Truth In Intent
Posted By: Brett Kull | January 27, 2010 | No comments
Lyrics: “Out, out, brief candle! Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage and then is heard no more: it is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.”
If I took those lines and sang them with a melody or spoke it for that matter over top of a chord(s) and and rhythm you’d be making a song. Of course the music WILL affect the tone of the lyric. It could make these famous words seem sad, funny, angry, trite, or earth shattering. It could take your focus away from the words or sharpen your attention on them. I ask myself what was Shakespeare’s intent?
Music is a powerful art form,(the most powerful in my opinion). Do anything and accompany it with music and your perception will be changed in that moment. Try it. Look at a picture on the wall and put a song on… now put on a different one. Watch a scene from a movie silently with a tune of your choice playing. How does it make you feel? A great director or painter knows what they want the viewer to feel. Music is the ultimate lens for focusing a feeling. The great writers, painters, sculptors, photographers and movie makers understand intent. The bad ones don’t.
With that said what is bad in music?? For me as a songwriter a song has everything to do with its intent. If the intent is forced or contrived I don’t want to listen to it. Having been a musician for almost 30 years I’ve learned to just get out of the way when it comes to creative energy. Truth is a knife and has nothing to do with “trying” because truth just is.
So what is a bad lyric or bad chord sequence? I know you can’t specifically say its this or that but I know I can smell it a mile away. It smells of too much thinking, it smells of stylization. It smells like its been fixed to be “right” and sold to you for a fair price.
I think you can have beautiful music that is ruined by bad lyrics. I also think you can have killer lyrics that are not brought to light because the music is bad. Personal preference determines whether you like something or not but has nothing to do with it being brilliant or horrible. As I learn more about my craft (songwriting and engineering) I look beyond personal opinions… and try to recognize intent. I look for truth in it. Truth in intent.
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