I hear music, not words, so I don’t much like music that comes in the form of “songs.” The whole of Ken Burns’ PBS series on country music (in the U.S,) celebrates singer/songwriters. They are the protagonists, the ones credited with creating country music. They are the front men and women, out front, singing songs that tell stories about their lives. But I don’t hear the stories; I just hear the notes.
I am very tuned into notes. I have perfect pitch, which means I know the pitch of notes I hear. I’ve played in symphonies and rock bands. I’ve scored five movies and a dozen modern-dance pieces, besides composing many stand-alone pieces. But I don’t hear words. I can listen to a rock song and know all the parts: which notes each musician is playing. But the words go right by me. I can listen to a song a hundred times and have no idea what the words mean.
Popular music, in which category I would place pop, rock, folk, and country music, consists almost entirely of short-form (3 to 5 minutes in length) songs with words. Jazz has songs, too, but a lot of it is purely instrumental and some of it is more long-form. Western classical music is predominantly instrumental, though there is a long vocal tradition going back to Gregorian chant.
In the Country Music documentary, 70% of the attention is paid to singer-songwriters, 10% to songwriters who aren’t singers, 10% to producers, and 10% to session musicians. Producers and session players were often responsible for arranging the songs, i.e. deciding what instruments will play what notes, and in what style. The accompaniment parts are hugely important elements of country songs, both recorded and performed live. The documentary significantly undervalues their contributions.
I don’t really like country music, except for the early folk-like and hillbilly string-band stuff. For me, the words are too important a component for me to enjoy it, and the music itself is too simplistic.
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