Because music, like color, or a cloud, is neither intelligent nor unintelligent - it just is. The chord, the simplest building block for even the tritest, silliest chart song, is a beautiful, perfect, mysterious thing, and when an ill-read, uneducated, uncultured, emotionally illiterate boor puts a couple of them together, he has every chance of creating something wonderful and powerful. All I ask of music is that is sounds good.
In "Songbook," Nick Hornby reflects on the nature of music, comparing it to color or clouds, emphasizing that it exists autonomously, without inherent intelligence. He appreciates the beauty and mystery of a simple chord, which is fundamental to any piece of music, regardless of its complexity or sophistication. Hornby suggests that anyone, regardless of their background or education, can produce something meaningful and impactful from these basic elements of music.
The...
