What moves you more, lyrics or music?

I have been a long fan of instrumental music, and occasionally get into debates over whether lyrics are always necessary. Can God speak to us via the music without lyrical content. A majority of the music listening public would argue there is no message without a lyric, and without a message there is no communication.

Granted many may argue that music and lyrics belong together. I know there is a Edgar Allen Poe quote that says: "Since the comprehension of sweet sound is our most indefinite conception, music when combined with a pleasurable idea is poetry. Music without the idea is simply music. Without music or an intriguing idea, colour become pallor, man becomes carcass, home becomes catacomb, and the dead are but for a moment motionless."

There is a logic that can tie both music and lyrics together, however I would argue that the human soul can be moved by either individually.

There are many times when I've been listening to a particularly simple song (musically speaking), however the lyric is extremely powerful. A good example of this would be the song "Strange Fruit", most famously recorded by Billie Holiday. Although quite a minimalistic musical piece with few lyrics, each word is powerful. Another lyrical favorite of mine is a song by Christian musician Steve Taylor called "The Finish Line".

I am not a huge "word oriented" person, so I am not moved by lyrics as many are. However, I believe you can also be as equally moved by an outstanding instrumental performance. I have frequently been drawn into a performance simply by the musicians and their command of their instrument. The instrument itself has rarely mattered to me. I have been in awe over harmonica, mandolin, banjo, piano, harp, percussion, etc. I will get drawn in to the performance, to the point where nothing else has my attention.

My position would be that you can be equally poetic with either words or music, and they don't have to necessarily be together.

As a Christian, I would argue that God can move the human spirit with what He chooses, and this can be via music without lyrics or lyrics without music. Sure, there are biblical portions that speak of the power of words, and I would not want to imply that to be incorrect. My point is, God speaks to each of us individually, and not always in the same way.

Have you had an instrumental piece of music speak to you as strongly as a lyric? Are lyrics required for music to praise God? Feel free to comment.

Reminisce about 2006! - Has VH-1 gone too far?

OK, I just had to post something about this:

This week VH-1 (cable music channel) has been running a show called "I Love The New Millennium". Now, granted, I've enjoyed their shows looking back at the 70s, 80s, and even the 90s. But, "looking back" at 2 and 3 yrs ago seems a bit premature to me. With scenes like "let's look back at Ugly Betty" (the show is still on the air, for crying out loud), I'm not seeing anything but a lack of creativity on VH-1's part. Pathetic comes to mind. How bad have our attention levels gotten, when we now supposedly want to reminisce about 24 months ago?!? Is anyone actually watching these full episodes? I can't believe so.

Considering, I'm not much for watching network TV, I suppose my other choices are "Family Guy" reruns or History Channel shows ("Ice Road Truckers" RULES!!). It might be time to go back to books (if you haven't already).

Enough rant for now.

Later

Back Again - Sorry for being gone so long

Hey All,

Finally getting back to the good ol' blogging, and hopefully this will become more frequent.

So, what's new in my world:
- Life around the house is good. Been paying for a lawn fertilization service, and have found this to be beneficial. The only problem is that I need to mow the lawn more often, and it's not a favorite chore of mine. Oh well.
- A couple weeks back, me and my wife went to Chicago to catch a tour stop by Iron Maiden. They are currently flying around the world in a custom 747, and are playing music from their 1980s releases. The show was fantastic, and the crowd was great. Good time.
- Have some upcoming music and gigs scheduled, so keep tuned in for info on this.
- Been spending way too much time playing Mario Kart for Wii.

Current concerns and thoughts:
-The mainstream media has gone completely bonkers over Obama. I can't understand how they conclude that a first term Senator with next to zero other leadership experience is somehow qualified to run our country. I'm not confident the general public will get over their excitement over Obama, but maybe. Trust one thing: Washington will not allow anyone to make any real change to the way things are done, regardless of what Obama is preaching.

-Wondering what the future holds for the music industry. In the past, music lovers were primarily interested in achieving the best quality products they could afford. It would now appear that "convenience" has superseded quality. It's generally agreed that an MP3 file is a substandard music format, when compared to the standard audio CD. However, (partially thanks to Apple) all we hear about is how digital downloads are becoming more popular that CDs and will eventually replace them. I'm not sure I like the sounds of that, but I can see "convenience" win out. I do wonder what many people will do when their PC or iPod crashes, and they don't have backups of their music. Sure, iTunes allows you some multiple download options of purchased music, but I still tend to think many will be disappointed. Personally, I own an iPod 160GB model, and do find it more convenient for transporting my music library (it has cut back on the mass of CDs floating around my car and office).

-Wondering how long it's going to take for the public to start making any real changes in their daily lives, to the point where it levels off the current price increases. General economics will teach that supply and demand drive price. At this time, it would appear that the higher gas prices is starting to impact the price of food and services. Eventually, people will have to start cutting back on the non-essentials, and we will start to see a shift in the supplies. This will naturally force a drop in price, and the pendulum will start swinging the other direction. I'm just curious how long it will take before we will hit that point. I certainly don't expect the government to have any impact (except to make it more problematic).

Well, that's about enough for now. Looking forward to summer, and keeping you posted.

Thanks for reading,

Hammster