Poetry in Music (mixing the best of both worlds)?

Question

I have decided to combine my two favorite YA! categories and ask this question.

What songs can you think of that are actual poetry also?

Lou Reed's 'The raven' comes to mind.
And of course, being a Novalis fan, I know that just about everything they have recorded comes from the German poet Novalis.
I've also always felt that Leonard Cohen's 'Bird on a wire' would be good read as a poem. Also, I remember studying 'I am a rock' Simon and Garfunkle as a poem in school.

Give me some others. I am curious.

MQ: Songs that are 'poetry' or from poetry.
BQ: Favorite poem song?
BQ2: Song that you think could/should also be a poem, and why?

Answer 1

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker

the first thing that popped into my head was this cool little clip i found on youtube once... 'Bukowski vs. Bonham'... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fu0zivmnp…

(this is my favourite by Bukowski... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mmWZOsVtq… ;)

The Alan Parsons Project also did 'The Raven' and a whole album based on the works of Poe... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fSQz_LQ6K…

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tales_of_My…

and the only other i could think of is Current 93 who did songs based on this... 'The Thunder, Perfect Mind'... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thunder_Per…

Source(s):

most Current 93 stuff sounds like poetry :) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IiLJIuQlN…

*edit* i forgot about this by Diamanda Galas... 'Defixiones, Will and Testament' ... http://www.diamandagalas.com/defixiones/…

'Artemis'- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=14yRSe8-k…

*edit2* something completely different lol! I LOVE the lyrics to 'Towering Flesh' by Pig Destroyer (you need the lyric sheet though ;)... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4c5_ZSH5h… ... and the lyrics...

"She frolics through the rain whispering love insane her kisses exit through heart-shaped exit wounds her skin like flesh of angels her blood my catholic wine it moves slowly through me disintegrates my spine she's got heroin embraces that i still need to be in i force myself to loathe her so i can fall for her again her lips are wet with venom her posture's serpentine she'll touch my arm and flowers grow there poisonous and obscene all her shrugged little movements and their despotic majesty in the midst of such perfection i can't help but feel diseased" ... lovely ha ha!

Asker's Rating:

Asker's Comment:

I like your idea of poetry :)

Answer 2

MA: Baba O'riley - The WHO
Many of Bob Dylan's songs have parts of Dylan Thomas's poems.

BA: Baba O'riley - The WHO

BA2: Blowin' in the wind - Bob Dylan...Awesome words.
Bruce Born to Run - Bruce Springsteen

In the day we sweat it out in the streets of a runaway American dream
At night we ride through mansions of glory in suicide machines
Sprung from cages out on highway 9
Chrome wheeled, fuel injected and steppin' out over the line
Baby this town rips the bones from your back
It's a death trap, it's a suicide rap
We gotta get out while we're young
`Cause tramps like us, baby we were born to run

Wendy, let me in, I wanna be your friend
I want to guard your dreams and visions
Just wrap your legs round these velvet rims
And strap your hands across my engines
Together we could break this trap
We'll run till we drop, baby, we'll never go back
Will you walk with me out on the wire
`Cause baby I'm just a scared and lonely rider
But I gotta find out how it feels
I want to know if love is wild
Girl, I want to know if love is real

Beyond the Palace hemi-powered drones scream down the boulevard
The girls comb their hair in rearview mirrors
And the boys try to look so hard
The amusement park rises bold and stark
Kids are huddled on the beach in a mist
I wanna die with you, Wendy, on the streets tonight
In an everlasting kiss

The highway's jammed with broken heroes on a last chance power drive
Everybody's out on the run tonight, but there's no place left to hide
Together, Wendy, we'll live with the sadness
I'll love you with all the madness in my soul
Someday, girl, I don't know when, we're gonna get to that place
Where we really want to go and we'll walk in the sun
But till then tramps like us, baby we were born to run

Answer 3

Between the eyes and ears there lie,
The sounds of colour,
And the light of a sigh.

With thoughts of within
To exclude without
The ghost of a chord
Will expel all doubt

And to name this chord
Is important to some
So they give it a word
And the word is OM .....

-----------------------
Song: The Word
Album: In Search of the Lost Chord
Band: the Moody Blues

Answer 4

Many Leonard Cohen songs were originally written as poems, or sound just as good read as a poem. Suzanne, Chelsea Hotel #2, Dress Rehearsal Rag, First We Take Manhattan, A Thousand Kisses Deep, etc...

BQ: Bob Dylan - Desolation Row
BQ: I've heard The Beatles' Let It Be read as a poem before, and it sounds beautiful.

Answer 5

MQ...Dream Weaver REO Speedwagon
BQ...Sailing Nights by Bob Seger
Sailing Nights lyrics.....
"Like the wind that carried ahab
To a far, more distant shore,
To a shipwreck that was certain
Long before.
I can see there's no use sailing
Among ships i've known before.
It will only bring me more,
And more and more
Lonely sailing nights, more,
Racing, dimming lights.
Lonely nights, and all too
Familiar sights."
BQ2...Face The Promise because it is poetry in motion

Answer 6

the blue aeroplanes built a career on spoken-word poetic music. typical examples include:
journal of an airman (w h auden)
I.
three signs of an airman:
practical jokes
nervousness before taking off
rapid healing after injury
three kinds of enemy walk:
the grandious stunt
the melancholic stagger
the paranoic sidle
three kinds of enemy bearing:
the condor's stoop
the toad's stupor
the robin's stance
three kinds of enemy face:
the ****** hen
the favorite puss
the stone-in-the-rain
three terms of enemy speech:
I mean
quite frankly
speaking as a scientist etcetera
three enemy questions:
am I boring you?
could you tell me the time?
are you sure you're fit enough?
three results of an enemy victory:
impotence
cancer
paralysis
three counterattacks
complete mastery of the air
lastly but ten it's moving again
lastly but nine I forgot the sign
lastly but eight it's getting late
lastly but seven why aren't there eleven?
lastly but six I dont like its ...tricks
the maid is just dribbling tea
and I shall not be disturbed until supper
I shall be quite alone in this room
free to think of you if I choose
and believe me dear I do choose
for a long time now I've been aware
that you are taking up more of my life every day
but I'm always being surprised
to find how far this has gone
it's getting late
and I have to be up at times(?) in the morning
you're so quiet these days that I get quite nervous.
remove the dressing:
no, I'm safe, you're still there.
the wireless this evening says that the frost is coming
and when it does we know what to expect, don't we?
but I'm calm, I can wait.
the surgeon was dead right:
nothing will ever part us.
goodnight and god bless you my dear.
better burn this.
lastly but five oh god it's alive
lastly but four I can't live any more
lastly but three now it's looking at me
lastly but two what shall I do?
lastly but one I think I'll run
lastly of all it's here and I fall(?)
August the 23rd, 3pm:
we are lost.
a cart has just passed carrying the plaster eagle
the enemy are going to attack.
G.H.Q. commands:
1. that the attack take place on August 28th
first penetration of the hostile position 7:10am
2. a fake landing by pleasure--paddle-steamers
near the bathing-machines on beach 5
3. a main frontal attack:
divisions to be concentrated in the Shenley(?)
brickfields and moved forward to the battle-zone in
bakers' vans disguished as nuns
First day of mobilization:
at the prearranged zero hour
the widow bent into a hoop with arthritis
gives the signal for attack
by unbending on the steps of St. Philips
Fifth day:
pressure of ice, falling fire (???)
the last snarl of families beneath the toppling column
biting at wounds as the sutures tear (?)
Twenty-fourth:
four days.
what's the use of counting them now?
ah, what have I written?!
thoughts suitable to a sanitorium!
three days to break a lifetime's pride
Twenty-eighth:
3.40 am
pulse and reflexes: normal
barametric reading: 30.6
mean temperature: 30 F
fair
some cumulus cloud at 10,000 ft.
wind: easterly and moderate
hands: in perfect order
W.H.Auden and Gerard Langley

the applicant (sylvia plath)
First, are you our sort of a person?
Do you wear
A glass eye, false teeth or a crutch,
A brace or a hook,
Rubber breasts or a rubber crotch,

Stitches to show something's missing? No, no? Then
How can we give you a thing?
Stop crying.
Open your hand.
Empty? Empty. Here is a hand

To fill it and willing
To bring teacups and roll away headaches
And do whatever you tell it.
Will you marry it?
It is guaranteed

To thumb shut your eyes at the end
And dissolve of sorrow.
We make new stock from the salt.
I notice you are stark naked.
How about this suit----

Black and stiff, but not a bad fit.
Will you marry it?
It is waterproof, shatterproof, proof
Against fire and bombs through the roof.
Believe me, they'll bury you in it.

Now your head, excuse me, is empty.
I have the ticket for that.
Come here, sweetie, out of the closet.
Well, what do you think of that ?
Naked as paper to start

But in twenty-five years she'll be silver,
In fifty, gold.
A living doll, everywhere you look.
It can sew, it can cook,
It can talk, talk , talk.

It works, there is nothing wrong with it.
You have a hole, it's a poultice.
You have an eye, it's an image.
My boy, it's your last resort.
Will you marry it, marry it, marry it.

links are nigh on impossible to find. i'm afraid, but most of the aeroplane's glorious catalogue is streamable on spotify.com

then there's cat stevens
morning has broken (eleanor farjeon)

Source(s):

http://www.americanpoems.com/poets/sylvi…
http://fallslikesnow.blogspot.com/2005/0…

Answer 7

Well, I know that several of Stevie Nicks' songs started out as poems.

The entire "Tales of Mystery and Imagination" album by Alan Parsons Project
'The Lady of Shalot' ~ Loreena McKennitt
'The Highwayman' ~ Loreena McKennitt {but she left out 2 verses :( }
'Dragonfly' ~ Fleetwood Mac {poem by W.H. Davies}

I collect poetry, and I came across two songs by Annie Haslam {Renaissance}, which I typed out as poems : 'Glitter and Dust' and 'Lilies of the Field'.

There are many songs which could be poems, and several poems that would make wonderful songs, if only...


BQ : 'The Lady of Shalot' ~ Loreena McKennitt

BQ2 : 'Nothing More' ~ Fotheringay
Because Sandy Denny's lyrics have a poetic quality to them.

Answer 8

It's all right ma, bob dylan....http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VhlNO_UsM…

Darkness at the break of noon
Shadows even the silver spoon
The handmade blade, the child's balloon
Eclipses both the sun and moon
To understand you know too soon
There is no sense in trying.

Pointed threats, they bluff with scorn
Suicide remarks are torn
From the fools gold mouthpiece
The hollow horn plays wasted words
Proved to warn
That he not busy being born
Is busy dying.

Temptation's page flies out the door
You follow, find yourself at war
Watch waterfalls of pity roar
You feel to moan but unlike before
You discover
That you'd just be
One more person crying.

So don't fear if you hear
A foreign sound to you ear
It's alright, Ma, I'm only sighing.

As some warn victory, some downfall
Private reasons great or small
Can be seen in the eyes of those that call
To make all that should be killed to crawl
While others say don't hate nothing at all
Except hatred.

Disillusioned words like bullets bark
As human gods aim for their marks
Made everything from toy guns that sparks
To flesh-colored Christs that glow in the dark
It's easy to see without looking too far
That not much
Is really sacred.

While preachers preach of evil fates
Teachers teach that knowledge waits
Can lead to hundred-dollar plates
Goodness hides behind its gates
But even the President of the United States
Sometimes must have
To stand naked.

An' though the rules of the road have been lodged
It's only people's games that you got to dodge
And it's alright, Ma, I can make it.

Advertising signs that con you
Into thinking you're the one
That can do what's never been done
That can win what's never been won
Meantime life outside goes on
All around you.

You loose yourself, you reappear
You suddenly find you got nothing to fear
Alone you stand without nobody near
When a trembling distant voice, unclear
Startles your sleeping ears to hear
That somebody thinks
They really found you.

A question in your nerves is lit
Yet you know there is no answer fit to satisfy
Insure you not to quit
To keep it in your mind and not forget
That it is not he or she or them or it
That you belong to.

Although the masters make the rules
For the wise men and the fools
I got nothing, Ma, to live up to.

For them that must obey authority
That they do not respect in any degree
Who despite their jobs, their destinies
Speak jealously of them that are free
Cultivate their flowers to be
Nothing more than something
They invest in.

While some on principles baptized
To strict party platforms ties
Social clubs in drag disguise
Outsiders they can freely criticize
Tell nothing except who to idolize
And then say God Bless him.

While one who sings with his tongue on fire
Gargles in the rat race choir
Bent out of shape from society's pliers
Cares not to come up any higher
But rather get you down in the hole
That he's in.

But I mean no harm nor put fault
On anyone that lives in a vault
But it's alright, Ma, if I can't please him.

Old lady judges, watch people in pairs
Limited in sex, they dare
To push fake morals, insult and stare
While money doesn't talk, it swears
Obscenity, who really cares
Propaganda, all is phony.

While them that defend what they cannot see
With a killer's pride, security
It blows the minds most bitterly
For them that think death's honesty
Won't fall upon them naturally
Life sometimes
Must get lonely.

My eyes collide head-on with stuffed graveyards
False gods, I scuff
At pettiness which plays so rough
Walk upside-down inside handcuffs
Kick my legs to crash it off
Say okay, I have had enough
What else can you show me ?

And if my thought-dreams could been seen
They'd probably put my head in a guillotine
But it's alright, Ma, it's life, and life only.
MQ:Most stuff from Leonard Cohen like
Suzanne... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=snMOmHzgs…
Sister's Of Mercy... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBFQg7P5Y…

BQ: Bob Dylan's Dream
BQ2: almost anything by Leonard Cohen, he has written books of poetry.
take care
dave