Songs

A young Olivia Newton and John – an Australian group*, once sang that she needed a ‘shoulder of lamb’.

Since then the World of song has gone severely downhill.

Time was when a record could be written, arranged and produced by one or two people. Notably ‘Queen’, ‘Deep Purple’, ‘The Who’, to name just a few.

Then we had a Brittany… something chanting about a ‘Biden, Biden’ whom I took to be the person about whom some election was rotating around over in the United States. She affected a nasal quality to her voice that hardly endeared him, whoever it was, to give her ‘one more chance’, I believe it to have been.

More recently there has been teams of lyricists, musical writers, arrangers and producers feeding an ‘artiste’ a repetitively boring song – and I use the word loosely, that required not earphones but ear defenders. 

Somebody suggested I watch the video of a particular production by a popular and eminent American vocalist. Suffice it to say that the ‘singer’ was clearly not a female impersonator! The fellow who recommended it to me is now an ex-friend.

Where have we gone? What pit of soulless depravity have we descended into when the only way anyone will buy a record is if the person singing it divests themselves of their clothes or surrounds themselves with unclad females?

The songs, and I repeat that I use the word extremely loosely, that I hear pouring out of the radio now are largely banal, monotonous and repetitive to the point of being mind-numbingly boring.

It is hard to differentiate one track from another.

When we were assailed with this ‘RAP’ business it was really tough to try and keep up with it. That the words were in some sort of ghetto dialect did not help to endear itself to the listener.

Why people all over the World accepted it I have no clue. It is immediately apparent that the mass of people did not understand any of the lyrics; I asked many people what a particular song was about and they did not know.

Ever since the wonderful Edith Piaf singing “Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien” we have accepted to our hearts lyrics that we do not understand. As long as the song was clear and the music entertaining.

RAP does not come under any of those categories. It is soulless and grating.

‘Hip hop’ is no better. It is grindingly repetitive; they tell me that ‘Rhythm and Blues’ is wonderful – it was when Chuck Berry and the ‘Rolling Stones’ performed it but what this modern excuse for it is I have no idea.

Listening to the ‘Grammies’ a little while ago it came as a profound relief when Adele sang.

Her voice was clear and her diction meant that the words were discernible and not some sort of sonic blur that slid through the ears without bothering the brain.

There are some people who sing a lovely song but they seem to be getting thinner on the ground as time goes by.

It looks like I am going to have to get used to Country Music!

Perish THAT thought!!

*No, I know. Olivia Newton John was an impressive singer and, by all repute, a wonderful person. Her rendition of ELO's 'Xanadu' remains one of my favourites.