Still sick today, amusing myself by listening to music I haven't listened to in a long time, while I clean and try to amuse very bored toddlers. (Holy run-on)
I love lyrics. I am surprised at how many people who love music think lyrics are unimportant. When I was doing what Elisa is doing (taking lit courses) I was suprised that there was no focus at all on lyrics, even as poetry or prose. Maybe that has changed? E - Do you study lyrics at all?
I love certain songs, in genres I don't usually care for, just because of the word sequencing in them. And words really are the key aren't they? A beautifully strung sentence is like "buddah." Sometimes even when the writer can barely speak English.
Take this:
He's sickly cryptic, spitting that code
And most proud to present that Cruffiton mode
And it shows that they bros done seen a few sleights
Life throws scenarios, reality bites
We in collision with the beast
Lost we religion and we can't get no peace
Idiot weakhearts want to take I for chief
Stoop to their level and we plotting cold grief
(by roots manuva)
Post some of your favorite lyrics; especially from genres that aren't usually your "bag."
Monday, February 16, 2009
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Nope, no lyrics, and poetry is still limited mostly to the usual suspects (Shakespeare, Donne, Raleigh, etc). When I took American Lit, Civil War to Present we studied some T.S. Eliot and Allen Ginsberg, which was a nice change, but still no lyrics.
ReplyDeleteI've always thought it's a little weird, too...I mean, musicians are probably more well-known than most poets (everyone's heard of Eminem, but how many people have heard of Charles Bukowski?) so why is their work as lyricists put out of the scope of literature? Makes no sense to me.
This guy, for example, writes lyrics which are very definitely lit-worthy:
Please, remember me
Fondly
I heard from someone you're still pretty
And then
They went on to say
That the pearly gates
Had some eloquent graffiti
Like 'We'll meet again'
And 'Fuck the man'
And 'Tell my mother not to worry'
And angels with their gray
Handshakes
Were always done in such a hurry
(Iron and Wine, 'Trapeze Swinger')
I could post lyrics all day long, but I'll spare y'all.
I can never understand lyrics:
ReplyDeleteHAMPSTER!
DENTIST!
HARD PORN!
STEVEN SEAGULL!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZthcZTx-oA&feature=PlayList&p=5C417902DEC2C5A0&playnext=1&index=12
I am with Daniel on this one...unless advertisements count as lyrics.
ReplyDelete*sigh*
ReplyDeleteI'll see your Fishmaster
ReplyDeleteand raise you a
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nfXke_z6t3I
What about this line...
ReplyDelete"...little fascist panties
tucked inside the
heart of every nice girl..."
A favorite song of mine to sing along to:
ReplyDeleteRemember when you were young,
You shone like the sun.
Shine on you crazy diamond.
Now there's a look in your eyes,
Like black holes in the sky.
Shine on you crazy diamond.
You were caught on the crossfire
Of childhood and stardom,
Blown on the steel breeze.
Come on you target for faraway laughter,
Come on you stranger, you legend, you martyr, and shine!
You reached for the secret too soon,
You cried for the moon.
Shine on you crazy diamond.
Threatened by shadows at night,
And exposed in the light.
Shine on you crazy diamond.
Well you wore out your welcome
With random precision,
Rode on the steel breeze.
Come on you raver, you seer of visions,
Come on you painter, you piper, you prisoner, and shine!
Where do we post answers to the riddle?
ReplyDeleteSponge
These are all so good! It is so interesting to read them from a poetry perspective since I haven't heard it has a whole (with the music.)Although, I am sure they are even better that way. Check this one out.
ReplyDeleteMy heart stopped pumpin', but my blood is still alive.
The rain hits the ground, and the trees, they dry it up.
My eyes wake up, but my brain is sleepin' fine.
One more thing for you, and I to do before we shut our eyes.
You blame me, and i'll blame you, and we're both right.
Cuttin' cat faces in the pines.
They say his teeth are wood, and they want my pictures of him.
The rain hits the ground, and the trees, they dry it up.
We're wood screws, all of our lives. (x3)
The rain hits the ground, and the trees, they dry it up.
My chain hits the wood and the wood it turns to dust.
I picture you as if you were a pine.
My heart's stopped pumpin', but my blood is still alive.
We're wood screws, all of our lives. (x2)
Well, my heart's stopped pumpin', but my blood is still alive.
I lay down with the southern range.
I lay down with the southern range.
I lay down with the southern range.
I lay down with the southern range.
(With a southern range.)
I lay down with the southern range.
(Down with a southern range)
I lay down with the southern range.
(Down with a southern range.)
I lay down with the southern range.
(Down with a southern range.)
I lay down with a southern range.
I lay down with a southern range.
(Down with a southern range)
I lay down with a southern range.
Swallows drop in, and dash the sky.
Tracing lines of cursive on the horizon.
Cutting cat faces in the pines.
Mark the path back to the point of departure.
Two by two, and four by four.
The pines they lay down,
and I lay down with the southern range
Sarah, those videos were hilaaaarious. The roomie and I got a nice giggle out of them this morning before our eight a.m.s.
ReplyDeleteAs for poetry, I also really like Radiohead's stuff:
Karma police, arrest this man
He talks in maths
He buzzes like a fridge
He's like a detuned radio
Karma police, arrest this girl
Her Hitler hairdo is
Making me feel ill
And we have crashed her party
And Regina's always a safe bet for the poetic stuff...this bit from 'Consequence of Sounds' is AHmazing:
The weather report keeps on
Tossing and turning,
Predicting and warning,
And warning and warning of,
Possibly it could be news publications and,
Possibly it could be news TV stations. That
Very same morning right next to her coffee
She noticed some bleeding and heard hollow coughing and
National Geographic was being too graphic,
When all she had wanted to know was the traffic
"The worlds got a nosebleed" it said
"And we're flooding but we keep on cutting
The trees and the forests!"
And we keep on paying those freaks on the TV,
Who claim they will save us but want to enslave us.
And sweating like demons they scream through our speakers
But we leave the sound on 'cause silence is harder.
And no one's the killer and no one's the martyr
The world that has made us can no longer contain us
And profits are silent then rotting away 'cause
The consonants and vowels
The consequence of sounds.
The fact that she's a very purdy singer only helps matters.
I know what you mean about Radiohead!
ReplyDeleteWhen I am king, you will be first against the wall
With your opinion which is of no consequence at all
What's that...? (I may be paranoid, but no android)
What's that...? (I may be paranoid, but no android)
Ambition makes you look pretty ugly
Kicking and squealing gucci little piggy
You don't remember
You don't remember
Why don't you remember my name?
Off with his head, man
Off with his head, man
Why don't you remember my name?
I guess he does....
Rain down, rain down
Come on rain down on me
From a great height
From a great height... height...
Rain down, rain down
Come on rain down on me
From a great height
From a great height... height...
Rain down, rain down
Come on rain down on me
TThat's it, sir
You're leaving
The crackle of pigskin
The dust and the screaming
The yuppies networking
The panic, the vomit
The panic, the vomit
God loves his children, God loves his children, yeah!
And Consequence of Sound may be my favorite RS song! Try some Ugly Casanova if you haven't already. Are you a fan of Tool? I love tool.
I've heard of Ugly Casanova but haven't actually listened to them. And I'm so-so on Tool...some of their songs are awesome, some are just kinda eh. Have you heard Vampire Weekend yet? Suzanne/Haley turned me onto them- incredible.
ReplyDeleteAlso, this song has become a recent obsession:
I have seen the others and I have discovered that this fight is not worth fighting
And I've have seen their mothers and I will no other to follow me where I'm going
So, take your shower, shine your shoes
You got no time to lose
You are young men, you must be living
Take your shower, shine your shoes
Well, you got no time to lose
You are young men you must be living
Go now, you are forgiven
(The General by Dispatch)
I'll try Vampire weekend on youtube today.
ReplyDelete...
hey you
gender nectar
sifting through the grain of gold
tripping at your door
is that you, alpha in her blood
and when the woman lies
you don't believe her
rolling and unrolling coiling emerging running free
running through the underworld into your room
is he real
or a ghost-lie
she feels she isn't heard
and the veil tears and rages
til her voices are remembered
and his secrets can be told
hey you
gender nectar
crystalline from the vine
you know you'll drink her
rolling and unrolling coiling emerging running free
running through the afterworld into your room
so she prays for a prankster
and lust in the marriage bed
and he waits til she can give
and he waits
and he waits