I have no doubt that this one is going to generate a lot of debate. Might even ruffle a few feathers. And I had to think long and hard before deciding where I come down on this issue. Honestly, it isn’t something I really gave much thought to…until today. So if you’re feeling adventurous you might want to keep reading. If not, you’re probably going to miss out on an interesting brain exercise.
Sometime in my life I heard somebody say that if a song didn’t sound good without all the glitz (arrangement) it wasn’t a good song. At the time, I kind of dismissed the comment. Admittedly I was into big arrangements at the time so I almost felt like that comment was a dig against the music I was listening to. Yeah, I was very self conscious at the time.
Well, today, for some God forsaken reason, I thought about this subject again. Honestly, for the first time really. I have always tried to be objective about things. I’ve always tried not to be a music snob, which is why I can listen to all kinds of music. And quite honestly, I have trouble telling a “good” song from a bad one anyway, at least as far as popularity goes which is really the only way to clinically evaluate music as it’s a pretty subjective thing anyway. And through most of my life, especially with pop and rock music, if I liked it, it was a commercial flop. Don’t know why, but a lot of my favorite songs from the 70s were all commercial flops. Were they bad songs? Was my taste just different from the rest of the world’s?
I can’t give you a definitive answer to either of those questions but I can say this. If a song is big and glitzy and has a catchy melody, I’ll probably like it. Would I like it as much if it was just played on the piano? In many cases, no. Does that mean it’s a bad song? So the question I’m asking in the title of this article is this. Does it matter if the song is stripped bare good? Or, to put it another way, does it matter if stripped bare it sucks? Does that mean it’s a bad song?
Think about a lot of the music we’ve heard in our lives, especially classical music, that was always played with a full arrangement. This is especially true of symphonies. Would anybody expect Beethoven’s 5th to be played on the piano and sound good? For that matter, could you even play it on the piano and have it even sound like the 5th symphony? Sure, you could play the main motif and a good portion of the notes. But you’re going to lose a lot in the translation. Would it stand up? And if it does or doesn’t, does it even matter?
Here’s the point I’m trying to make. When a song is written and performed a certain way, and that song ends up being performed that way whenever it’s performed, maybe it was just meant to be that way and trying to play it stripped down doesn’t make any sense.
Now sure, a lot of songs sound great played on the piano or even on guitar. But be honest, don’t they sound better played the way they were meant to be played?
Take Mason Williams’ Classical Gas. Sure, lots of people have played that song just on guitar, and it sounds fine. But admit it. There is nothing like the sound of that song done with a full orchestral arrangement.
And there are plenty of examples just like that. But again, we’re still talking about songs that sound good stripped bare. What about the ones that sound horrible on piano or guitar? What does that say about the song? That it’s all performance and no real substance? A lot of dance music (no, I’m not knocking dance music) is like that. They have this big fancy arrangement with all these synths and bass drops and tons of effects and blah, blah, blah and then you try to play these things on the piano and you realize just how much of that song really IS production.
Does that mean it’s a bad song? Did it make you want to dance when you heard the original recording? Did it make you feel good? Did it put a smile on your face? If the answer to those questions is yes then how could the song be bad? It did what it was meant to do.
Let me ask you a question. When you go to a hot dog stand and get a dog with relish, kraut, mustard and chili, and it tastes amazing, but just the plain hot dog alone tastes so-so, does that mean it’s a bad hot dog? Now, if the hot dog tasted bad WITH all that stuff on it, then you could say it was a bad hot dog.
Not everything is meant to be taken out with torn jeans. Some things are meant to be dressed to the nines. Doesn’t mean they’re bad with no clothes on. Though some people really do need to keep them on. But I digress.
I know the purists will say that if the song is REALLY good, it’ll sound good played on a kazoo. I’m not so sure I can agree with that. Otherwise, why bother with all these fancy arrangements? In fact, why is an arranger such an important job in this industry? Why is it that the difference in arrangements has made the difference between a successful record and a flop?
So I’m going to officially go on record today (for the very first time) saying that if a song sounds good arranged then it’s a good song. It doesn’t matter if stripped bare it sounds like absolute trash. I know a lot of people won’t agree, and that’s fine. But after over 50 years of listening to music, I finally have a position on this subject that I can live with and stand behind.
And let the arguments begin.
For The Love Of Music,
Steven “Wags” Wagenheim