(TV) Melody Smelody / Semantics?

["Mark G. Ryan" <mgryan@cruzio.com>]

My final word on this subject (I can already hear the chorus 
of "Hurray!"):

Television's music is every bit as much "guitar music" as 
Spanish Flamenco.  It generally will cannot survive arrangement 
for another instrument.  Anybody know of any arrangements of, 
say. MM, for say, solo piano?  Seems like a thankless task to me.

Similarly, Verlaine's vocals with Television cannot stand 
alone without the guitar anymore than Flamenco-style vocals 
can.  In both cases, melody is not that important and the
particular sound of the guitar is.  The vocals accent the
rhythm and convey the lyrics.

In Television's case, not only is the orchestration fixed,
but so is the performance.  You cannot depart from Verlaine
and Lloyd's styles very much without ruining the song.  Has
there ever been a cover of a Television song that was better
than the original?

Finally, since Television lacks the exciting Latin rhythms
of Flamenco, it's not really a folk style.  It is a high-brow
style like jazz or 20th Century classical. It would be asking 
too much to expect it to be wildly popular.

Mark
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