Fred and Sally, NYC rock band
Style or substance, hana yori dango: These are concepts I've tossed around in my mind for some time in regards to songwriting. When I was a serious student of music back in the day, I could only think of music as the substance, and accompanying lyrics as the ornamental style. I only focused on creating the best music I was capable of writing at the time, and lyrics, if they came to me, were more or less incidental. As I wrote more songs over the years, I realized that the music industry thought the opposite, that the substance, or the depth of a song, leaned towards lyrical content, much like a theatrical piece, and that the music was the style that helped carry the message to the audience.
Since I never stopped feeling the music at face value, it still challenges me to put into words something substantial. Now and then, words accompany the melody at conception like when I wrote "Heartbeat Sky", and although the melody actually followed the words, it's magical when they seem to have been born together, like the melody understands the language it's written in, and therefore follows the natural sound of, and the prosody within, the spoken language. I'm now trying to give the lyrical content precedence without compromising the vibe, the atmospheric language, or the painting you can step into, of the music itself, the way I might describe what music feels like to me when I experience the music for music' sake. It has nothing to do with storytelling but everything to do with pure emotion (even with stories behind them), and therefore can lack subjects cast into roles; my painting when I conceive music can often be just colors or shapes, as abstract as music itself, yet have deep meaning to me, like the love for someone that inspired it, but as a story, it can cast anyone who sees themselves in it.
After all, as Fred tells me, we can't be musicians who only make music for ourselves, and not want to have our music heard. Most people aren't listening for music alone. If that were true, instrumental music would be more popular. Also, as singers, we need lyrics, lest we become solely scat singers or singers of nonsensical lyrics like the songs of Cirque du Soleil. Arguably, the best rock songs are differentiated from pop songs that are entertaining for their time but lose value for not having meaningful, timeless lyrics. Rock music is usually more demanding to conceive as well as perform, proving that musical virtuosity also has levels in measurable ways including performance, not just how well the singer sings or the band plays and how intelligible the singer's words are, but most importantly, rock lyrics are thought of as being more intelligent, not being solely about feelings of love, but bringing more thoughtfulness about what it means to love into the big picture. Maybe rock is just a stone's throw away from country music which also focuses on details of life portrayed in lyrics, like an Americana painting, or that's what it evolved into being from what was once its blues beginning, mostly kvetching from pain, musically and lyrically.
This is why I've switched my perspective to seeing the music as the flowers. In the end, what's rock but a style? It's not even a style etched in stone but an evolving one. What does style do but entertain while substance is all that remains absolute, like words and meanings? Art itself might be purely stylistic even as we think of musical rules and know-how of music making as the substance. Style is what attracts me, and I think I know what I like (I like soulful chords, dislike simplistic showtunes), but substance is what keeps me (the title or theme fits our love story). Frivolous as may be, the notes that glissando quickly and slowly into the atmosphere need no translation nor explanation as we are moved by them, but that's probably precisely why these notes are fleeting matter compared to the words people can find actual personal meaning in, and ultimately, a place in their lives. These days, the goal of a musician is a placement just to get your music heard; gone are the days when rock musicians fought for the right to not commercialize their songs. Rock is already an institution, anyway, as much as classical and jazz.
That said, I'll probably always be a hana yori dango girl at heart because although I strive to be a better student of the English language in which I write and live, being a student of music is a force of habit that's hard to break. Unlike English, music was never my second language but the one I was eager to speak through mimicking my parents' singing in any language before I turned a year old. Filling in a canvas with colors is fun. Drawing the actual figures that move within a storyboard is a different kind of art, then assigning colors to them is in the field of moving pictures, art and theatre, thus music videos aren't music. There's just a lot of interdisciplinary crossover in the arts these days, and theatre seems to always win, like Bad Bunny's halftime looking like a PBS special on the history of Puerto Rico and rock music videos like the Sunset Strip ("You know what that means"). All I know is, once there's a subject that's clearly depicted, it's more about entertainment than art anyway, which makes some directors want to eliminate anyone from headlining a documentary style production. The subject is more than the composer but the muse that becomes the star, lest the music maker thinks they're making music for themselves and their bandmates only, as if music is ever as serious as being a cult without visuals.
Are you looking for a love song for Valentine's Day, your wedding, anniversary, a song you can cry to? Fred and Sali are writing songs to fit your life which we hope is filled with love. We wish you a Happy Valentine's Day whether you're spending it with a special someone, your friends and family, or with your best creation of style or substance or both in equal measure, you being a creator in your own way every day of your life in ways that matter from one creature to another. Have a crack at a simple recipe? Here's one I tried, and even repurposed a couple of candy canes to make a befitting red heart shape for Valentine's Day, and peppermint sticks to swirl with loads of extra whipped cream for our very serendipitous frrrozen hot chocolate!
Adapted from Something Swanky: I use semi-sweet chocolate which is the kind they put on Men's Pocky. I'll say my version is close to the real thing at Serendipity 3, too. Put the glass on a plate or bowl in advance; assembly gets sloppy, so don't have clothes near it before the shoot.
1. Melt 3 oz. semi-sweet Ghirardelli chocolate chips, 2 tbsp. hot cocoa mix and 1 1/2 tbsp. sugar and mix together with 1 1/2 c. milk (about 5 min. in the microwave on high).
2. Blend in enough ice and milk or frozen milk (freeze a quart overnight or until it's slushy) to fill a 16 fl. oz. ice cream sundae glass (pictured above).
3. Top with whipped cream, shaved chocolate or chocolate chips optional. FYI, if you add chocolate, it'll weigh down the whipped cream. Experience is the best teacher!
Follow Fred and Sally on Facebook
Follow Fred Kimmel on Facebook
Follow Sali O on Facebook
Follow us on X: Sali_O_, Fred Kimmel, Fred and Sally and Wuj Productions!
♥️♣️♦️♠️
