Franklin>I believe most songwriters, including the author of the bestseller "The Craft of Lyrical Songwriting" would consider it a craft.<
writing lyrics & melody is art, craft, inspiration & perspiration... Franklin> A TINY FRACTION?? What planet did you say you're from? Listened to any commercial radio lately - like in the last twenty years?< victor is correct...what you hear on commercial radio is but a tiny fraction of the music that is being produced & released throughout the world...commercial radio is not an accurate gauge as to the quantity & quality of music out there... Franklin> I'll assume this is a personal confession... difficult for who? That's an unmerited assumption. I've read scads of articles involving songs I've found to be lyrically sophisticated, tasteful and wonderful where the writer says, "it just all flowed right off the pen."< sure, some songs do flow off the pen & are considered a precious gift by the songwriter...however, the vast majority take some work (craft as you have mentioned)...a skilled lyricist can make the result appear easy... Franklin> And yes, unfortunately, as time will attest, lyric-writing is a lower "art" as you call it, than poetry. I would simply suggest that the two are mutually exclusive - truely timeless poetry being the "art", while contemporary lyric-writing would probably be considered more of a "craft" by most literary experts. << in your opinion... in mine, i don't subscribe to the 'this is art, this is not art' school of thought...nor would i give any credibility to any so-called literary experts who only understand lyric writing to be craft- if so they've never spent much time as a lyricist...(could this be a case of those who can, do, those who can't claim to be experts?) btw, if lyric writing is only craft then how would you explain a song that just flowed off the pen? ******************************************** Kate Bennett: www.katebennett.com Sponsored by Polysonics/Atlantis Sound Labs Over the Moon- "bringing the melancholy world of twilight to life almost like magic" All Music Guide ********************************************
