#1674284 - 08/05/20 12:16 AM
Lyrics are everything, maybe..
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AL
the last rock hope
Loquacious Planeteer
Registered: 04/16/99
Posts: 76241
Loc: Walmartville
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so I have this song, I wrote lyrics for it and this amazing lady vocalist wrote a tune and sang the fuck out of it, told me I could do whatever I want with the song.
Years later, decided it's probably gonna be a Neg Ten song. I won't even appear on it, but the woids are mine, so wtf?
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America's greatest institution is the NFL.
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#1674287 - 08/05/20 12:25 AM
Re: Lyrics are everything, maybe..
[Re: AL]
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Wish
🌴 VSP Moderator 🌵
Planeteer
Registered: 09/09/00
Posts: 11783
Loc: Phoenix, AZ
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I disagree.
The music, arrangement, talent on instruments, recording quality, etc., is equally, if not more important, than lyrics.
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#1674300 - 08/05/20 01:23 AM
Re: Lyrics are everything, maybe..
[Re: Wish]
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AL
the last rock hope
Loquacious Planeteer
Registered: 04/16/99
Posts: 76241
Loc: Walmartville
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Sometimes I have trouble communicating here, folks take my statements at face value when I'm going for something more profound.
_________________________
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America's greatest institution is the NFL.
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#1674302 - 08/05/20 01:24 AM
Re: Lyrics are everything, maybe..
[Re: AL]
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Popmann
Loquacious Planeteer
Registered: 05/23/02
Posts: 33131
Loc: Twangville, TN
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Sometimes I have trouble communicating here, folks take my statements at face value when I'm going for something more profound.
At least words are everything.
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#1674305 - 08/05/20 01:43 AM
Re: Lyrics are everything, maybe..
[Re: AL]
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Wish
🌴 VSP Moderator 🌵
Planeteer
Registered: 09/09/00
Posts: 11783
Loc: Phoenix, AZ
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Sometimes I have trouble communicating here, folks take my statements at face value when I'm going for something more profound.
Oh.
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#1674306 - 08/05/20 01:44 AM
Re: Lyrics are everything, maybe..
[Re: Wish]
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Tao Jones
Planeteer
Registered: 06/13/00
Posts: 15123
Loc: CA
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#1674307 - 08/05/20 01:46 AM
Re: Lyrics are everything, maybe..
[Re: Tao Jones]
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Wish
🌴 VSP Moderator 🌵
Planeteer
Registered: 09/09/00
Posts: 11783
Loc: Phoenix, AZ
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#1674308 - 08/05/20 01:49 AM
Re: Lyrics are everything, maybe..
[Re: Wish]
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Wish
🌴 VSP Moderator 🌵
Planeteer
Registered: 09/09/00
Posts: 11783
Loc: Phoenix, AZ
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Sacred Mound.
Is that about sex?
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#1674310 - 08/05/20 01:56 AM
Re: Lyrics are everything, maybe..
[Re: Wish]
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SkyWave
Planeteer
Registered: 10/15/12
Posts: 14766
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Lyrics are a lot. Unless you are listening to music from the classical, baroque or romantic period. Or native American flute, or some non-lyrical genre.
Comparatively very few instrumentals have made it to the top of the charts. Most hits have lyrics.
Who doesn't like a great lyric, a great poetry set to music.
On the other hand, some fairly inane lyrics can be made to sound less banal by good melody and musical arrangement.
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#1674312 - 08/05/20 01:56 AM
Re: Lyrics are everything, maybe..
[Re: Wish]
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Tao Jones
Planeteer
Registered: 06/13/00
Posts: 15123
Loc: CA
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#1674313 - 08/05/20 01:57 AM
Re: Lyrics are everything, maybe..
[Re: Tao Jones]
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Tao Jones
Planeteer
Registered: 06/13/00
Posts: 15123
Loc: CA
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That was answering Wish’s question
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#1674318 - 08/05/20 02:01 AM
Re: Lyrics are everything, maybe..
[Re: AL]
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Wish
🌴 VSP Moderator 🌵
Planeteer
Registered: 09/09/00
Posts: 11783
Loc: Phoenix, AZ
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He has some organic mojo in his presentation.
You might be a little more raw.
Which isn’t a bad thing either.
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#1674319 - 08/05/20 02:03 AM
Re: Lyrics are everything, maybe..
[Re: Wish]
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Tao Jones
Planeteer
Registered: 06/13/00
Posts: 15123
Loc: CA
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The words to Sacred Mound just poured out.
They get me wondering about meanings.
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#1674352 - 08/05/20 10:01 AM
Re: Lyrics are everything, maybe..
[Re: Tao Jones]
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SkyWave
Planeteer
Registered: 10/15/12
Posts: 14766
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I really like it when I hear a song and catch some memorable or meaningful line from it.
Like a line from Springsteen: "There's things that will knock you down you don't even see coming."
Tonight I heard a Steve Earle song with the lyric line:
Now my old buddy, what's his name?
Says, "Man, what the hell are you thinking about?
Fool, you got two of everything
But you hang your head just like you was down and out"
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#1674369 - 08/05/20 02:30 PM
Re: Lyrics are everything, maybe..
[Re: SkyWave]
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pbrowne
Planeteer
Registered: 06/11/99
Posts: 6423
Loc: Loveland,CO,USA
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depends on the song - tunes that really have a great rock and roll feel or old rhythm and blues songs with soul and catchy melodies have lyrics that seem not so important - other stuff like singer songwriters like Guy Clark and his ilk - lyrics are pretty much the reason i listen.
my wife knows almost every lyric to tunes from the 60s and early 70s - me, not so much but i know the arrangements down to drum fills, intros and outros.
Edited by pbrowne (08/05/20 02:30 PM)
_________________________
Send two dozen roses to Room 424 and put "Emily, I love you" on the back of the bill. Groucho Marx
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#1674377 - 08/05/20 04:03 PM
Re: Lyrics are everything, maybe..
[Re: pbrowne]
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flatcat
Loquacious Planeteer
Registered: 07/11/01
Posts: 29851
Loc: Westborough, MA, USA
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The people I played with in NY in the 1980s were all about the lyric. Many of them were absolute monster lyricists for the songs they wrote, and it was all Jack Hardy's fault. He used to say you should be able to sing a song a capella and have it work, and if it doesn't, you need to work on it more. For him, the lyric and the melody were everything - going back to the ancient bards and them invoking magic through singing. He was big on the bardic tradition.
So all those other people in that scene - Suzanne Vega, John Gorka, Lucy Kaplanski, Richard Shindell, Shawn Colvin, the Roche sisters, Erik Frandsen, even the Mayor of McDougall Street, Mr. Llewyn Davis himself, Dave Van Ronk - held that lyric writing was the coin of the realm.
Since I was kicking around then, playing with a lot of those people, and with Jack, for years, I tend to care a little too much, maybe, about lyric writing. If anything, it's inhibited me in my writing because it's a high standard.
Of course the antidote is to write all the time. Sure, you get a bunch of clunkers, but you can find the wheat from the chaff and polish it up if you write a lot. Jack wrote songs I hated, but some were just incredibly beautiful, heartbreaking, even.
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Professor Truth T. Sweetness says,"Mind your manners!"
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#1674379 - 08/05/20 04:24 PM
Re: Lyrics are everything, maybe..
[Re: flatcat]
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Ismellelephant
Loquacious Planeteer
Registered: 07/10/01
Posts: 56436
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I love great lyrics
Who let the dogs out
Woof, woof, woof, woof, woof
Who let the dogs out
Woof, woof, woof, woof, woof
Who let the dogs out
Woof, woof, woof, woof, woof
Who let the dogs out
The party was nice the party was pumping
Ah yepee ah yo
And everybody having a ball
Yepee ah yo
And tell the fellas stop the name callin'
Yepee ah yo
Then them girls respond to the call
I hear a woman shout outâ?¦
Who let the dogs out
Woof, woof, woof, woof, woof
Who let the dogs out
Woof, woof, woof, woof, woof
Who let the dogs out
Woof, woof, woof, woof, woof
Who let the dogs out
Last year in the dance you had a ball
You call me millibug and skettell
Get back gruffy, mash scruffy
Get back you flea infested mongrel
Now I tell meh self dem man go get angry
Ah yepee ah yo
To hear dem girls calling…
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#1674383 - 08/05/20 04:41 PM
Re: Lyrics are everything, maybe..
[Re: flatcat]
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Ismellelephant
Loquacious Planeteer
Registered: 07/10/01
Posts: 56436
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woof!
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#1674384 - 08/05/20 04:43 PM
Re: Lyrics are everything, maybe..
[Re: Ismellelephant]
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Wish
🌴 VSP Moderator 🌵
Planeteer
Registered: 09/09/00
Posts: 11783
Loc: Phoenix, AZ
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Bow wow wow yippee yo yippee yay
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#1674385 - 08/05/20 05:11 PM
Re: Lyrics are everything, maybe..
[Re: Wish]
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ulank
Forum Person
Planeteer
Registered: 02/03/08
Posts: 20169
Loc: Chicago, IL
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Lyrics are everything, maybe.
From my lips to your ears, baby.
Turkey with stuffing and gravy,
On a boat in a lake that’s all wavy.
Rolaids are everything, maybe.
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#1674388 - 08/05/20 05:24 PM
Re: Lyrics are everything, maybe..
[Re: ulank]
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motown59
Planeteer/Artist # 238
Planeteer
Registered: 03/01/04
Posts: 17881
Loc: California
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Lyrics are everything
They're all I ever sing
Tasty & simple I love the most
From marinating metaphors,
to sweet synonym toast.
they'll come down from the heavens
push a song to eleven.
From the skies to the earth
often atmospheric
Everything is lyric
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kel
"I love what you guys are trying to do up there" ...from an audience member at one of my gigs.
Gear: Fender Medium pick
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#1674391 - 08/05/20 06:29 PM
Re: Lyrics are everything, maybe..
[Re: motown59]
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Tao Jones
Planeteer
Registered: 06/13/00
Posts: 15123
Loc: CA
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Wish is up there quoting “Atomic Dog,” and maybe that’s meant as a joke or showing lyrics are not everything, but it’s a good example of what I would add about lyrics:
Those are great lyrics because they work wonderfully. So are things like “My Baby Does the Hankie Pankie.” The sound, the way they sing, what they’re saying how they land, great.
Lyrics don’t need to be Dylanesque, they need to have the undefinable essence of working.
“Shoo Fly Don’t Bother Me”
has lyrics that work and stand the test of time.
Chuck Berry made lyrics that always work so well.
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#1674392 - 08/05/20 06:31 PM
Re: Lyrics are everything, maybe..
[Re: Tao Jones]
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Tao Jones
Planeteer
Registered: 06/13/00
Posts: 15123
Loc: CA
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“You Are So Beautiful to Me” has fantastic lyrics.
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#1674393 - 08/05/20 06:32 PM
Re: Lyrics are everything, maybe..
[Re: Tao Jones]
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Tao Jones
Planeteer
Registered: 06/13/00
Posts: 15123
Loc: CA
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They don’t have to read as poems.
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#1674437 - 08/06/20 01:28 PM
Re: Lyrics are everything, maybe..
[Re: Tao Jones]
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Dave Morris
Planeteer/Artist # 75
Planeteer
Registered: 02/15/02
Posts: 19084
Loc: Waterloo, Ontario
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I don’t listen to lyrics. There may be 4 or 5 songs, max, that I know a phrase or a snippet from. Having said that, I prefer music with lyrics to instrumentals. So, while I don’t listen to the words, I like vocals in a song. I see vocals as the main melody instrument. The lyrics themselves, with a very few exceptions, strike me as banal or meaningless.
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#1674472 - 08/06/20 06:05 PM
Re: Lyrics are everything, maybe..
[Re: Dave Morris]
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Tao Jones
Planeteer
Registered: 06/13/00
Posts: 15123
Loc: CA
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Be-bop-a-loo-la she’s my baby
Is a great lyric, because: what would go better there?
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#1674483 - 08/06/20 07:15 PM
Re: Lyrics are everything, maybe..
[Re: Tao Jones]
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AL
the last rock hope
Loquacious Planeteer
Registered: 04/16/99
Posts: 76241
Loc: Walmartville
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Lyrics are the spiritual aspect of rock. They are the difference between Dylan (and the Beatles) and Kiss and ZZ Top.
_________________________
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America's greatest institution is the NFL.
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#1674524 - 08/06/20 11:29 PM
Re: Lyrics are everything, maybe..
[Re: AL]
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Ismellelephant
Loquacious Planeteer
Registered: 07/10/01
Posts: 56436
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I'll add one thing, a sucky, no melody, same old chords, nothing catchy tune can be used for a vehicle for lyrics some might find clever.
Personally this is why a person strumming an acoustic bores the fuck out of me, put the instrument down, get out a pen, and write poetry. A personal choice.
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We're all gonna lose an eye!!!
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#1674527 - 08/06/20 11:37 PM
Re: Lyrics are everything, maybe..
[Re: Ismellelephant]
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SkyWave
Planeteer
Registered: 10/15/12
Posts: 14766
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How about a person finger-picking an acoustic? Or playing in a classical style? Does that bore you as well?
I must confess to never really being bored. There is always a myriad of things to be learned in any situation if you are paying attention. And then, too, there is always so much to do, books to read, instruments to learn, art to learn, the material world & house & yard to maintain, animals to play with, people to delight in, nature to explore.
The lack of boredom is what happens when children are given freedom to roam. The moment Mr Boredom comes to visit, the child goes, What can I do now that is fun or interesting? And does it.
There are things that can irritate or annoy me, but boredom is not part of my consciousness.
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#1674528 - 08/06/20 11:41 PM
Re: Lyrics are everything, maybe..
[Re: SkyWave]
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Ismellelephant
Loquacious Planeteer
Registered: 07/10/01
Posts: 56436
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"How about a person finger-picking an acoustic? Or playing in a classical style?"
I love it! Just some of the music that goes with lyric heavy songs are so uninteresting to me.
I love Opera, well the music anyway, the singing sucks.
I think I dislike Theater for the same reason, all about the story and music is second fiddle.
I wonder whats gonna happen next?
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We're all gonna lose an eye!!!
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#1674540 - 08/07/20 01:44 AM
Re: Lyrics are everything, maybe..
[Re: Ismellelephant]
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Tao Jones
Planeteer
Registered: 06/13/00
Posts: 15123
Loc: CA
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Skywave:
If left to my own devices, I don’t get bored, but when they put me in a meeting with some ‘ motivational’ speaker, and they ban all activity beyond looking at that speaker, and that speaker smugly tells us as some huge revelation that the only people who get bored are boring people (which they think they are the first to tell us), then I think to myself, no, you’re actually boring.
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#1674665 - 08/08/20 04:41 AM
Re: Lyrics are everything, maybe..
[Re: Tao Jones]
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The Vampire Lestat
Planeteer
Registered: 01/09/00
Posts: 4531
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Lyrics are really important to me. Sometimes, I think that I should work on the music more, but I usually just rely on my gut for that part. In my old age, I'm thinking that might be a mistake.
Anyway, I love great lyrics, and my lyricist heroes are fairly diverse. Morrissey, Liz Phair and Jackson Browne come to mind immediately. One guy who doesn't get as much respect as he deserves is Ben Gibbard. That guy has done alot over the last 20 years.
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#1674695 - 08/08/20 03:05 PM
Re: Lyrics are everything, maybe..
[Re: The Vampire Lestat]
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motown59
Planeteer/Artist # 238
Planeteer
Registered: 03/01/04
Posts: 17881
Loc: California
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Some lyrics read well but they're not meant to be only read. The melody, timing, intervals, voice delivering , backing track, subtle inflections, word rhythms, and emotions are what makes otherwise plain & uninteresting words come alive.
You are so beautiful , to me, can't you see...
That doesn't read well. Placed in that song, with that delivery, the magic happens.
_________________________
kel
"I love what you guys are trying to do up there" ...from an audience member at one of my gigs.
Gear: Fender Medium pick
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