it's not so much a matter of thinking
>he couldn't sing them songs, but the idea that he was actually
>singing them songs while moving around the stage like that was
>part of the super humanness of him.

a particular artist moved around or danced on stage was always a phoney argument to me.... an argument that became easier over time because people became further removed from a time when lip syncing was limited to appearances on weekly tv shows like soul train or bandstand....

I mean James Brown probably performed in a more strenuously physical manner than anyone ever....and would do it 2 or 3 shows in a day some times.... and would do it all the way live...

and that was pretty much the norm..

when the music became more sanitized...packaged.... lip syncing became more of a fall back viewed by some as a necessity....but really only because the bar was being lowered as to what the expectations and standards were for an artist to be considered great...