The Lost(?) Art of Song Interpretation

http://www.usatoday.com/life/music/news/2007-05-14-interpretive-singers_N.htm?POE=click-refer&imw=Y

This story is about the lost art of (or, more accurately, loss of respect for)song interpretation, a bad side-effect of the rise of the singer-songwriter. What are your thoughts?

I've talked a bit about this before. Dylan, Cohen, Waits ... guys like that were great in so many ways, but one unfortunate side effect has been that we now have this perception that for a music artist to be a "real" artist, they must write their own songs, when in fact song interpretation is a challenging artform that in some ways requires greater artistry than songwriting does.

Is Alison Krauss less of an artist than Avril Lavigne, or than the myriad of pop superstars who have co-writing credits on their albums because they contributed a line or a phrase to a song that was fleshed-out by a hired gun?

Is it better to encourage a good singer to write his own songs when there is no evidence that he can write well, or is it better to help him find good songs and to "get into the songs" well and make them his own?

Is it better for an average songwriter to put out a whole CD of her own material, or is it better for her to put out a CD with a couple of her best songs and ten great songs by skilled writers?

There's life in these bones yet!

I'm still here, Dear Reader. I've just been super busy lately at work and home. AND, local people know that I have been involved in some song-writing projects as writer, editor, motivator and compiler -- most notably the new Sojourn Community project that should be out in mid-June. I've got two songs on there, and will tell you more about that as the day approaches and share links where you can check it out.

The two songs are both hymns that I cowrote with great singer-songwriters and friends. The lyrics of both have been featured in this very blog in the past. They are "All I Have Is Yours," written with Rebecca Bales, and "Lead Us Back," written with Brooks Ritter. In each case, I wrote the lyrics and my collaborator wrote the music.

Speaking of songs, here is a hymn that Lorie King and I wrote the text to a couple weeks ago. Brooks is writing music for it:

My Soul Does Long For You, O God
CMD


My soul does long for you, O God
What else could be enough?
Not kingdoms, crowns or great applause
Nor man's sweet words of love
And if my traitor heart should turn
And though my eye should stray
Alone you are my true desire
Whatever men may say


The sin I crave, the lust and pride
Would kill if unconfessed
The tempting snare is not outside --
It beats within my breast
But deeper still than fallen thoughts --
The longing of my soul
To be at peace with you, my God
To know as I am known


You nailed my sins upon the cross
You rolled the stone away
You filled me at my Pentecost:
This world now holds no sway
The longing you have placed inside,
To praise and serve my king
Cannot be quenched or satisfied
By any earthly thing.

lyrics by Lorie King and Bobby Gilles, 2007