Friday 19 February 2010

do musicians know what they are doing?




Of course, not in technical terms - of course they do. But I wonder if the potential impactof lyrics and words on a future listener ever crosses the mind of a songwriter.

I realise that's a convoluted sentence.

I've always been a contemplative soppy sod, memorising poems and listening to certain songs on repeat until they are branded onto my brain.

And remember how I said that everything has acquired a new sheen of significance since the ring went on, as if a huge direction sign for life had been planted.

This is a long way of saying that every time I hear a song, I am mentally tapping out the lyrics on a typewriter and pegging them to the bunting at our wedding, or wondering about using it for a first dance. Certain songs have very quickly indeed acquired a lot more meaning.

When bf and I had been together a very short time indeed, we joked that 'Something changed' by Pulp would be the first dance at our wedding, if we ever got hitched. That's still on the list.

And now already, I've decided that the sublime Starlings by Elbow would be a lovely thing to get married to, on the edge of a forest, overlooking beautfiul countryside (this is definitely happening), though only after considering swapping it for the Pulp song as a first dancer.(No lyrics can do it justice. Try to listen to it, you won't regret it.)

And then there's this example, from the sublime Mumford & Sons, in a song that I've listened to 20 times in the past few days for this verse alone:

Love , it will not betray you, dismay or enslave you,
It will set you free
Be more like the man you were made to be.
There is a design,
An alignment to cry,
At my heart you see,
The beauty of love as it was made to be


Pathetic, isn't it.

1 comment:

  1. It's beautiful - but I'm with you on the Pulp number too! Great, thoughtful post (and I love your taste in music)
    Claire (English Wedding) x

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