MERRITT AND MOODY

Tonight Stephin Merritt did an interview thing with author Rick Moody at the 92nd St. Y. I’ve never really even been into The Magnetic Fields all that much, but I like Rick Moody, and the session was filled with enough droll humor and wit to pique my interest. Merritt sang a few tunes on the ukulele and filled the rest of the time with a rather restrained discussion with Moody about the lyrical process.

My personal take was that the whole evening attempted to establish that there’s a definitive gap between what could be called an “authentic” lyricist—someone who composes for the stage as Merritt is doing now—and those that fit into the other category: singer-songwriters and pop and rock composers, which was the genre Merritt had long ago originally established himself in. I don’t get the impression he was buying into Moody’s attempts to bring out some higher meaning in his process, even with the deconstructive examination of his songs, although the name of Stephen Sondheim (a authentic lyricist) was repeatedly dropped by Merritt, but only because he loves his work so much. It was a nonsensical attempt to make something out of nothing and as Cara put it, probably a just a method to expand the audience at events like these to bring in older, more conservative people who might not otherwise not know of contemporary artists.

I can personally think of at least three contemporary artists who fit the bill for consistently exciting lyrical work: Mark Eitzel, Nick Cave and Lisa Germano... oh and Tom Waits, Joe Pernice, Kristen Hersh, The Mountain Goats, Luna, Elliott Smith…

It’s pointless to distinguish the two when the only difference is in the audience. Lyric writing is not painting or sculpture or photography, and unless it’s written for the sacred canon, it’s populist meaning transcends it’s venue. Almost everyone knows some show tunes, and almost everyone knows some rock tunes. I’m sure they’d be hard pressed if asked, to distinguish the intellectual integrity between the two.