AUTHOR’S GAB, READER TALK.
A LETTER TO YOU, THE READER, SO THAT YOU CAN FINALLY FIGURE OUT WHAT I’M THINKING.
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THIS MONTH: Lookin’ Up the Lyrics
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“Poetry and lyrics are very similar. Making words bounce off a page.”
-Taylor Swift
Dear Reader,
Have you ever tried to write a song? Or, have you at least tried to look up the lyrics to one? If you’ve ever been musical or just had a song stuck in your head, my bet is that you probably have. Lyrics, after all, are an easy way to make a song identifiable. There is a undoubtable beauty to a piece of music with or without lyrics, but there’s something about singing a few verses that unifies people or just allows them to express their thoughts and feelings.
As a form of expression, however, lyrics come unswervingly close to the literary world, with some people even going so far to classify them as poetry. Indeed, many poets would also probably make good lyricists and many lyricists would make good poets. As a poet, I myself have even written lyrics, complete with accompanying tunes in my head, only to discover how hard it is to actually set them to music afterwards. Or, just take the ballad for example, a form of poetry which can be set to music (and is often designed to do so). Thus, even if you simply look up lyrics, post songs on your social media or just jam to some tune stuck in your head, you are engaging in a form of literary expression. Because of this close correlation, I think it’s worth it to briefly examine and discuss lyrics and how they are created and used in this month’s Ad Lib. Yay. 🙂
It’s hard to trace the origin of lyrics, because, obviously, the desire to sing along to a tune is a basic human instinct, an ability which varies per person but which does not necessarily need to be taught. It’s not that it’s not LEARNED, but that it comes naturally to humans, like the ability to walk and talk. This is because “…music is [basically] a cross between an accident and an invention. It is an accident because it is the consequence of abilities that evolved for other purposes. And it is an invention because, having thus come into existence, people have bent it to their will and made something they like from it,” (The Economist).
Whether you believe it’s the product of creation or evolution remains your own opinion; however, to put forward my own, I will state that I side with the creationists. Yet, the facts remain that, if you have a voice box, a healthy pair of lungs, diaphragm, ect., and a good head on your shoulders, you can think of, recite, compose, hum and sing a tune, purely because you are human.
But, while the tune might be universal, the lyrics are not; because, different people speak different languages. And, those languages can flavor a tune to the structures and nuances of whatever language you choose to sing your song in. For example, “Silent Night” takes on a whole new sound when sung in German, even becoming “Stille Nacht” instead of “Silent Night”. Take even the first line:
- English: “Silent night, holy night” (<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iRZOv31n1sY>)
- German: “Stille Nacht, heilige Nacht” (<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9JXATSbywc>)
Or, for further comparison, take the basic concept of pop music, in which Eastern and Western cultures seem to rival and blend with one another. With Psy invading the Western Hemisphere, many people even believe these genres are merging together into one massive stream of pop music. Nonetheless, what one person says on KPop, JPop or CPop is still a completely different line of thinking and realm than, say, One Direction or Miley Cyrus. If you put them side by side, they don’t even really sound like each other unless they are actually TRYING to be hybrid. For example, all of these songs are very similar, classic, upbeat renditions of the concept of love and have trended or are currently trending on the top of the charts within their respective countries:
- Pure KPop: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bw9CALKOvAI
- Pure JPop: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D2b5n52EiXY
- Pure CPop: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0dx0N5IQOBs
- Pure English: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJO3ROT-A4E
So, even if the lyrics are different and the concept the same, the language of each song changes the tune in some way, even if all of the items on the list are considered “pop music” about “love”. This effect is simply created, as I said, by the fact that each language is different and unique in its own right, meaning even the best translations can’t offer what a native speaker, bilingual or multilingual speaker hears. It means lyrics characterize a song and influence it by whatever language they originate in.
Lyrics don’t just say something, however, they also define the meaning of a piece of music. Without lyrics, the meaning of a song is unfathomable and infinite. It rides the thoughts and emotions of each individual person like the tide sweeping ashore on the mind and soul. And, in some senses, this is a wonderful thing, because sometimes our experiences and observations are beyond words. Sometimes, however, they can be defined, which is where lyrics come in. Even then, meaning remains subjective, interpreted in any number of ways, but becomes more like a conversation than something of just being.
For example, and because it’s Christmastime again, I will mention how “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen” is, personally, my favorite carol. Listen to it now, how it sounds with and without the lyrics (both which are excellent renditions, by the way):
- Without Lyrics: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhc2DSsDhG0
- With Lyrics (not a Gleek but I like the song): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rmpLwWKFzHY
Or, conversely, going purely on topic and not on lyrics once again, consider the subject of, say, the moon. While the topic remains open-ended in the first video, a specific viewpoint is presented in the second:
- Beethoven’s “Moonlight Sonata”: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nT7_IZPHHb0
- Bruno Mars’ “Talking to the Moon”: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xknW3A5LhZ0
What does this mean for us literarily, then? It means that, as writers, we are basically long-winded lyricists, creating and defining our opinions on our experiences with the stroke of our keyboards and pens.
“Well, duh!”, you say. “I knew that.”
Well, think of it another way, then, perhaps one more philosophical and reflexive: it means that, unless it’s the Word of God Himself (The Bible), each piece of writing will always be, at least somewhat, subjective. Even when a reporter or scientist eliminates all subjectivity from their minds and tries their best to be 100% objective, the result will always be at least 0.01% subjective. It’s basically research bias and the Hawthorne effect at their unconscious finest.
This more complicated concept, which makes lyrics what they are as tools of communication, translates into a simpler one. It’s the thought that if universal truth can be found from the application of one lyric or another, if one person’s experience resonates with many, a piece of music is useful or “good”, as they say. For, this is what we are saying when we say we liked or disliked a concert: if that music resonated with us.
For example, this explains why it’s so weird to go to a concert of a band you know nothing about. A song might relate to you, but it hasn’t had time to resonate with your mind and soul, while others who know the band are having the opposite experience. It makes you the odd one out, and you fail to enjoy yourself because of it.
Perhaps the best application of this is to cite Taylor Swift, who is known for taking her experiences from past relationships, making them into lyrics and putting the whole thing to music. Yet, somehow, her experiences manage to resonate with countless fans, taking on the form of “universal truth” and making her career one of genius and success. People listen to her because they relate to what she has to say, and the stay with her because it keeps happening over and over and over again.
Thus, our goal as writers should be to seek the universal truth that is not only true so far as we can conceive it but that resonates with our readers in some way, shape or form. And, as readers, we should seek to refine the truth as others have conceived it, so knowledge can be purified and perpetuated in an appropriate way. Perhaps this is why the body of writing we have is so massive: because, it is an ongoing conversation, no matter what form we choose to frame it in.
Think about that.~
Sincerely, Your Writer,
Jessica A. McLean
- Works Cited:
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Recent Happenings:
- Recent Ad-Lib Activity:
- December 2013’s Ad Lib is HERE!
- In an attempt to organize the now overflowing Ad-Lib category, I have added an “Archived Entries” sub-page, where you can now access my previous Ad-Lib entries by year, from 2008 to 2012. I have also added two sub-pages, one for the current year, 2013, and one for 2014, in anticipation of the coming year. It’s my hope this makes your reading experience easier, so you don’t have to sort through so many Ad-Lib entries to find the one you want. I know it will certainly make my life much easier, since there are so many entries and I have to go back and “order” all of them each time I publish an entry. I remember when I started Ad-Libs back in 2008, and I’m excited to see how much it’s grown in the six years it’s already been in existence. So, a gift to you and to myself. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. 🙂
- Ok, I admit it, I’ve been naughty—at maintaining this blog since September. Actually, there are quite a few holes in my Ad-Lib entries, thoughts I started and never finished or just skipped over altogether. I want to at least go back and write the entries I started and never finished in October and November 2013 and in November 2012. Regretfully, however, the thoughts I didn’t think in months I skipped over are irretrievable, since I can’t go back in time to be in that moment I was thinking them. Nonetheless, I owe it to you and to myself to finish the “writing process” series and the entry from last November. I assure you I will let you know when each entry has reached completion.~
- November 2012 is check. 🙂
- Recently Published:
- I have added two exciting, wonderful poems to “Do Inspire Me”, pieces of writing which both inspire me and constantly captivate my attention every time I read them. These new pieces include:
- “Cancer and Nova” by Hyam Plutzik
- “Sonnet 43” by Elizabeth Barnett Browning.
- Poems Added:
- “Vacancy”, a semi-perfect sonnet
- “Two Stars”, a sonnet
- I have added two exciting, wonderful poems to “Do Inspire Me”, pieces of writing which both inspire me and constantly captivate my attention every time I read them. These new pieces include:
- Editing, editing, and more editing.
- Waiting 🙂
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The Rose 