In another thread we've been discussing song lyrics as a type of poetry. I hope that and the idea that one way of understanding mastery is to look at its lack might make this an appropriate thread for this forum.
Both a lyric (like any collection of syllables) and a melody can be viewed as patterns of stresses. Artfully combining the two patterns (usually by matching them) seems to me a big part of songwriting. When the two patterns don't match, it often feels to me that the songwriter has goofed. One glaring example is from Stevie Nicks's "Dreams."
In this and my other example, I won't put in all the stresses, only the ones I want to focus on.
Among the problems with this awkward stress is that it makes the words difficult to understand. I wondered for years what the hell Nicks was singing before I finally looked up the lyric online.
Mismatched stresses don't always seem big errors. I'm discovering a lot of Harry Chapin's songs, and his frequent failure to match stresses hasn't prevented them from impressing me. Here's an example from a song I've known for a longer time, "Cat's in the Cradle," lyric by Sandy Chapin:
Among the reasons this bothers me less than the Nicks example is that it doesn't make the words hard to understand. It may also be that the Chapins' straightforward, artless-feeling style helps what might feel like a failure of art not to matter as much.
I'd be interested in others' thoughts about this, and other examples of successful songwriters not matching stresses. I hope that there are examples in which the mismatches somehow enhance the songs. I haven't been able to think of any.
Stresses in words and music
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