Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Incongruous Music
Have you ever heard a song where the lyrics and music just do not match? (I know I have had this conversation with some of you.)
The song that first made me aware of this phenomenon is the Decemberists' Crane Wife 3 (which you can watch live here, or see with someone's cheesy slideshow here). The tune is really catchy stuff, and I have heard a Quincy living room full of young folks belt the chorus together. But the lyrics are actually quite depressing, a retelling of a Japanese folk tale (also developed in Crane Wife 1 & 2). As the narrator tells the story he confesses his guilt. That chorus, so exuberantly sung: "I will hang my head low."
Attentive readers, I have two questions for you: (1) Can you share other examples of this phenomenon? I know there are plenty more out there. (2) What explains this odd situation? Are the Colin Meloys of the world just sloppy? Is there some larger purpose at work here? Or is he (and those like him) just trying to be provocative?
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8 comments:
Lots of Simon and Garfunkel tunes are like this, though right now I can only think of the peppy "I am a rock" and the rollicking "Somewhere they can't find me".
It's actually not that uncommon in folk tunes. For example, there is an old applachian song called "In the Willow Garden" about a man who kills his girl. It has a lovely lilting melody, and it rather cheerful to whistle or hum...till you think of the words. (This proved too much for the Everly Brothers who recorded it much more soberly.)
Interesting... But this continues to beg the question: what gives?!? I wonder if these sort of cheerful/somber tunes began as a way of mocking sorrow and suffering, as if to say, "Life may be horrible, but I can sing happily about it." Just a guess. Thoughts?
I think you are right Aaron, its a way to make light of difficult situations. I guess its a way of saying here's why my life sucks but I'm still hanging in there ok.
I can think of a couple songs with sad lyrics that can be found with two different melodies, one happy and the other sad. In Celtic music, one such song is "Broken-hearted I'll Wander." Dolores Keane and John Faulkner's version is appropriately mournful, but Planxty's version (which they call "The Bonny Light Horseman") is strangely bouncy and cheerful.
In blues/rock, a good example is "When the Levee Breaks." Led Zeppelin's version is absolutely apocalyptic, as the title suggests it should be, but the original version is actually quite happy-sounding.
But, as for the question posed by Aaron, Boots might be right, but I'd also like to give a counter-example. "God Rest Ye Merry Gentleman" is in a Dorian mode, and thus sounds rather sad to our ears, but the song certainly isn't sad. Perhaps we associate major keys with happiness and minor key with sadness a little too much.
Another question: if we can generally conclude that mournful lyrics with happy melodies originated as a kind of coping mechanism for the burdens of life, why does the patter continue? Is Colin Meloy trying to put his own personal sorrows in perspective? Or has this kind of incongruous music become such a folk trope (and, indeed, extended beyond folk) that it's now the thing to do, apart from any original purpose?
This from Mr. Sean Lewis, by way of the Facebook feed:
1. This phenomenon appears to be common in the British folk tradition. I can't find video clips, but the Scottish group Old Blind Dogs has a few examples of this incongruity: "Mill O' Tifty's Annie" (the tune is lilting and perhaps slightly melancholic, but the subject is a girl being murdered by her brother); and "Reres Hill" (a sad tune about a guy who gets lucky with a girl and marries her happily). In terms of the American folk tradition--which is derived in large part from Britain--consider "The Streets of Laredo" or "The Banks of the Ohio".
2. Colin Meloy is an unabashed imitator of the British folk tradition (cf. "Hazards of Love", in particular). I think that the larger purpose could relate to either one of two things (or both): A. The naturally melancholic propensity of the British ethos; B. The manner of making a grim subject more palatable with less gloomy music (consider pop music played under ueber-violent scenes in a Quentin Tarantino movie).
I was just listening to "The Wind and Rain" and realized that it fit the pattern of happy melodies with sad stories. It's about one sister killing the other over a boy.
Here's Mairead Ni Mhaonaigh singing the song with the group Altan. Not only is the melody quite bright-sounding, but Altan immediately launches into a happy-sounding jig at the end of the song.
Some comments I found on this video say that there are American versions of the song. It would be easy enough to change the place from county Clare to somewhere in America.
Here is Julie Fowlis singing it in both English and Scots Gaelic. I'm not sure if the song is actually found in Gaelic in the Hebrides or whether she just translated it for her album.
A related song, in content and in the contrast between happy melody and sad lyrics, is "Two Sisters," sung here by the early Clannad (now better known as Enya's relatives). In this version, the nonsense words and the refrain of "the boys are bound for me" make it sound even happier.
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