Writing About Music School Project by Cathcart Lyrics
[Verse 1]
Some say that writing 'bout music’s like dancing 'bout architecture
But dancing's often about architecture
Dancers’ bodies comment on the space they’re moving in
It's music that's hard to measure
Now let me start the lecture
See, music is magical
Y’all actin’ like there’s some unwritten rule
That the word “magic” ain’t permissible
But y’all look like some bitter fools
Tryna ridicule, just ‘cause my writtens cool
It’s language that you learned to avoid in your scholar-ridden school
It plays a descriptive rolе, we live in a visual culture
And most art is seen, but music is invisiblе
And so ephemeral, not to mention full of amazin’
Historical, social, and psychological associations
How else am I supposed to say it?
Try to put it in your own terms
It won’t work. No sir, and we’ve been so sure
Since Saussure wrote that quote where
He said that nothing can be reduced to words, not even words
Not even those words
In academia, y’all need to start respecting belletrism
And in journalism, y’all are hella priggish
Man, I swear if y’all don’t get to fixin’ yourselves, I’m splittin’ like cell division
Y’all don’t sell the vision, you’re seldom printin’ the stellar written
[Chorus]
Style I’m talkin' 'bout, ay
Style I’m talkin' 'bout
When it’s coming to style, they coppin’ out
If your writing ain’t wild I’m clockin’ out
Show me that style I’m talkin’ 'bout, ay
Style I’m talkin’ 'bout
When it’s coming to style, they coppin’ out
If your writing ain’t wild I’m clockin’ out
You shouldn’t be writing what you say ‘bout rock and roll
Unless you be writing like you’re playing rock and roll
You shouldn’t be writing what you say ‘bout rock and roll
Unless your writing style’s like you’re playing rock and roll
[Verse 2]
We can’t capture the magic in words
But at least we can approximate them
Using our limited language
And that’s what Lester Bangs did
Yeah, he might use some slang, kid
But there aren’t cliches in his writing
No, it’s mystifying without having condescending tones or vagueness
And then there’s Anthony DeCurtis
I ain’t really cool with him currently
He’s someone I’d rather be curt with
But I’ma still do him the courtesy
Of reading his work word for word
You see, he called Bangs’ writing
"…insultingly indulgent, the kind of adolescent self-aggrandisement
That makes it impossible for literate human beings to take rock criticism at all seriously."
Well, maybe rock and roll isn’t that serious
DeCurtis, you know what my theory is?
It’s that you just can’t handle mysterious
How do you expect to capture experiences
When you ain’t even half of a lyricist?
You got no shot, ‘cause you’re so soft with your prose, dog
When I read “The Stones persisted in their love of blues
By covering Slim Harpo’s ‘Shake Your Hips’” I almost dozed off
Just don’t talk like a robot only to show rigor
Homie, go figure, see you painting Bangs as a cult figure
Think you maybe hate ‘cause you’re no bigger as a Stones critic
But if you wanna write intelligent adult discourse
Mission failed, your prose isn’t really the
[Chorus]
Style I’m talkin' 'bout, ay
Style I’m talkin' 'bout
When it’s coming to style, they coppin’ out
If your writing ain’t wild I’m clockin’ out
Show me that style I’m talkin' 'bout, ay
Style I’m talkin' 'bout
When it’s coming to style, they coppin’ out
If your writing ain’t wild I’m clockin’ out
You shouldn’t be writing what you say ‘bout rock and roll
Unless you be writing like you’re playing rock and roll
You shouldn’t be writing what you say ‘bout rock and roll
Unless your writing style’s like you’re playing rock and roll
[Verse 3]
This next author’s name is Whiteley
Now, how do I say this nicely?
Her essay’s unsightly
With broad generalizations, blindly
Using sources that are journalistic
Coupled with some careless phrasing, high-key
Not to mention that one line where she plagiarized me
I ain’t finna take it lightly
The carelessness to take precisely
What I said, when she should quote
But put those words in her book, no footnote
Show me some good prose
‘Cause formality doesn’t redeem the banality of all of her phrases, bruh
Saying stuff like, “became a massive certainty”
Or “there is the implication of”
But to be fair, Whiteley’s writing academically
And generally, journalists tend to be
Better presenting their messages legibly
But even some academics, such as Susan McClary, can have the propensity
To write poetically, drafting phrases like “peculiar, almost throttled intensity”
McClary reminds me of Bangs, how he was okay with making it juvenile
‘Cause in rock and roll, when you make mistakes, they’re often taken as beautiful
Most rockstars don’t learn to play from getting formal training in studios
So to write about rock and roll, you gotta do the same, and embrace the unusual
Some say that writing 'bout music’s like dancing 'bout architecture
But dancing's often about architecture
Dancers’ bodies comment on the space they’re moving in
It's music that's hard to measure
Now let me start the lecture
See, music is magical
Y’all actin’ like there’s some unwritten rule
That the word “magic” ain’t permissible
But y’all look like some bitter fools
Tryna ridicule, just ‘cause my writtens cool
It’s language that you learned to avoid in your scholar-ridden school
It plays a descriptive rolе, we live in a visual culture
And most art is seen, but music is invisiblе
And so ephemeral, not to mention full of amazin’
Historical, social, and psychological associations
How else am I supposed to say it?
Try to put it in your own terms
It won’t work. No sir, and we’ve been so sure
Since Saussure wrote that quote where
He said that nothing can be reduced to words, not even words
Not even those words
In academia, y’all need to start respecting belletrism
And in journalism, y’all are hella priggish
Man, I swear if y’all don’t get to fixin’ yourselves, I’m splittin’ like cell division
Y’all don’t sell the vision, you’re seldom printin’ the stellar written
[Chorus]
Style I’m talkin' 'bout, ay
Style I’m talkin' 'bout
When it’s coming to style, they coppin’ out
If your writing ain’t wild I’m clockin’ out
Show me that style I’m talkin’ 'bout, ay
Style I’m talkin’ 'bout
When it’s coming to style, they coppin’ out
If your writing ain’t wild I’m clockin’ out
You shouldn’t be writing what you say ‘bout rock and roll
Unless you be writing like you’re playing rock and roll
You shouldn’t be writing what you say ‘bout rock and roll
Unless your writing style’s like you’re playing rock and roll
[Verse 2]
We can’t capture the magic in words
But at least we can approximate them
Using our limited language
And that’s what Lester Bangs did
Yeah, he might use some slang, kid
But there aren’t cliches in his writing
No, it’s mystifying without having condescending tones or vagueness
And then there’s Anthony DeCurtis
I ain’t really cool with him currently
He’s someone I’d rather be curt with
But I’ma still do him the courtesy
Of reading his work word for word
You see, he called Bangs’ writing
"…insultingly indulgent, the kind of adolescent self-aggrandisement
That makes it impossible for literate human beings to take rock criticism at all seriously."
Well, maybe rock and roll isn’t that serious
DeCurtis, you know what my theory is?
It’s that you just can’t handle mysterious
How do you expect to capture experiences
When you ain’t even half of a lyricist?
You got no shot, ‘cause you’re so soft with your prose, dog
When I read “The Stones persisted in their love of blues
By covering Slim Harpo’s ‘Shake Your Hips’” I almost dozed off
Just don’t talk like a robot only to show rigor
Homie, go figure, see you painting Bangs as a cult figure
Think you maybe hate ‘cause you’re no bigger as a Stones critic
But if you wanna write intelligent adult discourse
Mission failed, your prose isn’t really the
[Chorus]
Style I’m talkin' 'bout, ay
Style I’m talkin' 'bout
When it’s coming to style, they coppin’ out
If your writing ain’t wild I’m clockin’ out
Show me that style I’m talkin' 'bout, ay
Style I’m talkin' 'bout
When it’s coming to style, they coppin’ out
If your writing ain’t wild I’m clockin’ out
You shouldn’t be writing what you say ‘bout rock and roll
Unless you be writing like you’re playing rock and roll
You shouldn’t be writing what you say ‘bout rock and roll
Unless your writing style’s like you’re playing rock and roll
[Verse 3]
This next author’s name is Whiteley
Now, how do I say this nicely?
Her essay’s unsightly
With broad generalizations, blindly
Using sources that are journalistic
Coupled with some careless phrasing, high-key
Not to mention that one line where she plagiarized me
I ain’t finna take it lightly
The carelessness to take precisely
What I said, when she should quote
But put those words in her book, no footnote
Show me some good prose
‘Cause formality doesn’t redeem the banality of all of her phrases, bruh
Saying stuff like, “became a massive certainty”
Or “there is the implication of”
But to be fair, Whiteley’s writing academically
And generally, journalists tend to be
Better presenting their messages legibly
But even some academics, such as Susan McClary, can have the propensity
To write poetically, drafting phrases like “peculiar, almost throttled intensity”
McClary reminds me of Bangs, how he was okay with making it juvenile
‘Cause in rock and roll, when you make mistakes, they’re often taken as beautiful
Most rockstars don’t learn to play from getting formal training in studios
So to write about rock and roll, you gotta do the same, and embrace the unusual