Friday, August 15, 2003
I'm beginning to understand something. I think I'm as much in awe of words as I am of music. Sure, music stands alone. Words, too. But combined, something alchemical happens. I love to listen to music, but do I love to write about music more (or, failing that, express it verbally to a friend, say)? Or, is the experience somehow not complete if -- having heard something that grabbed me, shook me, speared me, made me laugh, made me choke -- I don't subsequently express that moment (those moments) in words?
I think it's the lyricism I respond to. Lyricism in music and in language. The flow and rhythms, the whole synaesthesia thing. And by lyricism in music, I don't necessarily (or even generally) mean the lyrics. I mean, the Cocteau Twins glossolalia* can be as important to me as any overt word-play/"poetry" a la Leonard Cohen, or the flow of hip hop. Lyricism does not exclude rhythm -- in fact, it's dependent upon it. Which is why, given my individual makeup, I can groove happily on (aspects of) all of the above.
Okay, enough navelgazing.
*glos·so·la·li·a
n.
1. Fabricated and nonmeaningful speech, especially such speech associated with a trance state or certain schizophrenic syndromes.
I think it's the lyricism I respond to. Lyricism in music and in language. The flow and rhythms, the whole synaesthesia thing. And by lyricism in music, I don't necessarily (or even generally) mean the lyrics. I mean, the Cocteau Twins glossolalia* can be as important to me as any overt word-play/"poetry" a la Leonard Cohen, or the flow of hip hop. Lyricism does not exclude rhythm -- in fact, it's dependent upon it. Which is why, given my individual makeup, I can groove happily on (aspects of) all of the above.
Okay, enough navelgazing.
*glos·so·la·li·a
n.
1. Fabricated and nonmeaningful speech, especially such speech associated with a trance state or certain schizophrenic syndromes.
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