Lonny weighs in with his essay Going Up and Going Off: or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Memorizing Lyrics
“It seems to me that there is a threshold — sometimes low, sometimes high — that is passed when a singer truly absorbs a song… When we can shift from “This song is about…” to “I feel…” or “I am…” and there’s a personal story that needs to be told, the song’s meaning and words will fall into place — but usually not a moment before.”
