This is essentially re-blogged from the Pitchfork entries on this years SXSW:
Photo by Amy Phillips for Pitchfork
“There are few people on the planet better suited to whisking everyone away from reality than Jarvis Cocker. Even in the highly un-rock’n'roll confines of a cramped Convention Center conference room, where he delivered a lecture titled “Saying the Unsayable With Jarvis Cocker”, the former Pulp frontman radiated star power. The SXSW website description of the talk said, “What is the function of lyrics in popular song? Jarvis Cocker addresses the issue with examples from other people’s songs and his own.” Insert almost any other songwriter’s name where it says “Jarvis Cocker”, and you’ve got the makings of a deathly dull couple hours. But Jarvis is a man who already stalks a stage like the sexiest college professor in history. Put a wooden pointer in his hand and give him a PowerPoint presentation and a bunch of YouTube clips, and you’ve got one hell of a party.
Sure, Jarvis didn’t really teach anybody anything they didn’t already know: Song lyrics are important, except when they aren’t (see: “Louie Louie”). Some lyrics can be poetry (Leonard Cohen), some can’t (Des’ree’s “Life”). James Blunt’s “You’re Beautiful” is a terrible song, David Bowie’s “‘Heroes’” is a great song. And so on. But hearing these truths delivered with Cocker’s conviction and dry wit was truly a treat. He even broke out an acoustic guitar, performing the first song he ever wrote (a charming goof called “Shakespeare Rock”) and a breathtaking version of the Pulp classic “Babies”.” – Amy Phillips on March 19, 2009
