Who Needs Lyrics?

     Pop songs are just like pop singers.  If they want to become really, really big, they have to be prepared to take a lot of abuse.  A song which becomes popular has to deal with critics who find it shallow, derivative, and overly simple (which some critics feel are basic requirements for even beingContinue reading “Who Needs Lyrics?”

Figure It Out Yourself

     Sigmund Spaeth, best known for what people regard as a misguided attempt to teach children instrumental classics by setting lyrics to them, wrote a LOT about music.  One of his wisest observations was about how audiences react to performance of a medley.  It is true, as he states, that whenever a new song startsContinue reading “Figure It Out Yourself”

Number Please

     A man named Charles Williams, Jr. had the honor of having the first phone number in the United States.  (It was 1, of course.  Mr. Williams produced telephone equipment for Alexander Graham Bell, so he played guinea pig.  (He also, by the way, had the second phone number—2–for his shop.)  You can read theContinue reading “Number Please”

Looking Before

     Last time, we observed the existence of Thanksgiving postcards, and noted that most people do not send such greetings nowadays, partly because there’s so much going on at the end of the year (one reason the Farmer’s Almanac keeps promoting a “rational” relocation of Thanksgiving to the first Monday in October) and partly becauseContinue reading “Looking Before”