Robert Preston "Ya Got Trouble"

There is a long-running . . . let's call it "debate" between me and my wife about what makes a good song.

She does not enjoy, and will not listen to any artist whose music and/or voice, is secondary to their lyrical ability.

I, on the other hand, enjoy artists who don't necessarily have a great singing voice who or deliver their songs is a strummy, unadorned way, but whose words pack an emotional wallop.

Despite the fact that it's over 40 years old, I can listen to Bob Dylan's "It's Alright Ma, I'm Only Bleeding," and be stunned and amazed each and every time.

But to my wife, that song, with it's repetitive meter and bare bones instrumentation is about as interesting as a 4 year old humming through an empty cardboard paper towel roll (which we listen to a lot, due to having a small child).

To her way of thinking, if it is not musically interesting, it, by definition can not be a good song.  Period.  End of sentence.  End of argument.

Sure, "It's Alright Ma" can be considered great poetry.  But it is not great music.  And if it's not great music, she's not really interested in listening.  Or so she argues.

Naturally, I think that line of thinking is limiting, and a bit crazy.

I can easily love a song that that is musically wonderful, but lyrically vapid, or lame, or simply average.  "Wooly Bully" isn't Shakespeare, but it's a hell of a song.

Conversely, I am also totally willing to listen to a song that is simply strummed, or a bit monotone, or is delivered in a wavering or warbly voice, so long as the lyrics make me feel something.

Johnny Cash, or Springsteen's "Nebraska" or Gillian Welch might sound a little downbeat, or spare, or same-y from song to song, but the writing involved is incredible.

My wife and I will go back and forth about this for car trips on end, with no resolution in sight . . .

After we'd plumbed the depths of this discussion for the 87th time, I did start thinking about how both my wife and I grew up.

She always points out that her parents met, because they liked to dance.  Growing up, she was taken to shows like Sly And The Family Stone, and her folks played records from Earth Wind And Fire and Stevie Wonder.  The music was about the groove.

Meanwhile, over at the Finn household, growing up we listened to a lot of Show Tunes.  I loved Fiddler On The Roof, My Fair Lady, A Chorus Line and especially The Music Man.  (Yes, there weren't too many 4th Graders in my town, who loved Buddy Hackett like I did)

Here's the thing about Show Tunes:  Sure, some of the greatest musicians of the 20th Century, wrote some of the greatest pieces of music of the 20th Century, for Musicals.  But what the songs in Musicals are really about, are the lyrics.

In Musicals, songs are exposition, or show the character's true inner feelings, or resolve a particular plot point.  The songs are saying something, and the words are essential.

And that, I guess, is where we are coming from.  You don't need to know what Sly is saying, to love his music, but where would a musical be, without the lyrics?


Hear "Ya Got Trouble" on Youtube.


Hear Bob Dylan on Youtube.


Hear "Wooly Bully" on Youtube.