Something about the title made me feel it required an exclamation point!
My apologies to all of the Hip-Hop devotees with regards to my next statement.
Here goes:
I think the best poetry ever written can be found in the lyrics of classic rock songs:
Bob Dylan, Simon and Garfunkel, The Beatles, Pete Townshend (The Who), Led Zeppelin, Bernie Taupin (Elton John), Neil Young, Roger Waters (Pink Floyd), Jim Morrison (The Doors), Ray Davies (The Kinks), Leonard Cohen, Joni Mitchell, Lou Reed, Van Morrison, and his supreme highness Bob Marley, and others of their ilk are THE relevant poets of the 20th century!
Sidebar: Bob Marley's reggae, unlike some reggae, transcends every genre of music, and is always accepted within Rock. It just is. Bob Marley is exempt to boundaries. Deal with it.
Also, I am Bob's illegitimate son. I can't prove it, but you can't disprove it either, so that's my story. Stickin' to it!
Before I go any further, this does not reflect poorly on Hip-Hop to which I have been devoted from it's inception. Some great and important things have been said in some very creative ways.
I am talking about poetry that deals with the struggles and emotions of ALL human beings. The rock music made in the 60s and 70s spoke, perhaps idealistically, with no division between social status', race or geographical boundaries. Most of these artists' work are not only as consequential today as ever, but are even more widely accepted AS poetry. A student would not think twice about handing in a paper on Leonard Cohen or Bob Dylan, and a poetry professor would not think twice to receive it.
In the 50s, songs were rarely about anything more than a boy wanting to kiss a girl or vice versa. There was much emphasis on harmonies, but there was little passion with the absence of any cause. Vietnam was that cause! Sparking lyrics protesting war, and promoting unity among all people.
"How many ears must one man have before he can hear people cry? Yes, and how many deaths will it take 'til he knows that too many people have died?" - Bob Dylanand
"The eastern world it is explodin', violence flarin', bullets loadin', you're old enough to kill, but not for votin', you don't believe in war, what's that gun you're totin'?" Barry McGuire
"So tonight you better stop and rebuild all your ruins, because peace and trust can win the day despite of all your losing." - Led Zeppelin
Also, somebody must have grown some really good weed because suddenly we're hearing lines like:
"When logic and proportion, Have fallen sloppy dead, And the White Knight is talking backwards, And the Red Queen's "off with her head!" Remember what the doormouse said; FEED YOUR HEAD!" - Jefferson Airplane
or these Beatles lyrics:
"Images of broken light which dance before me like a million eyes that call me on and on across the universe. Thoughts meander like a restless wind inside a letter box. They tumble blindly as they make their way across the universe."
I've never tried LSD, but for that type of perspective, I just might.
Here are some more of my favourite lines, some literal, and some allegorical, but all make you go hmmm...:
"If you smile at me I will understand, cause that is something everybody everywhere does in the same language." - Crosby, Stills, and Nash
"Same old song, just a drop of water in an endless sea. All we do, crumbles to the ground though we refuse to see, dust in the wind, all we are is dust in the wind." - Kansas
"I have only one burning desire. Let me stand next to your fire!" - Jimi Hendrix
"You would think with all the genius and the brilliance of these times, we might find a higher purpose and a better use of mind." - Jackson Browne
"Dont talk of love, but Ive heard the words before.
Its sleeping in my memory. I wont disturb the slumber of feelings that have died.
If I never loved I never would have cried.I am a rock." - Simon and Garfunkel
"We're just two lost souls swimming in a fish bowl year after year." - Pink Floyd
"And you shall take me strongly in your arms again, and I will not remember that I even felt the pain. We shall walk and talk in gardens all misty and wet with rain, and I will never grow so old again." - Van Morrison
"I watch the ripples change their size, But never leave the stream of warm impermanence. So the days float through my eyes, but still the days seem the same. And these children that you spit on, as they try to change their worlds, are immune to your consultations. Theyre quite aware of what theyre going through." - David Bowie
There's poetry in them there words folks!
This could become an ongoing blog unto itself. I welcome any comments, perhaps with your own favourite lyrics.
Posts
A girl wrote an article in The Guardian (a british paper) a couple of weeks back in which she said
ReplyDelete"If there's one thing that unites the car and rock'n'roll, it is that dream of escape, that desire to be free of place and time and restraint"
I think it sums up my feelings about classic rock, it's pure escapism. It's the kind of music you can put on, lie back and just appreciate the lyrics. Songs often have a story behind them too which is always interesting to discover, gives an extra layer to the song.
A couple of my favourites are...
"Well your faith was strong but you needed proof, you saw her bathing on the roof, her beauty and the moonlight overthrew you; she tied you to a kitchen chair, she broke your throne, and she cut your hair, and from your lips she drew the hallelujah" - Cohen's lyrical genius, one of the most powerful songs ever, however it must be said John Cale's adaptation covered by Jeff Buckley is my favourite version...
"And it's whispered that soon if we all call the tune, then the piper will lead us to reason. And a new day will dawn for those who stand long, and the forests will echo with laughter." Plant/Page
Short snippet...
"Some people cry and some people die by the wicked ways of love" Plant/Page
Floyd wish you were here, i love the intro -
"So, so you think you can tell, heaven from Hell, blue skys from pain. Can you tell a green field. from a cold steel rail? A smile from a veil? Do you think you can tell?"
"But in the end it's only round and round. Haven't you heard it's a battle of words" Us and them, Floyd
"Imagine there's no heaven; it's easy if you try; no heaven below us; above us only sky; imagine all the people; living for today" i'm an atheist so this rings particularly true with me, the genius that is Lennon
I could go on, but i'm gonna leave it there for now, the doors, neil young, the beatles, the stones to some extent, and many many more would probably feature more on the list if i were to continue, i'll finish though with, for me, one of the greatest poets of the 21st century - Dylan... (and i will choose another track seeing as you have already quoted blowing in the wind...)
one of the most beautiful love songs ever written:
"My love she speaks like silence, without ideals or violence, she doesn't have to say she's faithful, yet she's true, like ice, like fire. People carry roses, make promises by the hours, my love she laughs like the flowers,
valentines can't buy her."
No BS when I tell you that after reading my own blog, I thought of adding Halleluyah, and though we both quoted Wish You Were Here, we could well have listed the whole song. As for Dylan, my quote was an indication of the times, but by no means his best lyric. Thank you, my kindred rock spirit, for Love Minus Zero, which was also covered by the Turtles. No surprise though, Mr. Zimmerman, while a competent singer when he needed to be, wasn't selling us anything pretty. Just pure truth. More to come.
ReplyDeleteScholar Lee Schooled Me.
ReplyDeleteHey brother, my name is Luka, and I live on the second floor.
Your blog was brought to my attention by a colleague who evidently is a huge fan. I happen to adore this woman who, at her desk alternates between Dean Martin, Etta James, Louis Prima, and some annoying child singer named Joselito, snacking on radishes and yogurt. (Know who I am yet?)
I’ve always had a somewhat questionable opinion of bloggers … who were these people?! Sitting in the basement with dark circles under their eyes, throwing up into a dusty laptop perched on mountain of old novels. Or worse, some over-indulged 20 year old, sitting on an over-dressed bed in the over-gross suburbs having one 90210 life changing experience after the next. But trusting my friends advice, I printed and took home every last page.
After setting up the living room table for a major reading session, with the white album playing and a southern comfort coffee brewing, I passed the dutchy paun the leffhand side and prepared the cats for mummy’s verbal assassination that would surely come. I was ready, bring it on. What could this dude possibly tell me about music?! For shit’s sake, I’m listening to Golden Slumbers!?! Need I say more; clearly I’m gifted already, no?!
Well now I stand corrected.
I’ve always known you loved music...I might even have a few of your old bootleg mix tapes from another life in my cabinet. (No I’m not a stalker, though I will be needing a strand of your hair and an old nail clipping when you have a chance) But nothing could have prepared me for what was my best read since “Holla If You Hear Me; Searching for Tupac Shakur”. (I don’t read much, gimme’ a break.)
I laughed, I cried, and more importantly, I did the Morris Day Jungle Love dance across the living room floor at least 3 times over the list of funk legends you graciously provided us with. (Where the hell is Apolonia anyway?) Having myself been conceived on Pete Seeger, born into Kris Kristofferson and raised on The Gap Band, I thought I’d cornered the market on diversity in my love of the vinyl. Lately I’ve replaced the Keith Sweat in my shuffle with Adele, who I agree is the bomb, but they’ll have to pry my Fat Boys album from my cold dead hands I swear. All this to say, you’ve put my low-brow, semi-know it all knowledge of music to shame. Of course being related to my cousin Bob Marley totally gives you an advantage, but c’mon Patsy Gallant was my step-mother, you don’t see me bragging!
By the end of this turntable orgy I had whipped out The Song Remains the Same to have another look, contemplated (after all these years) setting an ice cube on fire, and realized just how much I don’t like the painting on the cover of Brubeck’s Time Out (you heard me). Barbara Streisand’s pretty sexy on the Superman jacket, but she’s no match for Marvin, who I still can’t tell if he’s laughing or crying on Let’s Get It On, or Lisa Lisa and the Cult Jam with that classic 80’s hair. What great memories!
Thanks Scolar Lee, for reminding me that my record collection is also my art exhibit, and a testimony to who I really was, am, and will be.
I still really wish I had a rope chain, just sayin. King of Rock was one very. dope. album.
Peace, from Montreal.
Whooooeeee!! I need more people like you reading my blogs. There are just too many (increasingly) obscure music and pop-culture references to respond to, but I am guessing the lady you refer to is my mother, because ain't nobody else listening to both Etta James and Joselito. More importantly, if you are who I think you are, I am impressed that you can quote Suzanne Vega, Musical Youth and Tupac, while dropping references to Pete Seeger, Dave Brubeck and Kris Kristofferson in one paragraph. Funny thing is that not only do I hear you on the Streisand cover (I am not gay, but was going through puberty at the time, and had a distinct appreciation of that kind of subtle eroticism. Sue me!), and Sir Marvin Gaye (officially knighted by...me.), but I was about a week away from writing a 15 yr. anniversary tribute entitled, Is Tupac That Fat Guy With the Afro Living in the Caymans? (See, he would have had to get fat and grow an afro so that no one would know he staged his own death) but I Ain't Mad at Ya. Just appreciate the love, so Keep Yo Head Up sister because you just Dropped a Bomb On Me and I am Lost In Emotion, but Can I Get A Witness?
ReplyDeleteGreat comments!
Peace.