The music industry has, for a century or so, been obsessively oriented with creating mysterious and exciting identities for artists they want to turn into stars. The industry emphasizes the artist, rather than the art. The art itself, along with the producers, lyricists, session musicians, engineers, and promoters, are all those kinds of things happening “behind the curtain” that, like the Wizard in Oz, are meant to be ignored.
But if you extract all the PR and music business hoopla, what makes a song a good song? Is it actually about the artist recording or performing it, or is it about the music itself? If it’s the artist that makes the song, then what about the artist? Does the artist need to have lived a virtuous life in order to make likeable art? Does the artist need to be from a certain part of the world, and not another? Does the artist need to be human?
My take on these questions is in the end, other factors may play into how a song is perceived in a big way, but what really matters is the song itself. If it’s delivered well by a competent performer live or recorded, and the listener is in a good place for really listening, then a sad song will make the listener cry. A song about memories of your youth will evoke such memories. A satirical song about current events the listener is following in the news will likely make the listener laugh. These reactions of the listener are the measure of the song’s impact.
That’s what this song is about. I invite you to close your eyes and give a song your full attention. You might try doing that every day, and call it meditation.
When You Listen and You’re Here
When you listen and you hear a story you remember
Does the past feel so near as you think of that September
When you went back to class and you met that child then
Remember walking on the grass and the moment when
When you listen
And you’re here
When you listen and you hear, might it evoke a feeling
If I whisper in your ear, might my voice just leave you reeling
If I sing of love lost long ago, do you recall your own
The same feeling that you know from that picture on your phone
When you listen
And you’re here
When you listen and you hear when I sing of better times
If the words are crystal clear and every stanza rhymes
Does it jog your recollection, bring your mind back to the day
Is there some kind of reconnection when you hear me say
When you listen
And you’re here
When you listen and you hear, when you stop right in the now
Somehow you feel insincere if you had to admit how
A song can be so potent, like the explosion of a sun
If you feel that wonderment, then you know it is a good one
When you listen
And you’re here
