Interpreting Popular MusicDavid Brackett demonstrates that there is no one way of interpreting popular music but that different types of popular music use different types of rhetoric, refer to different arguments about musical complexity and familiarity, and draw upon different senses of history and tradition. He crosses the disciplines of cultural studies and music theory to consider how listeners evaluate popular songs and how they come to attribute a rich variety of meanings to them. Issues such as authorship, reception, musical codes, and different modes of representing and describing music are explored in the context of recordings made by Billie Holiday, Bing Crosby, Hank Williams, James Brown, and Elvis Costello. In analysing their music and lyrics, David Brackett shows how interpretations of songs develop in specific cultural and historical contexts. |
Contents
Family Values in Music? Billie Holidays and Bing Crosbys | 34 |
When youre lookin at Hank youre looking at country | 75 |
James Browns Superbad and the doublevoiced utterance | 108 |
Writing music dancing and architecture in Elvis Costellos | 157 |
the citizens of Simpleton | 199 |
Notes | 205 |
| 237 | |
Discography | 249 |
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aesthetic African African-American American analysis appears approach artists aspects associated audience authenticity band bass beat beginning Billie Holiday Blues Brown changes chapter charts codes contains context Costello country music create critical Crosby Crosby's cultural described Diamond Ring discourse discussion earlier early effect emphasize example expression feeling figure function Give Hank Williams harmonic hillbilly Holiday Holiday's idea important industry interpretation James jazz kind listener Lookin meaning measures melodic musicians Musicology notion object observations occurs performance phrase piece Pills pitch play popular music position possible practices present Press produced question recordings references relationship repetition rhetorical rhythm rhythmic rock sense singer singing Soap song soul sound specific structure style Superbad types University University Press verses vocal voice Western writing York