“Writing about music is like dancing about architecture” – who really said it?
Music journalism has always been suspected of ruining a beautiful thing with small-scale thoughts and overly subjective reviews. Of course we see it differently and continue to write passionately. Nevertheless, there is a quip that puts this fundamental objection to writing and speaking about music into words: “Writing about music is like dancing about architecture – a pretty stupid idea.”
In fact, it is often claimed that Elvis Costello said this sentence in an interview in 1983. Specifically: “Writing about music is like dancing about architecture – it’s a really stupid thing to want to do.” Since the songwriter is an honest person, he later clarified that he is definitely not the originator of this common word. Instead he brought in comedian Martin Mull. He became known as a stand-up comedian in the USA, made jokes in soap operas and was seen in, among other things, “Roseanne”. But he never became world famous. And so it could be that his pun was quickly passed on to others because it fit.
For example, Frank Zappa, who was very bad with music journalists early on in his incomparable career. However, that is almost still expressed in a positive way. He once complained much more strongly against writing about (rock) music: “Rock journalism is people who can’t write interviewing people who can’t talk in order to provide articles for people who can’t read.”
Miles Davis or Thelonious Monk – mainly jazz musicians
In the 80s, many musicians actually seemed to want to use the saying to defend themselves against biased opinions from the pop press. Even Laurie Anderson shook it off her sleeve. But she later claimed to have stolen the quip from Steve Martin. Maybe a mistake that crept in like in the silent post game. Did Steve Martin ever say or quote the phrase? Or did “Comedian” and “Martin” (Mull) ultimately become Steve Martin out of embarrassment because they didn’t know any better?
The fact is that the quote “Writing about music is like dancing about architecture” was mainly attributed to jazz musicians such as Miles Davis and Thelonious Monk. Probably also because the language game uses an abstract image as an analogy. Anyone who says such clever things cannot be an ordinary musician, which is how the quote-shifting process seems to work.
The American pop researcher Allan P. Scott wanted to shed light on the darkness. Today you would call him a blogger. For months he buried himself in newspaper articles, combed through archives and obtained video footage. Everything documented online. But he certainly couldn’t assign the bon mot to any musician or artist. Even if his favorite remained Martin Mull.
And then there is the question of whether it was really called “Writing about music” and not “Talking about music”. But that is material for another myth.