Wordsmithing
I am a songwriter. The songs that I write have basically three things: rhythm (I got that), melody, and words. These come together in an unpredictable fashion and… behold: songness. But about the words.
I have received a lot of feedback over the understandableness (or lack thereof) of the words at the last two Urban Hymnal events. We like reverb. We like playing rock songs in large, cavernous, acoustically messy holy spaces. We don’t believe that the music simply serves the words, but rather that the words are a part of the music. We also labor and sweat over every syllable and how it should sound, let alone the words that those syllables are a part of. The lyrics are significant. So if you can’t understand them have you missed it? Well, I think the “it” that we’re hoping for is something so much deeper than a head-understanding of the meaning of words and phrases.
Sigur Rós comes quickly to mind. Part of Urban Hymnal’s existence is owed to a trip Zadok and I made to Austin, TX to see said band. Financially unwise. Artistically and spiritually inspirational. Both of us left the concert having felt like we had encountered God in worship through this band that sings in a made-up language--when they are not singing in Icelandic (which might as well be made up). So clearly the impact on us had nothing to do with their words… or at least our understanding the words. I was moved. I know I am not alone as many of you have said things like “I worship to Sigur Rós.” Is this what the apostle Paul meant when he spoke of “groans that words cannot express?” Would Paul like Sigur Rós?
Rock shows in cathedrals are acoustic nightmares… and we love them. But should we print the lyrics? Our fear is that everyone’s faces will be buried in a piece of paper and miss out on all the visual pieces happening around them. Or that they will be so focused on understanding the meaning of the lyrics that they’ll miss out on their soul being moved. But I want you to hear lines like “dressed as a field, fed as a bird” {Zadok} because that sticks in your mind in the best way. So I’m asking for help. Print the lyrics? Sing in Latin? Not sing at all? Groan loudly? Oh help.
I have received a lot of feedback over the understandableness (or lack thereof) of the words at the last two Urban Hymnal events. We like reverb. We like playing rock songs in large, cavernous, acoustically messy holy spaces. We don’t believe that the music simply serves the words, but rather that the words are a part of the music. We also labor and sweat over every syllable and how it should sound, let alone the words that those syllables are a part of. The lyrics are significant. So if you can’t understand them have you missed it? Well, I think the “it” that we’re hoping for is something so much deeper than a head-understanding of the meaning of words and phrases.
Sigur Rós comes quickly to mind. Part of Urban Hymnal’s existence is owed to a trip Zadok and I made to Austin, TX to see said band. Financially unwise. Artistically and spiritually inspirational. Both of us left the concert having felt like we had encountered God in worship through this band that sings in a made-up language--when they are not singing in Icelandic (which might as well be made up). So clearly the impact on us had nothing to do with their words… or at least our understanding the words. I was moved. I know I am not alone as many of you have said things like “I worship to Sigur Rós.” Is this what the apostle Paul meant when he spoke of “groans that words cannot express?” Would Paul like Sigur Rós?
Rock shows in cathedrals are acoustic nightmares… and we love them. But should we print the lyrics? Our fear is that everyone’s faces will be buried in a piece of paper and miss out on all the visual pieces happening around them. Or that they will be so focused on understanding the meaning of the lyrics that they’ll miss out on their soul being moved. But I want you to hear lines like “dressed as a field, fed as a bird” {Zadok} because that sticks in your mind in the best way. So I’m asking for help. Print the lyrics? Sing in Latin? Not sing at all? Groan loudly? Oh help.
7 Comments:
I like the idea of having the lyrics accessible somehow, but not necessarily having them printed out- at least by UH. Downloadable, perhaps before the next event, buried in the website? I dunno... I kinda go for that cryptic clue finding business. Good to see you posting!
I vote for printing the lyrics for the following reason. Some people are moved more by sounds while other people are struck more by words. In light of that, I think, if the lyrics are available, some people will ignore them (or only glance at them) while other people will read them completely. The choice to read, then, is up to the individual.
In reality, you've already said it, Mark. For UH, the sounds and words go together. God can certainly be found in both, so we might as well make both available and understandable.
I concur with Ryan - while the sound can give us the emotion/feeling of worship even if we don't understand "intellectually" (speaking in tongues anyone?), the words can also help deepen that experience. I'm thinking of say Mozart's Requiem. It's a death mass so it "sounds" sad and haunting, but once you know what the choir is giving voice to, the whole of the composition comes fully alive.
For a local context, St. Mark's Compline service. They speak the words of the Latin songs before they sing it and then let the music overtake you...and there's no way the music won't overtake you at UH. But for this Presbycostal, the words do help me get there with you all..and honor all the work you have done in writing them. As you say, the words are part of the art too so don't neglect them.
As you pointed to with your rhetorical "sing in Latin?" this is an issue that has a lot of history. My own history leans more towards the reformed side of the equation where the words are primo. But who is to say that if the words were made accessible that we would be able to "get it" anyway? I think the real issue here is absolute vs. abstract. Most people in the Church don't know what to do with the abstract, and the abstraction I'm referring to is both artistic and biblical in nature. We don't know what to do with God speaking out of an ass. We don't know what to do with God dying (on a cross). We want everything to just make sense. If the focus of UH is to simply find new ways for people to enter into Christian worship then the name of "Christ" should be legible at some point. If however your goal is to develop new artistically ambivalent outcomes that could be worship then words ultimately matter not. Chances are that you're somewhere in between. I think it is important to remember that the pendulum we're swinging on will never be simply abstract or simply absolute. Translation = keep doing what you're doing. Peace.
continue to rock.
I realize I'm a bit late coming to this conversation. Just wanted to say how much I appreciate reading of your creative process (love *songness* and the paragraph about Sigur Ros).
Creating music is so personal. Then to create it *for* a public is so risky. Thanks for letting us in on the struggle and for staying in it.
Deb Mashock, M.A
Counselor to Musicians & Bands
www.debmashock.wordpress.com
Thanks, all for the feedback... this is something that keeps coming up in conversations. One thought that has occured to me recently is that I desire this music to be as accesible to as many people as possible. So perhaps we will print the lyrics so that those who want them can have them, but trust that not everyone will need the words right in front of their faces all the time. I think trusting your audience/listeners/consumers is a crazy-scary thing. To trust that they will know how to receive what you've created. Will they? Maybe, maybe not. I'll probably never know. But I'm still leaning towards printing lyrics for those who want them. I suppose that whenever you're putting forth a creation of yours, you're doing it at the risk of someone receiving it completely wrong...
'scuse me while I kiss this guy.
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