English Lyrics

When I was putting together the songs for the CD, I had very few rules. I trusted the various musicians to pick niggunim that would work in the context of what we were trying to do. About the only rule I had was no English lyrics. With very few exceptions, I detest Jewish music with English lyrics.

Very few Jewish musicians can pull it off. Chaim Dovid has a few songs that work (Seven Shephards, L'ma'an Sh'mo) and a few of his earlier works). Avraham Rosenblum has some good lyrics. Shlomo Katz has one song on his new CD, Gibor, a tribute to his friend who was killed in battle, that works. Don't even get me started about Shiny Shoe (TR) songs that have English lyrics. Is there a term that is the opposite of "guilding the lily"? Feh!

The reason, I suspect, is that very few Jewish musicians are poets, in English or Hebrew. When you think about it, most of their lyrics come from Tehillim or other text-based sources. They are generally not called upon to write poetry. And, when most of them try, the results are mediocre or worse. (Aron Razel is an exception. He has written spectacular poetry that he has put to music (Chagigah and Mincha) and beautiful stand-alone poetry that he has published).

So, the question is, do English lyrics stink because they inherently don't shtim with Jewish music or do they stink because the authors would be better off sticking to musical arrangements rather than writing lyrics? I think it's the latter.

Hat tip to A Simple Jew who suggested this topic.