The man behind the music
The American rock band Survivor is principally known for ‘Eye of the Tiger’ the theme song for Rocky III. In one of the band’s less well known hits, their singer makes a bold statement in the chorus.
When there’s magic in the music, it’s the singer, not the song. When it’s comin’ from the heart, all the people sing along. It’s the man behind the music, it’s the singer, not the song
It’s a confident statement for a singer to make. Is it true? Does the singing of a song create the magic in it? Do the delivery and expression matter more than the music and lyrics? If this bold statement is true, is it also true of speakers with speeches?
Singer and Song
Simply reading through the music and lyrics of a song in your head, doesn’t make it a song. You need a song to be performed, to bring it to life.
Watching film footage of a singer performing a song can give you a flavour of how it felt to hear it live. Hearing a song performed live offers an extra emotional dimension. It helps you to experience the same raw feelings that the writer went through themselves.
That’s why live music is still so popular. There are music gigs every night, in every city, in every country, around the World. On a global scale, Coldplay’s ‘Music of the Spheres’ World Tour, lasted from 2022 to 2025 and was performed at 223 shows, in front of 13.1 million people. They could have stayed at home and played the songs on Spotify. But they didn’t. They wanted to hear the singer sing the songs.
The Speaker and the Speech
If songs are brought to life by their singers, is that true of speeches too? Does the speaker make a speech great?
The most famous speeches in history, from the likes of Winston Churchill, Martin Luther King and Emmeline Pankhurst, to name but a few, seem to involve exceptional speakers as well as exceptional speeches. The words on their own are powerful, but can words alone stir people to action, without the oratory of the speaker?
What about Sir. Winston Churchill’s most famous speech?
We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender
They are great words, but they could sound pompous and inflated. Yet Churchill’s delivery did the opposite. It grounded them in gritty, reality. It made them sound urgent and of critical importance. These words were elevated and set to an extraordinary purpose. As broadcaster Edward Murrow famously commented “Churchill has mobilised the English language and sent it into battle”.
Or Martin Luther King’s most famous speech?
I still have a dream, a dream deeply rooted in the American dream. One day this nation will rise up and live up to its creed. We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal”. The triple use of the word “dream” is good speech writing. But the delivery is inspirational
This is exceptional speech writing, some of the greatest ever perhaps. But would we know this speech today, without the delivery of Martin Luther King? It seems unlikely.
What about Emmeline Pankhurst’s most famous speech?
How are they going to persuade people that they ought to have the vote by breaking their windows?” you say. Now, if you say that, it shows you do not understand the meaning of our revolution at all, and I want to show you that when damage is done to property it is not done in order to convert people to woman suffrage at all. It is a practical political means, the only means we consider open to voteless persons to bring about a political situation, which can only be solved by giving women the vote
These powerful words are taken from a speech made in America. These words were delivered with powerful intensity, on behalf of half the population. They were mobilised and sent into righteous battle on behalf of every disenfranchised woman.
Two Football Managers, who elevated ordinary words
Sir. Alex Ferguson, the former Manchester United Manager, is well known for delivering the right words at the right time. He chose his words wisely and delivered them with the perfect zest and tone for the situation. On a famous occasion, Manchester United were losing two nil at half-time. His players openly doubted their ability to win the match. Ferguson would not accept defeat. He believed in his players and his ability to motivate them. So he told his players “I know when we score one, we’re going to score three.”
What a basic (and somewhat underwhelming) phrase. It’s not a fight them on the beaches kind of speech. It’s a more personal statement of trust. So what happened? The team went back out, scored once and went on the score two more, winning the match 3 v 2. A coincidence? No. Why not?
The team believed in him and trusted him implicitly. He was like a father to them. They had faith in him, because he had shown his faith in them. His simple words lifted the players from their despondency and inspired them to prove that he was right about them. They did. He was.
Number two led to the Invincibles
In 2003, Arsene Wenger told his Arsenal team they could go the Premier League season unbeaten. He said it with such confidence and belief that they accepted it was realistic. They trusted in him. As they won or drew each game, their belief in going unbeaten grew. So what happened? They went unbeaten over 38 league matches, with 26 wins and 12 draws.
Would ‘The Invincibles’ have won the league unbeaten in 2003/4 if they’d just read that bold claim, or if someone else had said those words to them? Almost certainly not.
Great singers and speakers
Great singers and speakers are born with potential. They are made, by honing their skills over many songs or speeches. All the speakers mentioned in this post had made many, many speeches before their greatest feats of oratory. They had practiced, performed, adapted and performed their skills over and over for many years. Like all crafts, singing and speaking are perfected by practice and performance.
The test of a speech isn’t how well it’s written, but how it sounds. When it comes to the great speeches, we don’t read the words in our own voice. We hear them in the resounding voice of the speaker who delivered them.
Not all speeches are themselves great. Not all speeches are as important as those above. Some use simple words and basic phrases. Some are for lesser purposes like sport. Where that’s the case, it’s the delivery of them that makes all the difference. A great speaker can make an average speech great.
It is the Singer or the Song?
To be a great speech, the words need to be claimed. They need to be lifted from the page, owned and elevated. The thoughts of the writer need to be embodied and propelled forward as emotional jabs, punching out their true meaning. In short, the words of a speech need to be set to purpose. Without a great speaker, can there ever be a great speech? Probably not.
Can there by a great speech without great speech writing? If the basic words are given purpose and lifted to great heights then yes there can.
So maybe, as Survivor sang, it really is the singer and not the song. And if that’s the case, practice and performance makes perfect.