I do not harbor a burning desire to be made aware of the origins of songs when hearing them in performance by the author. As a writer of them, I can honestly say they come from any direction at any time, generally uninvited, and mostly unexplained. Sometimes I can remember some circumstances surrounding the creation of a song. Many times I cannot. To hear such details painstakingly elucidated during a performance is, to me, not particularly enjoyable nor enlightening. As a creator of music, I would venture to say that the story (feeling, emotion etc.) that a listener perceives when hearing one of my songs is by far more important than the gory details of how the song came to be. Granted, multiple hearings must occur in order for a song to become familiar and be remembered. But something should 'hook' the listener on first listen to capture the imagination be it lyric, melody, tempo, or phrasing. On rare occasions, some historical information can be of interest, but the first and early public presentations of original songs need not include these presentations, as a rule, for every song being sung.
(Thanks to Chicago circa 1971)
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