Singers or Noise

When I first heard this particular singer, called Britney Spears, she was espousing the virtues of “One More Time”, if I recall correctly – which, it is likely, I do not.

However, I was puzzled by the idea of her singing about some American politician and reasoned that there must be some sort of election going on over there across the Atlantic.

To be sure, I was certain that Joe Biden would be flattered by this attention.

And then, as I was humming along to this song in the staff room (it had come up on the radio), I sang the words, “Oh, Biden, Biden,” and was looked at oddly by one of the other members of the faculty.

“What?” I asked.

“Well, quite apart from the shock of hearing you sing along to a ‘pop’ song that doesn’t seem to be your normal fare, why were you singing ‘Biden, Biden’?” he asked.

“Are those not the words?” I responded.

He laughed, “No. She is singing, ‘Oh, Baby, Baby’,” he chuckled some more.

Deflated, I changed back to ‘Queen’ – much to everyone else’s displeasure, of course.

This was not the first time.

I remember that Australian group ‘Olivia, Newton and John’ singing that ‘You need a shoulder of lamb’, for some inexplicable reason.

There have been several instances down through the years of singers’ enunciation being unclear to those of us with hearing difficulties.

This is one reason why I tended towards certain groups, like the aforementioned ‘Queen’, because I was able to make out the lyrics without undue strain.

Oddly enough, I put ‘ZZ Tops’ and ‘Aerosmith’ in that category along with ‘ELO’ and ‘Meatloaf’.

Of course, many of the crooners of old, like Andy Williams, Johnny Mathis and company were exceptionally clear as are singers like Tom Jones and Tina Turner.

Still, it is a pleasant surprise when new ones turn up that are understandable. This is why I was cheering on Crystal Bowersox when she was competing on that ‘American Idle’ show.

Whatever happened to her?

Music is supposed to be entertaining. It is there to lighten, one would suppose, the soul. Shakespeare famously opened up with, “If music be the food of love, play on; give me excess of it, that, surfeiting, the appetite may sicken, and so die,” in his wonderful play ‘Twelfth Night’.

Yet much of the music that pours into our ears from the media these days is far from pleasant. It is loud, raucous and indistinguishable from traffic noise.

Much of this is called ‘RAP’ (Record of Arrest and Punishment), but there are other strains aplenty to tax our ears.

It seems, to me, that there is a requirement in the modern music industry for ‘loud’. Singers are required to scream or screech rather than sing.

Sad.

There are opportunities for people in the industry via programmes like ‘American Idle’, ‘The Voice’ and ‘X Factor’ to put forward singers of quality rather than the mass appeal of that required by the recording companies.

Let’s swing the fashion back to quality rather than just noise.

Perhaps it’s just me being old and yearning for Tex Ritter and Ruby Murray!