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I don't know what an UH means.. But I reckon Acward musicvideos? :D

 

EDIT : [Deleted video because of totally missunderstand the topic, my bad :)]

Edited by Achazia
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Gry, Uh! Or UH = Undeniable Hit.

See the 'songwriting for a living ' thread for reference.

:)

PS before that thread nobody knew what an 'Uh!' meant.

Edited by MonoStone
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I don't think that Police song was a hit purely because of a misunderstanding.... but even if that was a factor... why would that prevent it from qualifying as a 'uh'?

 

Maybe people thinking it was a kind of love song helped it, but in the end all that matters (in terms of being a hit) is the listeners loving the song. And actually the true meaning of the song being effectively hidden like a dark undertone, rather than an in-your-face literal meaning, probably added something special.... and if so... why would that go against it?

 

I mean I think an Uh can even be made accidentally, I don't think it matters... a brilliant song is a brilliant song, even if the songwriter got there by some fluke or because the listeners heard something which wasn't intended. Also, a song's intended meaning isn't often likely to be a deciding factor and certainly not the only factor in it being a hit or an Uh... its perceived meaning is likely going to be more of a factor, but even that isn't often going to be the major factor, and probably never the only factor.

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Can we really call something that became popular because of a misunderstanding on the part of the listening public an "undeniable hit"?

Much of this song's popularity is due to confusion about the subject matter.

Most people think it's a love song, but it's not.....so how in the world does that make it a guaranteed hit?

 

To which song do you refer? I know that many people don't really get the ominous nature of Every Breath You Take but --if you mean that song-- I absolutely count that as a UH. For one thing, it was the 1st single from the Synchronicity album. Nobody doubted that song! No way...

 

Is anybody really calling that anything but a runaway smash hit? Really? :::shaking my round yellow head::: Unbelievable...

 

Melody trumps lyric... (Some will disagree and I'll be happy to present the argument.)

Edited by Skylark
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To which song do you refer? I know that many people don't really get the ominous nature of Every Breath You Take but --if you mean that song-- I absolutely count that as a UH. For one thing, it was the 1st single from the Synchronicity album. Nobody doubted that song! No way...

 

Melody trumps lyric... (Some will disagree and I'll be happy to present the argument.)

 

"Melody trumps lyric"    I disagree... purely because I enjoy these forum arguments ;)

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LOL!! So... Is that the gauntlet? Am I now to state my case for melody>lyric?

 

This is a "family-friendly" forum ---an FFF--- so I'll refrain from calling you a name. But I'm only going to give you the severely truncated version. Still, it should suffice. Here goes...

 

In the history of the Billboard Pop chart --I'm counting 1955 and later-- there have been at least twenty-two NUMBER 1 tunes that had NO WORDS AT ALL. If I am not mistaken, NOT EVEN ONE recording has appeared on the chart --AT ANY NUMBER-- without musical accompaniment.

 

I rest my case.

 

ADDENDUM: For a scenario demonstrating the relative importance of music vs. lyric, picture this:

 

You're a music publisher and two writers walk into your office looking for work. One is a lyricist, the other a composer. The lyricist is without question the best wordsmith you've ever witnessed, perhaps the best in the world, ever. The composer is good, too. Not as strong as the lyricist, but pretty good. You have to release a new single right away, but you can only sign one. Who do you go with? The lyricist --who will leave you with virtually no chance of scoring a hit-- or the composer, who can write an instrumental that may score a Top 100, Top 40, Top 10, and maybe even a Number 1 single?

 

Really... The argument is over before it begins.

Edited by Skylark
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Sorry guys. FFFs are soooo beneath me they tap me on the head. I'm outta here!!!!   :microwave:

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Hmmm this isn't a very good forum fight...

 

...I'll wait for a better opportunity. I do happen to agree that melody trumps lyric...damnit.

 

 

Tom, I did understand your point. I just didn't agree. Still don't ;)

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OK tunesmithth... Let me re-state MY meaning when I say undeniable hit (which I did pretty much lay out in the earlier thread).

 

First, you and I are in agreement that no one can absolutely know whether a song will capture the hearts of the music audience at large. Sure... But what I said was this:

 

There are some songs that are so strong, that hit so many points just right, that music-business insiders --publishers, a&r types, other execs-- will fight over the privilege to rush them to market.

 

That's what I said, and I maintain that any insider worth their salt would've seen Every Breath You Take coming from a mile away. Ten miles away...

 

I think your notion that Every Breath You Take succeeded by some accident (or in spite of its topic) is way off. You're giving lyric/topic too much value for one thing (or not giving enough to the other elements of the song). What about Come Together? Did you get that lyric right away? Do you even get it now (forty years later)? Does anybody get it? [NOTE... Know that I am an ardent lover of The Beatles music, and I love Come Together. Still I wouldn't call it a undeniable hit because I cannot say that anyone other than The Beatles could've carried Come Together to the top. I do however think that many singers could've ridden Every Breath You Take to the Number 1 slot.]

 

Every Breath You Take was a jaws-on-the-floor success, neither because nor in spite of its topic; it simply had too many other obviously winning elements for it to matter.

 

3¢...

Edited by Skylark
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Melody trumps lyric..has to be true, when you look at how Bowie and various others used to/still cut and paste (literally) put rhyming couplets together with Sellotape on a sheet of A4 etc. Plus, I remember hearing Neil Peart saying the music was always far more important than the words. Meaningless words abound and Michael Stipe famously wouldn't publish lyrics on early R.E.M records simply because he wasn't singing real words half the time and they were reverse engineered after the fact. Indeed, lots of us writing songs do ad lib nonsensical stuff over our music just to get a melody down and then edit in real words and meaning after...stream of consciousness and all that. Of course, Sting is well known as keeping notes of stuff he thinks of (as does Peart) and borrowing allusions from literature, philosophy, science, psychology, art etc. E.g De doo, doo, doo, de, daa, daa, daa (I think that was in the pilot for The Teletubbies or was it the Flowerpot Men?)

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But, yes, not many people knew EBYT was about a stalker. I Have the Touch from PG4 has a similarly esoteric meaning beyond the obvious reference to "wanting contact...with you"

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I don't know … it has all the right ingredients!!!

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UH....will have to beg to differ on that observation.

I have little to base that on though....merely every thing I've ever read, everything I've ever heard, several documented interviews with Sting and of course....the lyric itself.  :yes: 

 

BUT, more importantly.....in recent days I've come to the simple realization that I do not care! So....please continue on without me  :yes:

 

 

Nobody better to say what a lyric is about than the author, so... Please cite these several documented interviews you claim to have seen. I mean, I understand that you don't care but... You cared enough to say that you don't care AND you cared enough to mention these several documented interviews so, please, indulge me/us just a bit more by citing these sources.

 

I'll be watching you.   :detective:

Edited by Skylark
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I'm going to assume that was in response to my post to tunesmithth...

 

Apparently you found it necessary to draw the inference yourself. Why? Because nowhere is it said that EBYT is "about a stalker." (You even altered the context of the few words you snipped from the article.)

 

I wonder why it has become so important to some that EBYT must be "about a stalker" when it so clearly is not.

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