The Music of the Lyric Video
June 29, 2023
The Music of the Lyric Video
What happens when your brain is freed up to listen?
I’ve discovered a new way to enjoy songs: the “Lyric Video!”
I have always loved an inspired marriage of music and words, the way the music enhances the storyline embedded in a song, and makes it come alive. Yet even when my hearing was intact, song lyrics could confound me.
With the advent of music videos came the option for captioning. Captions can help, but sometimes an erroneous AI-generated line can make it harder to parse meaning than no captions at all. Consider for example the intended line, “wayward valentine” mis-captioned as “we would valentine,” or “the vanishing of youth” mis-captioned as “the finishing of you.” Wha??!!
Though the process of correcting captions is time-consuming, it is possible for the person who posts the video to input correct captions. When this happens I am so appreciative!
Still, even if the caption is accurate (which is rare), attention is split between reading the caption, watching the drama, and, with whatever brain energy is left over, listening to the music. I get the gist of the sound: the character of the voice and the energy or lack of energy behind it, but nuance and emotive depth of the music is lost.
I didn’t realize how much music I was missing until I experienced the Lyric Video. The lyric itself fills the whole screen, so at a glance I easily take in the lines of a verse, a chorus, a story, while focusing most of my attention on listening to the music! The experience was revelatory: dimensions and detail within the music swept me up and moved me. It is a sonic experience equivalent to going from a two-dimensional world to 3-D.
I wonder if this is the same for any of you. Here are some examples:
Before I Wake Up (lyric video)
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image: from artwork by Dan Bennett for Currents album by Alan Williams