Originally posted June 1, 2010

The title of this post culled from the chorus of the 1981 song”Words” by Missing Persons. Check out the video for the impact of the chorus.

The inspiration for this post is my usual rambling about the state of affairs in our beloved world of musica.

How many times have you heard someone say “I don’t listen to the words, I just like the beat”. Ok, how many times have you challenged those same persons by asking them to see how many instrumentals they have in their music collection? People may not pay attention to lyrics consciously but they are paying attention on a subconscious level because I have yet to see in a very, very longtime an instrumental top the charts. Oh it happens and has happened but I’m trying to think has it happened in the last twenty years?

So maybe words do matter, and I might submit to you that what we take into our subconscious is very important. We may not be actively analyzing the subject matter but rest assured even in a passive state the mantras that we repeat from any chorus may become part of our reality.

Now if you are reading this post you realize that I am in effect preaching to the choir, but we all know someone who is totally oblivious to the influence that lyrics they don’t listen to (wink, wink, nod) might have upon their worldview.

Should every song contain some sort of social commentary? No. Aren’t there some songs that are just about having fun? Absolutely. But often you really have to question certain persons definition of “fun” these days.

I believe that in order to be an exceptional writer, you should be an exceptional reader. Great writers are usually very well read. Reading often prepares you to have something to say about the world because you will often discover things about the world and yourself through ideas, concepts, and philosophies presented by an author.

Also, great writers pull from a wealth of experiences. Leave your front gate, get out of your neighborhood, do something uncomfortable and then put it in a song. Great writers are honest. Talk about what you know about, not what you heard, not what your think the industry wants to hear.

Finally, great writers are usually great editors. Be critical, not to the point where you’re not productive, but the first thing that comes into your head is not always the gospel truth. What’s the rush? Better that you edit and re-edit until it’s right, instead of rushing to be first with something that is mediocre at best.

I constantly have to remind myself that we have to take baby steps, but steps nonetheless. Instead of reading Shakespeare(which by the way I think is important) why isn’t there an opportunity in our public schools or another public forum to create some balance by analyzing the entire lyrics to Marvin Gaye’s What’s Going On or Public Enemy’s It Takes A Nation Of Millions to Hold Us Back or any other other landmark lyrical statement. That’s how you should discover how to write and how to listen for great lyrics. Because this is a process for the artist and the audience as well.

One of my favorite lines from a song is: “The greatest thing you’ll ever learn is just to love and be loved in return.”-Eden Ahbez “Nature Boy” So simple, yet so poignant. Maybe we can get back there.

Here’s to listening, here’s to words!

Tags: Eden Ahbez, Marvin Gaye, Missing Persons, Nature Boy, Public Enemy, Words

This entry was posted on Sunday, December 4th, 2011 at 3:30 pm and is filed under Editorial. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.