Tuesday 20 March 2012

New Podcast: Voice of the Musical

Terrific new podcast from Tim Sutton: for musical writers, by musical writers. Really gets down to the nitty gritty.

Especially the Charles Hart interview in which he mentions George Orwell's rules of writing. Undoubted wisdom. But when it comes to lyrics, I think I'd modify rule number one:
"1. Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print."
Sometimes a familiar figure of speech works a treat and what seems banal in print comes alive in song:
"I'm Putting All My Eggs In One Basket"
"They Can't Take That Away From Me"
"I've Got You Under My Skin"
"Don't Cry For Me, Argentina" (erm...) 
More so than any other form, lyric-writing revels in ordinary, everyday language. In that sense, as a lyricist, there's nowhere to hide. It may not take more skill to be a poet or a novelist. But it takes more guts to be songwriter.

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