Kuka

Gledao sam dokumentarac koji se bavi popularnom muzikom. Jedan od upečatljivijih trenutaka u njemu je segment u kome tip koji piše hitove za danas uspešne i tiražne pevačice objašnjava kako oni nastaju:

– Kada sam bio mlad i naivan mislio sam o muzici koju stvaram da je umetnost. Diskografske kuće za koje sam radio su mi promenile perspektivu – one su u mojim pesmama tražile uspešnost. Brzo sam naučio da je za uspešnu pesmu potrebo da ima – upotrebio je izraz – “hook”…

Ako nema nečega za šta će slušalac da se zakači, džabe muzika.

U muzičarskom žargonu “hook” označava rif, frazu, aranžmansko rešenje, ritmički ili melodijski motiv, bilo šta drugo što će da se zalepi za uvo slušaoca i da ga navede da pesmu odsluša do kraja. Poželjno je da bude što jednostavniji i da se lako pamti. Jedan od najupečatljivijih primera je upotreba teremina u dobro poznatoj pesmi The Beach Boysa “Good Vibrations” u kojoj, bez obzira na njen nedvosmislen muzički kvalitet, “boja zvuka” koji proizvodi stavlja sve ostalo u drugi plan.

U svojoj pesmi “The Hook“, američka grupa Blues Traveler se poigrala na ovu temu na interesantan način, pa je vredi celu citirati:

It doesn’t matter what I say
So long as I sing with inflection
That makes you feel I’ll convey
Some inner truth or vast reflection
But I’ve said nothing so far
And I can keep it up for as long
as it takes
And it don’t matter who you are
If I’m doing my job
then it’s your resolve that breaks

Because the hook brings you back
I ain’t tellin’ you no lie
The hook brings you back
On that you can rely

There is something amiss
I am being insincere
In fact I don’t mean any of this
Still my confession draws you near
To confuse the issue I refer
To familiar heroes from long ago
No matter how much Peter loved her
What made the Pan refuse to grow

Was that the hook brings you back
I ain’t tellin’ you no lie
The hook brings you back
On that you can rely

Suck it in, suck it in, suck it in
If you’re Rin Tin Tin or Anne Boleyn
Make a desperate move or else you’ll win
And then begin to see
What you’re doing to me
This MTV is not for free
It’s so PC it’s killing me

So desperately I sing to thee of love
Sure but also rage and hate and pain and fear of self
And I can’t keep these feeling on the shelf
I’ve tried, well no, in fact I lied
Could be financial suicide but I’ve got too much pride inside
To hide or slide
I’ll do as I’ll decide and let it ride till until I’ve died
And only then shall I abide by this tide
Of catchy little tunes
Of hip three minute diddies
I wanna bust all your balloons

I wanna burn of all your cities to the ground
But I’ve found, I will not mess around
Unless I play then hey
I will go on all day
Hear what I say
I have a prayer to pray
That’s really all this was
And when I’m feeling stuck and need a buck
I don’t rely on luck

Because the hook brings you back
I ain’t tellin’ you no lie
The hook
On that you can rely

Očigledno je da pesma govori o komercijalizaciji u modernoj muzici i tome da skoro niko ne sluša tekst pesme(ako je on uopšte i bitan). Autor je frustriran načinom pisanja “zaraznih” pesama koje samo imaju svrhu da se zalepe za uvo.

S jedne strane gledano, nije važno o čemu pesma govori ako ima dobru kopču sa slušaocem. S druge strane, ona može da ima i fenomenalan tekst, ali ako nema kopče, nikada neće postati popularna. I neće se dobro prodati, naravno.

Za mene je “hook” u ovoj pesmi bila solo deonica na usnoj harmonici. Kanije sam se udubio u sam tekst i otkrio neka od skrivenih značenja. Vi ćete, verovatno, pronaći nešto sasvim drugo…