“Indicate precisely what you mean to say, yours sincerely wasting away”. Charlotte’s voice carried the song loudly across the foundry where she was working, as she sang along with the old Beatles song Her work mates asked her how come she knows the words to so many old songs (60’s 70’s and 80’s) and she told them it’s because you can hear the words in the old songs and they tell a story or have a proper meaning. Also there’s breathing space between words and phrases.
Back in Hollywood in the 80’s I played a new song to a friend in the music industry and he pointed out that I had used way to many words for the song to be really meaningful. I changed that song by condensing the words to half the amount and really enjoyed the result.
Today’s songs often have an overwhelming amount of words and a small chance of catching enough breath to see your way through a phrase, so it has become quite common to breath in the middle of a word resulting in the meaning and the emotion getting lost.
As a singer, look for songs with just enough words to express something so your emotions can reach each note. If you want to write a song, try to say more with fewer words and enjoy the freedom of more extended notes.
This is definitely one of those times when “Less is More”!