Too late, too late...

This is decades too late, but when are we going to be able to hear the words of popular songs again?

I thought it was my hearing - admittedly not as sharp as it used to be - till someone dug out a record player and put on a mix of records old and new. Back then, up until at least the mid-sixties, even a thirty-piece big band played quietly so we could hear the singer and make out the words! Okay, a lot of that was because the studio engineers or whatever they’re called would adjust volumes as they transferred tape-recorded sounds to the master disc.

But now? An amorphous mush of sounds, each as loud as the other, the singer’s voice no more prominent than third violin or whatever. All, of course, in the only time signature known to musicians born after 1969 - 4/4, four beats to the bar, “creativity” limited to changing the tempo from say 120 beats per minute to 130 or 140. Wow! That's musical genius and no mistake! Those old songwriters must be spinning in their graves.

Reviewers tell us that So-and-so writes moving, meaningful lyrics to his or her songs. How the f**k do they know?