wow.
But, to me, talking about things is enjoying them. I mean, it's not like I haven't listened to 1999 for well over 25 years, haven't sung the songs, watched the videos, etc. I've enjoyed this album; I've also bought the living hell out of it as well - vinyl, then CD, then on cassette thanks to a garage sale and I would get it on iTunes (lost the CD), but I think they have a botched version. Hey, I've enjoyed this album.
So, we have the age old saw - "Writing about music is like dancing about architecture" - which has been the basis for quite a bit of discussion as to who first said it - see here or this site, by an all-round good guy, Rob Brookman. Hey, here's a thought - what if the 'about' isn't 'of; concerning; in regard to', but actually 'on every side of; around'? That'd put a new twist on it, wouldn't it?
Anyway, I reject the notion that to respond to artistic expression is somehow wrong. Not everyone can create a song, a film, a comic book; all of us, however, can experience it and react to it. Some of us even feel inspired to write about it. Doesn't that constitute art in and of itself? Especially when art or Art or "Art" can be seen as a person's voluntary response to his surroundings. When you get right down to it, it's almost scientific - pure input/output.
Another thing I've been grappling with the nature of is lyrics. How important are they? Do you like lyrics that are literal or somewhat more obscure, esoteric, evocative? Gun to my head, I have to fall down on the latter side. Lyrics that are literal tend to, after a while, just lie there. Either they're topical, and become anachronistic, or they just say the same thing over and over. On the other hand, lyrics that are less obvious as to their meaning(s) have a longer life with me, as they involve me in the song as much as the guitar or rhythm. Also, depending on the state/situation I'm in, certain lyrics will change as surely I am changing. (I also find that there are two types of people when it comes to horoscopes - those who read them early in the day and then take every event as it comes and bend it to the horoscope and those who reflect upon their days at the end of them and say, "Oh, that's what that meant...")
Nothing's ever in stone, though. Whereas over the last decade I've favored bands like Pavement and Interpol, whose lyrics are inscrutable to the point of frustration, I'll then hear a song like the Mountain Goats' "Woke Up New". As the narrator finds himself without his lover for the first time, he catalogs the world around him and finds he's reacting differently to mundane things. This is nowhere near anything new in the world of pop music, but John Darnielle takes care to bring a new twist to old themes.
Thoughts, anyone?
Addendum: Just iTuned 1999 - it's fine, not an edited version at all. Look for the piece this week
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