sounds, part II

Kurt Vonnegut (or, more specifically, Kilgore Trout) once wrote about a planet where the language kept turning into "pure music":

"Words became musical notes. Sentences became melodies. They were useless as conveyors of information, because nobody knew or cared what the meanings of words were anymore. So leaders in government and commerce, in order to function, had to invent new and much uglier vocabularies and sentence structures which would resist being transmuted into music."

This all occurred, he says, because "the creatures there were so enchanted by sounds".

Words and sentences themselves can indeed provide auditory - not just semantic - pleasures (seriously...can anyone really say the word "kumquat" with a straight face?). When I write or listen to music, the sound always takes precedence over the meaning. A good song simply sounds good; it need not say anything substantial.

Which leads me to another banned song.

Link Wray's "Rumble", a raunchy, fierce guitar instrumental, was banned from the airwaves in the late 1950s. Here's the unusual part: the song was an instrumental. It had no words at all; apparently, it just sounded dirty and dangerous. Fearful that gang violence would erupt in its wake, radio stations pulled Link's signature tune from playlists in several markets.

In banning Link, millions of Americans were tacitly acknowledging that a song can be obscene/indecent without even saying a word. If ever there was a testament to the power of the music itself in rock n' roll, that indescribable feel one gets when first hearing a great song, this was it.

Rock n' roll is a big goof, a form of escapism, and deconstructing it like a novel isn't always appropriate. Most importantly, rock n' roll appeals to the gut before the brain; "Louie Louie" and "Rumble" are proof positive of that.

I guess maybe I'm just more "enchanted by sounds" than the rest of you. Where is the rest of my planet? Where are my people?

In the words of the the great Mr. Vonnegut...

Listen.

sounds, part I

"Yes, they're OK, but I'm more into lyrics."
I'm always being dragged into conversations/arguments of this ilk. The Supersucker's lyrics are quotidian at best...but this wasn't about them, and I couldn't let it stand without a fight.
"You don't like music?" I already knew the answer.
"I do, I just like it to...mean something, to make a statement..."
"Why?"
"Because people don't even think about what they're listening to, what it means."
I didn't see the issue. "Why should they?"
"It's just that lyrics can make a good song so much better."
"That's true...they can...but do they always?"
"Probably. It would be better to write something halfway meaningful than just, 'do-dee-doo' for the entirety of a song."
"It might be...it also might not be." I must have sounded like a dick.
He raised his voice now. "When the hell would it ever be preferable to write throwaway lyrics?"
"Lots of great songs have stupid lyrics," I contended. "For a long time, no one wrote about anything but cars and broads, and it was great."
"Maybe to you." Pfft...he would say that.
"OK, what about instrumentals?" I insisted. "What about classical and jazz? Music can have meaning without words."
"Sure, but if there are words, I would prefer that the songwriter strive for a more than just a rhyme."
"I don't really care."
"Words are your thing! How the fuck can you not care?"
"Well...I do...but it's not that important. The music will always always be more important than the words. If a song doesn't rock, why the hell would I bother looking at the lyric sheet?"
"To see if you're missing something?"
"I'm not missing anything. A song that doesn't pull me in musically is a bad song. You can write brilliant poetry to go with it, but if the musical hook isn't there, what's the point?"
"I just think words are important. I think it's part of the equation; you can't just write a catchy riff and expect it to compensate for horribly pedestrian lyrics."
I thought about this, and it made some sense.
"Well, I suppose some lyrics actually distract you with how bad they are..."
He ran with this. "And the words are so horrible, you just wonder, 'who the fuck thought it would be OK to write this shit?'"
"Yes, well...some lyrics are so godawful they ruin the whole song. But others...while they don't look good on paper, can come to life in the context of a good tune."

And this is where I stop and talk about "Louie Louie".

The Kingsmen's version of "Louie Louie" - frat house overplay notwithstanding - is basically the definitive trash rock single, a brilliantly unrefined pile of 60s pop and slop. It's a party song, one of the best ever written, not because of the painfully obvious three chord riff or the barely discernable lyrics, but because it manages to capture that classic combination of rebelliousness, rock n' roll energy, and naivete so perfectly. The song, originally written by Richard Berry in 1955 as a Jamaican ballad, is as well known for its garbled lyrics and amateurish recording techniques (supposedly done in 1-2 takes; the group thought they were still rehearsing) as for its content; the Kingsmen made the song their own, and their raucous romp became the version most people were familiar with.

Back in the 60s, the lyrics to this song were throught to be obscene, spurring an FBI investigation. It was thought that the Kingsmen had purposefully slurred the lyrics to hide graphic depictions of sex. The song was banned in some markets, and tapes were brought into court. They slowed down the tape speed. They sped it up. They did everything they could to prove that there was some degree of obscenity. But after an investigation that lasted over two years, the words were officially said to be "unintelligible at any speed."

No one really knew what the hell the Kingsmen were talking about (you can read the real words, as well as the supposed dirty ones here). Nonetheless, the song was embraced by millions. "Louie Louie" was primal, exciting, even dangerous, and no had to interpret or derive meaning from the nonsensensical lyrics to realize it.

Rock n' roll, done well, just sounds good.