I’ve often joked to my friends that every song should have, A, a breakdown
\nand B, a sing along chorus. However, when one hears a song that one thinks
\nis perfect, it is clear that the formula to achieve such perfection is
\na bit more complex than the two aforementioned items. Still, despite such
\ncomplexity, it is quite frequently that I hear a song that I would dub as
\nperfect.<\/p>\n
Before I delve too deeply into this subject in general, I suppose I should
\ndiscuss the factors that lead me to write about perfect songs. This weekend
\nI’ve been listening to a bunch of music, and two songs, Stretch Armstrong’s
\n‘For The Record’ and The Buzzcock’s ‘What Do I Get?’ both struck me as
\nbeing absolutely perfect songs. So, I’ll use these two tunes as a basis for
\nthe remainder of my discussion. In any case, I strongly urge you to listen
\nto both songs.<\/p>\n
So what makes a perfect song? Well, I’d say a sing-a-long chorus, but it
\ngoes deeper than that. I mean, I could certainly think of jazz, classical, or
\nother instrumental pieces that could be considered perfect. The key is that
\nthe song should have a hook. It doesn’t matter if the hook is a sing-along-chorus,
\na little guitar riff, or a couple of bars of sampled noise. There just needs
\nto be a short snippet of the song that abstracts the entire rest of the song.
\nIt can either summarize the raw, most basic essence of the song’s meaning
\nor provide the center for which all the themes of the song resonate and
\ncontrast with. This feature is one shared by both of my above examples.
\nFirst, the Stretch track has the chorus “We were more than just a tour date,
\nyou were more than just a song. We sang and sweat together and helped to
\ncarry on”. The second song, of course, has the anguished query, “What do I
\nget?” This is why pop music is, well, popular. This is the essence of musical
\ntheatre. Both of these genres are crazily adept at creating these little pop
\nhooks. Think of the number of times you’ve heard a song that just gets stuck
\nin one’s head. That’s the hook! But we’ve all had Backstreet Boys or ‘NSuck
\ntunes stuck in our heads. Does that make them perfect songs? Of course not
\nwhich brings me to my second component of a perfect song.<\/p>\n
A perfect song should capture something basic about the human condition in
\ngeneral, and my life in particular. It helps if this idea is purveyed as part
\nof the hook. It must present this idea in a way that shows the songwriter
\nreally feels, or at least has thought long and hard about the subject matter
\nof the song. Furthermore, the clever binding of the essence of the song’s
\nmeaning to the hook forces the listener to evaluate the subject matter in the
\ncontext of their own existence rather than just from the artist’s perspective.
\nThe Stretch song is about hardcore shows. Now this has a great deal of
\nimportance to me because going to DIY punk and hardcore shows is one of the
\nfive most important experiences that has shaped me into the person I am today.
\nUniversally though, the song expresses one of the hidden values of music
\nin general. Music isn’t just a garble of notes. Music is a gift, a bond,
\nbetween people. It is a revelation, its feeling comfortable and confident
\namongst people to bare your soul, to strip down naked and run through the
\nstreets or quietly embrace the one you love. Furthermore, it creates a
\ncertain bond, not just between the artist and the listener but between
\nlistener and listener. It makes sense. Experiencing such honesty and
\nopenness, such a calculated exhibition of the human spirit breaks down
\nthe barriers that people usually build up between each other. The simple line
\n“We were more than just a tour date, you were more than just a song. We sang
\nand sweat together and helped to carry on”, captures all of this. <\/p>\n
Similarly, the Buzzcock’s song could be the single best punk rock anthem of
\nall time. “What Do I Get?” presents a question that is representative of
\nthe true spirit of punk rock: not an unabating, nihilistic anger, but a
\ndisillusioned frustration. The song doesn’t just tell of the anguish of
\nnon-existent or disappointing love, but of being cheated by the world at
\nlarge. This frustration is particularly pointed to those of us in the
\nmidst of our youth. We have been bombarded, in our short existences, with
\nnotions of true love, of success, of happiness. We value these things, we
\nyearn for these things, but too often, we find that they escape us or are
\nreplaced by cheap substitutes. We are left to throw up our hands, knowing
\nour impotence but also knowing that we won’t submit. All we can do is smile
\nand in a half-snarl ask “what do I get?” <\/p>\n
Well, I thought that there were more components to the perfect song, but
\nnow that I think of it, its just the two: the hook and the honest commentary
\non human existence. I’ve spent enough time analyzing why I like what I like.
\nNow I’m going to go listen to some records and for at least two minutes and
\nfifty-five seconds, feel that all is right with the world.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Perfect Song I’ve often joked to my friends that every song should have, A, a breakdown and B, a sing along chorus. However, when one hears a song that one thinks is perfect, it is clear that the formula to achieve such perfection is a bit more complex than the two aforementioned items. Still, despite… Continue reading 4937033<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-149","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/s4wnIz-4937033","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.terrorware.com\/geoff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.terrorware.com\/geoff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.terrorware.com\/geoff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.terrorware.com\/geoff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.terrorware.com\/geoff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=149"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.terrorware.com\/geoff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.terrorware.com\/geoff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=149"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.terrorware.com\/geoff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=149"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.terrorware.com\/geoff\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=149"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}