Poetry vs. Lyrics

How 'bout a little music today? J. Bottum is a truly exceptional writer at the Weekly Standard website. His "Dakota Thanksgiving" from last year is a masterpiece. Today, he writes a short piece on art songs, setting poetry to music:

Why is the setting of poetry to music so dreary? Something there is in poetry that doesn't want to be lyrics, and every one of the performances sounded like an extended introduction to a Broadway tune--without the tune.

Amen, Brother Bottum. Can I add vocalese to this? I know a lot of people like it, and it is a very demanding form of jazz vocals that requires serious chops to pull off. But like Bullwinkle's magic, that trick never works!

I heard a piece this week on Denver's beloved KUVO Jazz 89: some very pretentious lyrics grafted onto a John Coltrane sax solo. I wanted to gnaw my arm off to get away. Sorry, man, it was meant to be a sax solo -- the phrasing is not right and the lack of structure is not conducive to lyrical content. And, yes, it's too long. Maybe break it up with a saxophone solo...

Posted by jk at November 20, 2003 09:33 AM