Mar
24th
Wed
24th
Part of what makes words work in a song is how they sound to the ear and feel on the tongue. If they feel right, if the tongue (wooo!), and the mirror neurons of the listener (isn’t that part of why we love music and performance — mirror neurons?) are made to feel (neurologically) the delicious appropriateness of the words coming out, then that rightness sometimes trumps literal sense. We “sing” in our minds and muscles when we hear and see singing. In a sense, performance and listening to music is a participatory activity. So the writing of words — the putting them down on paper — is certainly part of songwriting, but the proof of the pudding is in the singing. If the sound is untrue, we can tell.
—
David Byrne’s Journal: 03.18.10: Collaborations [updated]
David Byrne’s thoughts on musical collaborations are all fascinating, but as a lyricist I was particularly interested to read what he has to say about the process of turning nonsense sounds - what the French charmingly call “yaourt” (yoghurt) - into meaningful words.
