Jenny brought up an interesting point on my Alice Cooper entry, earlier this week (by the way, “Poison” which is my favourite Alice song is stuck in my head like whoaaaa, because I listened to it about 10 times today. Good song). Her father is a musician, and harbours the typical attitude I would expect from most non-manufactured musicians. He dislikes digital manipulation and the decline of decent songwriting. It’s a respectable standpoint, that’s for sure. Jenny finds herself affected by his viewpoint, and is unimpressed by singers who do not write their own music.

For a while, I think I shared this opinion, but then I think a lot of people would say they do, in an attempt to be one of those deep musical connoisseurs. They want to be seen as someone strictly enjoying the music for its artistic and poetic merits, but without any concrete reason as to why they feel that way.

When I really took time to think about it, I realized that my opinion has changed, and that I am okay with singers just singing and songwriters just songwriting. Because I am me (Ling, author of this blog since 2006, if you’ve forgotten), I will now equate this to something related to the Internet:

So, you have web developers, and you have web designers. Sometimes, you have people who are both, but often it just comes down to certain people being good at the back end stuff like coding, and other people being good at the aesthetic part like design. Singers and songwriters are the same way. Sometimes, they are both, yes, but sometimes someone who is extremely good with words is completely tone deaf. Or, someone who can sing like a choir of angels can’t form the phrases to express their emotions. It happens. Does that mean their talents should be hidden away forever, because they aren’t the full package deal? Of course not. Together, people can work and create something really beautiful, or interesting, or cool, or necessary.

Jen also equated those who do not write their own music to those who sing karaoke. Well, let me tell you, I can sing some mean karaoke, but I will never be as cool as Michael Buble, or the contestants in the top 5 of American Idol, or the cast of Glee– all really great performers, who more often than not are singing songs written by other people. And not even songs written for them, like in the case of most manufactured pop artists, but songs that were, in a lot of cases, written before they were even born!

Yes, I dislike auto-tune, so I will give you that, but I don’t agree that music should be written off based on the performer, or the writer. It should be judged of its own merit.

What do you think?

ETA, 12 hours later… Okay, so it seems as though most of you feel that songs being sung by the original songwriter are more emotional and easier to relate to. Fair enough, but what about actors? Do you find it difficult to relate to them when they are connecting with the emotions in a given piece of dialogue? What about you? When you listen to a song, do you find yourself unable to connect with the words, and the meaning, and the melody, simply because you did not write it?

Upon further discussion with Jenny (whom I do not think is a snob, by the way, I just find all of this interesting), we got into all the songwriters out there who want to be singers, but struggle because they are not Miley Cyrus (or something to the effect). Someone once told me that despite what my mother may have told me, I am not a special snowflake (granted, they probably did not know me very well at the time, because I am rather “special”). Not everyone is going to achieve their dreams. It’s the reality of the world. So, do you give up music forever, and go be the best special snowflake garbage man you can be, or do you keep yourself in the industry that you love, even if that means sacrificing being a performer?

Thursday March 25th 2010 — 12 Comments
✯ Posted under { Music }