Yo RMIM junta!

There is often a (legitimate) complaint on the net that posters "present"
their thoughts and do not "discuss" their ideas. Here's my attempt at
nucleating a discussion, the topic being the importance of music and lyrics in
a song. I am excluding the contribution of singers as (unlike others :-) ) I do
not wish to break the recently signed peace treaty ! I have been planning to
post this for a long time now; so let me hurry and put it up before someone
else beats me to it again!

I shud however mention at the outset that these represent *my* views and at
times will tend to be subjective. Sahir Ludhianwi is *my* favourite lyricist
and I do not wish to re-kindle the Sahir/Gulzar war with my comments.

              What makes a song: LYRICS or MUSIC ??

              Until only a few years back I used to like a song only if the
tune was good, and didn't care much about the music. However, of late, I have
begun to enjoy songs based solely on the lyrics. As an example, I'd like to
cite the following song by Rafi Sahab:

"Kal chaman tha aaj ik sehraa hua
Dekhte hi dekhte ye kya hua......"   (Lyrics Rajendra Krishn)

I never liked the tune of this song. However, I've begun liking this song now
after carefully listening to the lyrics, esp. the following stanza:

"Dekhne waalon ne dekha hai dhuaaN
 Kisne dekha dil mera jalta hua...."

As I mentioned above, Sahir is my favourite lyricist and I've always wondered
whether his songs are popular because of the lyrics or the tune. With other
lyricists, I've almost always attributed the success of a song more to the MD
than the lyricist, but with Sahir I just cannot do it. Take the songs of
Gumraah/Humraaz for example. The music IMHO is mediocre, but the lyrics fit in
so smoothly that it makes the song sound good. Of course the MD was Ravi, who
is not considered to be among the greats. But, I get the same feeling while
listening to the songs of Pyaasa in which the MD is the great S.D. Burman. The
music is definitely good, but I feel that the contribution of lyrics to the
song is much greater. The only MD who cud keep pace with Sahir stride for
stride was Roshan. The Roshan/Sahir combo is therefore my favourite!
Examples include Bahu Begum, Barsaat ki Raat, Taj Mahal and of course the
heavenly Chitralekha. "Maine shaed tumhe pehle bhi kahin dekha hai...."
(BkiRaat) has such powerful lyrics (see the lines below), yet Roshan is able
to match them with a simple yet powerful tune. My fav. lines from this song are:

"Ajnabi si ho, magar GHair nahin lagti ho
 Wahem (doubt) se bhi, jo ho naazuk woh yaqueen (certainty) lagti ho" !!!

Jaidev also matched Sahir brilliantly in Hum Dono. However, except in "Abhi na
jaao chhoRkar...." in which the tune overshadowed the lyrics, Sahir's lyrics
seemed to have dominated the songs esp. in "Main zindagi ka saath ...." and
"Kabhi KHud pe kabhi haalaat pe...."

Although, the MD of Kabhi Kabhi was one of my favourites (Khayyam), I still
feel that the contribution of the lyrics even in the chalu song "Tere chehre
se..." was more than that of music.


 Another awesome lyrics/music combo is from the film KHamoshi (Gulzar/hKumar):

 "Humne dekhi hain un aankhon ki mehakti KHushbo........"

 I feel that the lines

 "Sirf ehsaas hai ye rooh se mehsoos karo
  Pyaar ko pyaar hi rehne do koi naam na do...."

add a new dimension to the song.

Ashish Bokil's thoroughly enjoyable posts have pointed out the brilliance of
the RD/Gulzar combo. These songs are definitely good, but the reason I prefer
Sahir to Gulzar is that his (Gulzar's) compositions often needed a melodious
tune to sound good, while Sahir's didn't. Of course, this is my view, and Gulzar
fans may cite some examples to prove me wrong.

One wud feel that it's impossible to compare lyrics and music, but I think
that their contributions to a particular song can be compared.
Finally as a summary, let me draw the following conclusions:

1. A song with ordinary lyrics can sound good if the tune is good.
2. A song with an ordinary tune can sound good if the lyrics are good.
3. A combo of good music and good lyrics is unbeatable
4. When both the lyrics and music are good, the lyrics seem to dominate.

Your comments are welcome.

Sami Mohammed (A Naushad fan).....who ranks the Roshan/Sahir combo #1 !