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Musical Reflection on what I Like and Dislike

It is fascinating how musical pieces have an entertaining way of soothing the cognitive

domain of human species. As a matter of facts, nearly all music has this universal trait of

entertaining despite the genre. Nonetheless, people may vary when it comes to providing their

honest verdicts on pieces of music they like or dislike depending on the chronological

arrangement of lyrics, rhythm, musical tempo, pitch among other elements of musical

elements.To be precise, musical pieces of low tempo and pitches appeal to me than the ones with

high tempos. However, my choices of songs are strongly guided by the message being conveyed

at any given point in time. For this particular paper, I discuss Doll William’s song I believe in

you as my favorite piece and Richard Harris’ MacArthur Park as a worse piece.

Don William’s song is an honest piece and with very simple lyrics. The tempo and the

pitch of this musical genre are very soothing due to their slow nature. It is amazing how Don

Williams becomes tactful in this selection when testifying his love to the anonymous lover. Don

Williams gets me captivated in this song by his artistic way of passing a very powerful message

through a precise analogy of the seen and the unseen. Of course the unseen here is his utmost

love which is evident all through the song. The entire song revolves around many things that
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Don does not believe in despite their value and certainties of coming to pass. For example, in

0:33, Don disputes his trust for the price of gold and even to the certainty of growing old and

strongly admits that he believes in love, children, parents and most of all he believes in the love

of his life. I find this lyrical arrangement to be more convincing and entertaining the same time.

Besides, the tempo and the pitch of the music both tally to create a nostalgic and romantic

ambiance that best rhymes with Don’s thematic concerns in this song.

The song also has a fascinating harmony that is achieved through a wonderful

arrangement of the musical instruments used as well as Don William’s voice projection. The

wonderful combination of the tempo, melodic, and harmonic materials in Don William’s song

also gives this musical piece its outstanding overall quality of high texture and sound (01:53). I

typically fail to fall for MacArthur Park song by Richard Harris due to the improper organization

of the musical elements. Unlike in Don Williams’ musical piece, Richard Harris opts for a

relatively higher tempo and pitch that fails to rhyme with the romantic expression as intended.

For instance, in 0:37, the texture of Richard Harris’ song is almost off track. Additionally, I fail

to recognize a wonderful musical harmony in this piece just from the onset. The rhythm and the

voice projection fail to meet the required level for creating the desired impression. The high

tempos and vigorous rhythm of Harris’ song outmatches his voice projection. Additionally, the

lyrical arrangement of Richard Harris song is more complicated as compared to that of Don

Williams piece. More often, complicated lyrics deprive the listeners of their leisure they seek

from musical genres.

In the two songs, any listener cannot dispute the fact that Don Williams’ piece stands

better chances of meeting all the musical elements required for a perfect song. Many times,

artists fail to recognize the necessity of proper organization of musical elements when doing their
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songs, hence producing undesirable pieces. Just like in Don Williams piece, the lyrical

arrangement of the song should be tailored in such a manner that they are not too much

complicated to comprehend as this may deprive the song its artistic and entertaining qualities.

However, those who prefer complicated lyrical arrangements and high tempos may have their

reasons to prefer Richard Harris song based on their musical preference.

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Works Cited

Harris, Richard. MacArthur Park. Spectrum Music, 1997.

Williams, Don. I Believe in You. MCA Records, 1980.