There must be a reason, I thought. But I was wrong. The fate of instrumental songs, it turns out, was not determined by natural selection. It was determined by something altogether unnatural, otherwise known as the music industry.
The whole thing began as I strolled the mean streets of Rochester, New York. The occasion was one of the country’s largest jazz festivals, a nine-day extravaganza spread out over 18 venues. I happened to be at my favorite—the free stage just in front of the world-renowned Eastman School of Music.
How better to exhibit the musical prowess of a musical town? I asked myself.
Minutes later, I got the answer. On stage that night was the Rochester Metro Jazz Orchestra, and they were playing one of the most popular instrumental songs in recent memory.
That song had been the brainchild of Rochester’s own Chuck Mangione, an Eastman School of Music alum and former member of Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers. In 1978, he introduced the world to his flugelhorn, which anchored his hit “Feels So Good.”
The track miraculously reached number four on the Billboard Hot 100, an oddity for anything from the jazz space, particularly that of the instrumental variety.
And that got me back to my original question: Why are instrumental songs so rarely popular?
There must be a reason, I thought. The poetic lyrics of popular songs must speak to people.
To verify this theory, I pulled up the current Billboard Hot 100 and sampled some of the most eloquent words from the top ten.
“Manchild” by Sabrina Carpenter
F*ck my life
“What I Want” by Morgan Wallen featuring Tate McRae
That’s what I want, that’s what I want
That’s what I want, that’s what I want, that’s what I want
What I want
“Just in Case” by Morgan Wallen
I ain’t sayin’ that I ain’t met no one else
“Luther” by Kendrick Lamar & SZA
She a fan, he a flop, they just wanna kumbaya, nah
“A Bar Song (Tipsy)” by Shaboozey
Woke up drunk at 10 a.m., we gon’ do this sh*t again
And that’s how I came up with the title of this piece.
All lyrics courtesy azlyrics.com
