[Dixielandjazz] remembering the lyrics

[Bob Bogen]

To Steve, Larry, Pat , Mike et al,
 
 Of course the lyrics and vocal interpretations can help with phrasing and feeling!  But Brother, Can You Spare a Dime, the unique face-the-facts anthem of the Great Depression was music that hardly needed Yip Harburg's unforgettable lyrics [Once I built a railroad, made it run.....] to make your eyes go wet, but Harburg's words 'sure didn't hoyt' as my friends in Brooklyn used to say.  The music itself cries out to be cried.  And even Bing Crosby couldn't ruin the lyrics when he made it a hit after the 1932 review Americana opened.]
 
Some tunes never had a poet to write lyrics, or the words were written after, out of, the music, just as many ballets and some film sequences start with the music itself.  But where would Bob Dylan be with just his guitar but without his historic poetry as lyrics?
 
When I represented the New York Musicians Club I learned, what I simply guessed as a brass player, from students of Horowitz and Heifetz that phrasing is the beginning, and 'line' is the larger test of musicianship, the next order of expression, you might say the phrasing of phrasing.  Musicians, the Second Line, and other listeners know, even without the help of a poet’s particular verbal interpretation , [and other poets, writers may add their OWN improvisation, interpretation, or more verses later]…. they know, even without words, if the interpretation of the player evokes new energy and feelings, in a word, truly swings.
Bob K. Bogen
 
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