Mar 7, 2009
Using movies as an analogy for why you shouldn’t assume songs are autobiographical
[Nobody] goes up to Quentin Tarantino and goes, “You must shoot a lot of people. You must do karate all the time.”
-Craig Finn of The Hold Steady
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Having just watched a musical about Lorenzo Hart and Richard Rogers, I would have to agree. Hart was a lonely and troubled man, but he wrote the lyrics to some of the best love songs in the 1930s like Blue Moon and My Funny Valentine.
I definitely agree with the principle here, but I have to say I think film and music are two different arts when it comes to auteur theory.
Music is by definition more personal because it involves fewer narrative elements. Music is the creation of artists speaking through words and notes. Music is poetry, and in my opinion (and I’m open to correction on this) most poetry is by nature reflective on its author.
Film is more complicated. The example of Tarantino is one of the better examples that could be used to support your thesis, seeing as how he usually doubles as a writer AND director. But film involves visual and dramatic elements that are essentially about storytelling. You can’t really gauge the kind of person that Orson Welles was from Citizen Kane, because he was telling a story. There is much storytelling in song, to be sure, but I think it’s a safer bet that the musician is being more personal than the filmmaker.
We might not be disagreeing here, but I thought I would throw that in.
I think the way in which a narrative (musical, film, or otherwise) is conveyed is most certainly revelatory of the author.
Who does assume songs are autobiographical?
Actually, I have it on good authority that Quentin Tarantino does shoot a lot of people.
I think I am with Sam on this one.
When you write a worship song, it is an outcry of praise.
I don’t think you can detach the personal expression and the art. In fact, I find that many musicians use song specifically as a tool to express how they feel, it is a gift God has given them to do so.
Something about music helps us to express ourselves in a way that this “tent” we are in here on earth doesn’t normally allow.
So yea, I guess I see music and movies a little differently.
This remind me of the Rolling Thunder Revue bootleg when Bob Dylan claims, “here’s an autobiographical song” and then plays It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry. Reckon he was really riding on a mailtrain?
i was just thinking about this when i was listening to They Might Be Giants yesterday. i was trying to figure out if “Particle Man” is supposed to mean anything. in an interview TMBG said no.
and i guess they don’t actually have birdhouses in their souls either. dang.
Most country song are not autobiographical. I was actually very disappointed when I learned this because it makes them a lot less meaningful…unless you’re a sap.
The movie “Once” did a really good job at making people believe it was reality. It is amazing the power music, and a really well produced movie, can have, and I suppose dangerous also when misused.
All the songs I write are autobiographical, at least from a textual standpoint. Can we assume that all songs are autobiographical from a musical standpoint? Or are there some people out there that write songs that they really don’t even like because they know they may be popular?
On a side note, the use of the word “must” in your post is a very interesting word. I once really offended someone by using it exactly like you did while trying to be funny. The statement was something like “you must be……” and he took it to mean “you are….” It was really never resolved because he didn’t see how that statement could mean anything else than the way he took it.
I think we can also say the same thing for books. Sometimes.
No way, Jennapants! I just played that song for my kids on Friday! It was a rabbit trail from studying the transition from Constantinople to Istanbul. What better song to help them remember?
What!? What!? Quentin Tarantino has shot so many people and done so much karate that if you were to inquire about it and subsequently heard the answer….you head would implode and then explode.
As Homer simpson says, its funny because its true!
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