Your Life Is Your Act

Daryl Hall “Something In 4/4 Time”

This is a track from Daryl Hall’s Sacred Songs, which he made in collaboration with Robert Fripp in 1977 shortly after Fripp worked with David Bowie on ”Heroes”, but was shelved by Hall’s label RCA until 1980 because they figured it was too uncommercial. That last bit is confusing to me because even with Fripp’s atmospheric guitar parts, it’s a fairly straightforward pop-soul record, and the late ‘70s is clearly the time when it would’ve had the greatest commercial impact. At this point in Hall’s career, he’d only had a few hits with John Oates – “Rich Girl” in 1976, “Sara Smile” in 1975, and “She’s Gone” in 1973. He wasn’t quite as defined as he would be in the ‘80s, when the duo had a string of major hits between 1980 and 1982. “Something In 4/4 Time” sounds like a hit to me, so I wonder what RCA didn’t like about it. Was it too rock for an artist who had been previously sold as a soul singer? Was it too meta?

It’s definitely meta. Hall’s lyrics are specifically about trying to appease a record label while holding on to his identity. “You’re selling yourself and it’s a matter of fact,” he sings. “Your love is your life and your life is your act.” He’s being very transparent and self-aware here, but also quite idealistic. The verses start out rather cynical and pragmatic, but he always come to the conclusion that he can only succeed by being himself, and by being truly passionate. Hall’s vocal sounds very confident and optimistic, and you only really get a sense of his doubt on the breakdown, when Fripp plays a solo that contrasts Hall by seeming a bit cold and distant. Fripp makes his guitar seem analytical somehow, like something taking in all of Hall’s data and figuring out what it all means. When it snaps back to the soulful, cheerful hook about knowing you’ve got to make something people can relate to, it’s like Fripp’s guitar has decided that it agrees.

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