ABBA
has two new songs out now. This concludes their hiatus of 40 years.
Seems remarkable to have such a long interruption. Would that we could
see and hear John Lennon still plying his craft.
"I
Still Have Faith In You" is a nice thought. It's a new ABBA song.
Here's the complete second half of the opening stanza: "There was a
union of heart and mind, the likes of which are rare and oh-so hard to
find."
Sounds nice to be sure. I imagine the way the song "sounds" is
primary for most people. A closer look at lyrics is still constructive. The
last line from above - "the likes of which are rare and oh-so hard to
find" - appears to present a redundancy. Something that is rare would be
hard to find. I would probably "flag" such a line and attempt to
re-write it, were this my own work.
It
has been said of songwriters that it's not uncommon to see them break a
rule here and there, "but you can be sure they know what the rules
are." But why do they break rules occasionally? Maybe the rules are not
so rock-ribbed.
In fact, it appears that people who are teachers for a living are too rock-ribbed - they enforce rules and make you feel humiliated if you break them.
I
remember being diminished once because of a redundancy I appeared to
commit in a poetry writing assignment. Oh, I get my feelings hurt
easily? Perhaps. I have an instinctive aversion to apparent redundancies
now, beyond what would be reasonable. For example, I was recently
combing over lyrics of a song I'm considering to have recorded. I became
concerned about one stanza. I talk about something being "the best kind
of bliss" and then two lines later, to complete a rhyme, I present the
payoff line: "It does not get better than this." I wrote the final line
before the ones preceding it.
Redundant?
I
was writing about the author Jim Bouton who initially made his name as a
baseball pitcher.
"It doesn't get better than this?" What was I writing
about? To the extent this fellow got famous and made money after his
sore arm forced him out of baseball, I suggest that his experience on
the ball diamond in front of fans could never be surpassed. "It does not
get better than this."
I
remember the line from Olympics coverage about the runner Carl Lewis
many years ago. Lewis got in a grumbling and complaining mood about
certain things. The commentator considered this, and then suggested
through his writing that Lewis savor the essence of the championship moment: "It does not get better than this."
I
think the writer used the contraction "doesn't." I was writing song
lyrics - the separate words worked better. Lyricists unlike pure poets
have to recognize "prosody," how the words sing, roll off the tongue. Casual listeners to songs tend not to appreciate this fact enough.
Sometimes a songwriter will "slip" and admit that the lyrics are
governed mainly by "how well they sing." And the performers appreciate
the approach, I might add!
It's
funny to realize how song analysts interpret lyrics as if there's a
hidden meaning, when no such thing was necessarily
intended!
ABBA in 2021
So,
ABBA sings "the likes of which are rare and oh-so hard to find." Seems
redundant but why should anyone care? It's a terrific song to listen to.
Hey it's ABBA! We're waiting to see if the group's comeback has staying
power. A little secret: it's almost impossible to predict this in
popular music.
Why was ABBA in hibernation for so long?
Music
groups like the "Cowsills" are known for saying that if they could have
hung together longer, well, another string of 20 or so hits would have
happened. Intrinsic optimism of us humans? Groups and performers fade
off because of various sticky complications and conflict. Also, as much
as we're enamored with their best material, it really has a shelf life.
You might think it shouldn't. I can't blame you if you were mesmerized
by the early ABBA. However, our attention span gets strained in a way we
tend not to be conscious of.
We
really do get tired of a particular sound. The reason the Beatles
became so other-worldly with their success was that they were a rare
example of a music act that really could re-invent themselves. This
began with the "Rubber Soul" album. The Beatles moved into their new
phase as a studio band partly because they couldn't hear their own
singing in front of the masses of young fans. Like at Shea Stadium. I'm
sure Lennon was thinking "this is nuts!"
ABBA?
They are not re-inventing themselves. They are clearly doing the
opposite, not only keeping their style but seeking through tech tricks
to present their younger selves! I personally think that's risky. They
could have decided to sink or swim as "themselves." Is aging such a
taboo thing? What they're doing now seems rather like plastic surgery.
Their music is good, obviously, but it has always fallen within a narrow realm. It's instantly recognizable.
The
redundancy of the ABBA lyric line I pointed out earlier? Does anyone besides
me care about that? Perhaps I still feel a little hurt by a teacher or
two from when I was young? These people pushed rules, I
now realize because that's what they were paid to do. Without
rules, we wouldn't need teachers. Teachers teach structure. It's to
excess much of the time. But they need to feel valued (and they need the
paycheck).
A
redundancy in lyrics? It's not prima facie bad. ABBA's appears no big
deal. We need to apply our common sense. Premier song craftsmen know when to flag a redundancy.
Choosing
words for song lyrics is an extremely delicate thing. It can be
maddening because sometimes you'll be "in the zone" and the lines get
written as if they're coming from outside of you. At other times, a
songwriter will labor endlessly trying to complete something, and even
though it seems fruitless - like Sisyphus - we'll plug on! My
theory is that such sessions, though futile on the surface, actually
serve to build up your skill!
The
best songs can have a throwaway line or two, or an ill-chosen word, but
it has to be done to complete the whole. So my Bouton song includes the
word "bliss" which is sort of like "heartwarming." What's the word,
hackneyed? So sorry, but. . . This was a setup word for the rhyme which
was completed with my payoff line: "It does not get better than this."
Bliss. . .this. So is it OK? I'll share here the whole stanza:
To hear the crescendo of cheering fans
Is really the best kind of bliss
So Jim could remember and understand
It does not get better than this
 |
| Jim Bouton |
I
found that the original presentation was too long for a song. I just
had to cut it down. I had to show humility, to be willing to admit that
some of my writing was expendable! I guess that's a sign of maturity for
a songwriter. I appear to have the song pretty well prepared now. Maybe
I'll have it recorded.
Jim
Bouton was the No. 1 influence on my approach to journalism in my
formative years. He was a questioning person. During questioning times.
He rejected first and foremost, superficiality and pretense. Moi? Well, I
guess.
Ernest
Hemingway was not a teacher but he did suggest rules of his own for
writing. I smile. If he was so certain about such rules, why did he seek
to tell the world about them? It's like sharing stock market investing
advice: if you're so sure you're right, why not keep the info to
yourself and benefit from it?
It was a nice thought that Hemingway
shared: "Never describe something for what it is not, describe it for
what it is."
Why
would anyone want to argue with that? But consider the Lennon-McCartney
lyrics for "Oh! Darling." The second line is "I'll never do you no
harm." OMG, deliberate bad grammar! But besides that, the singer isn't
singing about treating someone well, he's saying "I won't hurt you." I
wouldn't be so sure with Lennon. But seriously, he was a genius and my
generation has never been able to get over his assassination. Painful as
it is to accept, we simply must. When a person dies, that person is
gone, period.
"Oh! Darling" was a McCartney tune, written and sung. You might mistake it for Lennon.
Let's keep our eye on the ABBA foursome in the coming few months.
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com
No comments:
Post a Comment