The modern popular song as a literary art form /

• Main Author: Linekin, Kim.
• Other Authors: Gibian, Peter (advisor)
• Format: Others
• Language: en
• Published: McGill University 1997
• Subjects: Popular music > History and criticism.; Music and literature.
• Online Access: http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=27951

This thesis investigates the theory and practice of song criticism from a primarily literary perspective. It maintains that much contemporary song criticism deals inadequately with the complex relationships between verbal, vocal and musical texts that comprise the three basic elements of the modern song. To justify this claim, and to grasp how the current situation might have arisen, the thesis delves into the history of song and traces its developments. It concludes that modern and classical song differ in ways that the "serious vs. popular" debate do not address: autonomy of authorship, frame of reference, and proper context for interpretation. To remedy this situation, the thesis anatomizes modern song and outlines a "top-down" approach to song criticism with lyrics as the primary frame of reference, supplemented by emotive cues found in the music and vocal performance. Concurrently, the anatomy is put into practice, using examples from the unofficial canon of modern song.