play them from end-to-end doing my homework, learn the words off-by-heart, sing along...)
Along came Bob Dylan; he did Lyrics. We loved him; we saw him live. Were the words important? I realised some of them were - “Blowin' In the Wind” and “Masters of War” had Serious Messages. That did not stop me singing along and enjoying the music.
In a discussion about the words to lots of folk songs someone once said something like “Words are only there to articulate the melody”. So, is this true? Scat and folderol are certainly great examples of this.
Do we just need something to help us sing along and enjoy the music? Or do we need words in some songs? Do we need to listen to them; understand them; absorb them? If so, which songs? Plus what is the link between the words and the music.
How might someone try to communicate their message through music and word, each complementing t'other?
Let's think about this and come back to it - “later”.