Al.Ducts Posted August 3, 2009 Share Posted August 3, 2009 Here's the link: http://www.npr.org/blogs/monitormix/2009/07/drowned_in_sound.html It's Friday, so let's talk about poetry. Actually, let's discuss the fact that lyrics rarely, if ever, look good on paper, without the aid of music and melody. There are, of course, exceptions: Jeff Tweedy, Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell and Patti Smith, to name just a few. But most lyrics don't have the same meaning taken out of context. Sure, you can put the words on a card or in a letter, scribble them on the pages of a notebook or even get them tattooed on your body, but the lyrics' original power likely came from the marriage between them and the way they were sung. Personally, I feel like great lyrics can't exist outside of a great tune. Here's a side note for you: In a high-school creative-writing class I tried to pass off a Soundgarden song as one of my own poems. Yep, the song was on the album Badmotorfinger. I'm just going to put that fact out there. Apologies to Chris Cornell, and to my teacher. Then there are lyrics that, when sung, sound contextually acceptable, but when you really examine what is being said, you can't even believe they even exist.For an example, I'll go out on a limb here with a band you probably weren't expecting to think about today. Remember Color Me Badd and its song "I Wanna Sex You Up"? Well, that song's lyrics are barely fathomable once you really start thinking about them.From "I Wanna Sex You Up:" Let me take off all your clothes.Disconnect the phone so nobody knows.Let me light a candle,So that we can make it better.Makin' love until we drown. The first four lines we can ignore, despite them being trite. It's the last line that is amazing: "Makin' love until we drown." Huh? Are they in the ocean, a pool, a vat of wine? Do they have an excessive sweat problem? Are there so many fluids involved in their lovemaking that they need a life vest? We'll never know. Or, if you do know, and you are married to or hooked up with someone from CMB, please share!Sorry to put that song and image in your head. Actually, I'm not. Enjoy the weekend.And please share your thoughts about lyrics as poetry, bad lyrics and lyrics that shock or embarrass you once you're forced to examine what they really mean. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
PopTodd Posted August 3, 2009 Share Posted August 3, 2009 Fish heads, fish heads, rolly polly fish headsFish heads, fish heads, eat them upYumm! Fish heads, fish heads, rolly polly fish headsFish heads, fish heads, eat them upYumm! In the morning, laughing happy fish headsIn the evening, floating in the soup Fish heads, fish heads, rolly polly fish headsFish heads, fish heads, eat them upYumm! Ask a fish head anything you want toThey won't answer, they cant talk Fish heads, fish heads, rolly polly fish headsFish heads, fish heads, eat them upYumm! I took a fish head out to see a movie,Didn't have to pay to get it in Fish heads, fish heads, rolly polly fish headsFish heads, fish heads, eat them upYumm! They can't play baseball, they don't wear sweatersThey're not good dancers, they don't play drums Fish heads, fish heads, rolly polly fish headsFish heads, fish heads, eat them upYumm! Rolly Polly fish heads are never seen drinking cappuccino inItalian restaurants with Oriental women.Yeeaahh Fish heads, fish heads, rolly polly fish headsFish heads, fish heads, eat them upYumm! Fish heads, fish heads, rolly polly fish headsFish heads, fish heads, eat them upYumm! Yum! Fish heads, fish heads, rolly polly fish headsFish heads, fish heads, eat them upYumm! Fish heads, fish heads, rolly polly fish headsFish heads, fish heads, eat them upYummmm! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Ghost of Electricity Posted August 3, 2009 Share Posted August 3, 2009 Makin' love until we drown. First of all, I had quite happily forgotten about color me bad, and i didn't need to be reminded of them. so shame on you. secondly, though there are plenty of reasons not to like them, one unfathomable line isn't one of them. If you can explain to me definitively what "jewels and binoculars hang from the head of the mule" refers to, please do. I have a few ideas, but i'm not really satisfied with them. Which is great, because it keeps me thinking. And no, of course i wouldn't put "makin' love until we drown" in the same category, but let's be egalitarian: the concept that something can be open to interpretation applies to both. Furthemore, when making love there does occur an exchange of bodily fluids. Fluids are what you drown in. so, i don't think this one example is all that unfathomable. Finally, this is a good topic to discuss and will check out this link when i get the chance and keep an eye on this thread. But please enough of color me bad. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
PopTodd Posted August 3, 2009 Share Posted August 3, 2009 One of my favorite songs.And, the lyrics are certainly better than anything Jim Morrison penned: The silent night has turned to a night of fearWith windows howling wind into your earYou listen to the spirits far behindThese things you hear are too much for your mind The bell strikes and your spine chills like the graveThe chill that turns your blood from red to greyYou know that with these things you see and hearThe silent night has turned to a night of fear Image on your bedroom wallShadows marching in the hallJust about to flip your mindJust about to trip your mindJust about to flip your mindJust about to trip your mind The green and purple lights affect your sightYour mother cannot comfort you tonightYour brain calls out for help thats never thereThe silent night has turned to a night of fear Quote Link to post Share on other sites
cooperissup3r Posted August 4, 2009 Share Posted August 4, 2009 lyrics should be lyrics. some lyrics work as poetry. most don't. but that's not the point. lyrics are only a part of the equation, where as poetry is the equation. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
blrssp Posted August 4, 2009 Share Posted August 4, 2009 lyrics should be lyrics. some lyrics work as poetry. most don't. but that's not the point. lyrics are only a part of the equation, where as poetry is the equation. Exactly what I was going to say. There can be great song lyrics that don't look great on paper, because without the context of the music, they lose too much. There can be great poetry that would be terrible as song lyrics. The two things are different. In general, however, musicians tend to be musicians, not writers. It is the rare song indeed that is really well-written, poetry or not poetry. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Aeglos Posted August 5, 2009 Share Posted August 5, 2009 To be,A bee, a moth.Four wings spread for the soft last touchOf glory sun,Remembering blood plums and lips and lemons -One hundred different sunsIn a hundred different heavens.Spied from a rowboat -Stroke, nought is spoken,Before you know it, the spell is broken,You might wonder where you are,Floating on the reservoir.I have counted the notesWe landed here not many years agoAnd it was not a pretty song that we composed: La, la, la, the early bird he knows,You hang from the cherry boughWhen you're lichen yourself, and leave -The cold cold scent of stone and mulch,The great stone wall to stave the rush,To think that peace might be too much,Waiting for that giant touch... The lake... the fir-fringed lake -Placid and ample, birded, breezed and dappledThrough the mountain break,Through the mountain break,A moment take, a moment, a moment... You might wonder where you are,Perched up on the reservoir,Adolf in the white hotel,All this time we've been in hell,You might wonder where you are,Perched above the reservoir,Luis of the lake retire,Before they set the lake on fire Quote Link to post Share on other sites
littlem52 Posted August 5, 2009 Share Posted August 5, 2009 A friend of mine turned in the lyrics to "Indifference" by Pearl Jam in his high school english class. Got an A. At the time it just added to our high school love for all things PJ. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
imsjry Posted August 5, 2009 Share Posted August 5, 2009 I know this is sacrilege, but many of Dylan and Tweedy's lyrics work better on paper then in song form. Funny how words can work both ways. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Ghost of Electricity Posted August 6, 2009 Share Posted August 6, 2009 I know this is sacrilege, but many of Dylan and Tweedy's lyrics work better on paper then in song form. Funny how words can work both ways.Hmmm, yes and no. While lots of Tweedy's stuff, especially YHF era, has literary value (damn, did i just say that?) he often relies on repetition. Could you imagine reading a transcript of every single "maybe all i need is a shot in the arm," or heaven forbid, "nothin?" Mr. Zimmerman is not the type to rely on repetition like this. I've read that around the time of John Wesley Harding he made a conscious decision not to waste a word: every line sung should move the song forward. "Shot in the Arm" and "Misunderstood" work as songs, and parts of them may work on the page, condensed and tightened versions, but not in their entirety. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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