Is Aesthetic Explanation Possible?

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1. The puzzle.

Paul Simon wrote and recorded “Can’t Run But” for The Rhythm of the Saints, which hit stores in 1990. I had the CD, and the song was on track 2, and I usually skipped it. Recently Simon recorded “Can’t Rut But” again, with very different instrumentation and slightly different lyrics, for 2018’s In the Blue Light. Of the songs on that album, the new “Can’t Run But” is my favorite. I listen to it over and over. What makes it better than the original? Here is my attempt to describe the relevant differences:

The 1990 version of “Can’t Run But” is textured and complex, but suffers from being subtle and muted. The lyrics are sung quietly and the vocal is low in the mix, and the song fades out without feeling like it has ended. On the new version, the singing is more extroverted. There are fewer layers of instruments, and more personality: the track is anxious and strident, and builds to an abrasive climax.

Does this really tell you why the new version is better? On the one hand, yes, but on the other—here is the puzzle—how could it possibly? It suggests that the 1990 version is worse in part because it is subtle and muted. But a song can be subtle and muted, and that can be part of what makes it great. So it must be that the real flaw in the original “Can’t Run But” is that it is subtle and muted in a particular way. What way is that? It is hard to say, except by saying “in a way that makes it worse.” But saying “The original is worse because it is subtle and muted ... in a way that makes it worse” is, at the least, unhelpful.

Similarly, the 2018 version of the song, we are told, is better because it is anxious and strident. But a song can be anxious and strident in a way that is a defect; in fact, surely this is the usual case. So it must be that the real virtue in the 2018 version is that it is anxious and strident in a particular way. But then shouldn’t a good answer to “Why is the new version better?” make clear what that way is? And shouldn’t it be against the rules to make this clear by saying: “It is anxious and strident in a way that makes it better”?