Lyrics: Fact or Fiction ?
It seems so simple in the world of books; every library or bookshop is clearly divided into Fiction and Non-Fiction sections and whatever book you pick up, you know within minutes which category it falls into.
Why aren´t songs classified the same way? Something to do with the same songs being sung by various people, I suppose, and vocal styles that are or aren´t convincing.
Examples of unconvincing fictions:
The other day I heard Abba singing about, "...the stars were shining bright for you and me, for liberty, Fernando," as if Abba saw themselves as freedom fighters, ranked up there with Ché Guevarra and Nelson Mandela - a notion which I find pretty hard to swallow.
Another example is Roy Buchanan, who plays a mean guitar, but when he sings, "I´m evil" he sounds about as menacing as a teletubby.
Convincing fictions:
Did Bob Dylan actually marry Isis on the Fifth of May? I don´t care because I´ve already bought into all the metaphorical self-mythologizing about his life. Same goes for Springsteen; without knowing the details, you can imagine that he´s singing from experience, even if he didn´t have a brother who died at Khesan.
Fact:
Not so many examples of this. There´s "The Ballad of John and Yoko" and, er ...
Anyway, I was wondering if anyone else thinks about songs in these terms, or just wants an excuse to grumble or enthuse about lyrics.
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"Am I enjoying this moment? I know of it and perhaps that is enough." - Sybille Bedford, 1953
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