Re: What about song writing?

["Joel Fritz" <jfritz666@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Only 80%?  In science fiction they call it "Sturgeon's Law"--80% of
everything is crap.  I always thought the number should be higher, but maybe
I'm just picky.

Otherwise, I disagree.   Bad lyrics ruin songs for me.  The blues is a
special case, because, like a lot of things that come from an oral
tradition, there are a lot of phrases that get repeated over and over.  If
you listen to Blind Lemon Jefferson and Barbecue Bob, you'll hear a
substantial portion of every blues lyric recorded after them.  I imagine
that they didn't make most of them up either, but were the first ones to
record them.

- ----- Original Message -----
From: "David Roberts" <dg2000r@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: "harp-l-digest" <harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Sunday, April 20, 2003 2:59 AM
Subject: Re: What about song writing?


>
> I'd like to add my view to this, that as far as I'm concerned, lyrics (or
at
> least their meaning) dont count towards what is a good song or otherwise.
> For me, the whole point of using lyrics in songs is for their pitch, tone
> and rhythm - I see vocal parts as merely another instrument in a band and
> very rarely pay attention to the words themselves or their meaning. I dont
> know why I think like this, but I always have - I guess it's down to my
> cynical views and the fact that about 80% of lyrics written are cliched
> nonsense!
>
> I've had this discussion on many occasions and with many people - but I
dont
> think I've found anyone else who shares my views so I thought I'd try you
> guys!!
>
> Dave
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