Song lyrics that can stand alone as poetry

[Emil Miller]

Sometimes I think there should be a one-year moratorium on all recorded songs. For one year, no songs can be recorded. There are too many being recorded as it is.

Whatever made you think that they were songs?

[Paulclem]

Then again, if it is a poem and not a song, you can have these massive, long lines, then some short ones. Only hard part is that it has to flow somehow, so at least some of them must be to a corresponding length.

I think there's more use of internal rhymes etc. I agree that there has to be a flow. I suppose there's more options for mimicking real speech, the conscious flow of thoughts or significant pausing.

[Heathcliff]

I think there's more use of internal rhymes etc. I agree that there has to be a flow. I suppose there's more options for mimicking real speech, the conscious flow of thoughts or significant pausing.

There would have to be. I'm still stuck on my theory that lymrics are already songs. Also, I think Nursery Rhymes can be considered both. 'Baa Baa Rainbow Sheep', have you heard that one? I've never heard that without chords and pitch changes; music. I suppose it is still a Nursery 'Rhyme'.

If this kind of repugnant twaddle is to be enjoyed as poetry then we're all immediately made redundant:

"Whoa-ohh-oh
Whoa-ohhh-oh-oh

Ooooh
Oh baby, I've been flyin'
Nooo-yeah
Oh mama there
Ain't no denyin'

Oh!
Ooooh-yes
I've been flyin'
Ma-ma-ma
Ain't no denyin'
No denyin'-uh

Oh!"

- extract from 'Kashmir'.

I think I hear coffin doors opening in Pere Lachaise!

Westminster Abbey is groaning!

The Greek Island of Ios is freezing over!

I'm sure you may all be thinking that there's some sort of poetic famine on, but come out of the dark and back into the light before it's too late!

I suppose I throw in the towel. Half of the words aren't words.

[Paulclem]

I like this poem by Tatamkula Africa. It's free verse, but the stumbling rythmn mimics the effort needed to walk over the wasteland. One of the trngths of fr ersei thatit gives you options.

Nothing’s changed


Small round hard stones click
under my heels,
seeding grasses thrust
bearded seeds
into trouser cuffs, cans,
trodden on, crunch
in tall, purple-flowering,
amiable weeds.


http://southafrica.poetryinternation...hp?obj_id=5497

[Veho]

All the fear has left me now
I'm not frightened anymore
It's my heart that pounds beneath my flesh
It's my mouth that pushes out this breath

And if I shed a tear I won't cage it
I won't fear love
And if I feel a rage a won't deny it
I won't fear love

Companion to our demons
They will dance, and we will play
With chairs, candles and cloth
Making darkness in the day
It will be easy to look in or out
Upstream or down without a thought

Peace in the struggle
To find peace
Comfort on the way
To comfort

(Fumbling Towards Ecstasy - Sarah McLachlan)

[!!!]

the horrors - Scarlett fields, their lyrics are very underrated

As the summer fades away
you'll lead me to the garden
passing the lovers
swooning in the autumn

see yourself, your image in the eyes of someone else
see yourself, your fears as they appear to someone else

when the sun sets
on dark silhouettes
collapse into dream

as summer fades away
laugh at my reflection
passed to a lover
seeking your affection

though i know you won't be here for long

[Revolte]

ok here are a couple.

All Along by Tin Tree Factory ( the lyrics are nowhere to be found so heres the youtube link )

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lc2Ft2990R0


and

saftey pin stuck in my heart - Patrik Fitzgerald ( the punk rock poet )



I don't love you for your graveyard eyes
I don't love you for your shaven thighs
I just love you for that
Beat-beat-beat-beat-beating

I don't love you for your tattered tie
I don't love you, and I don't know why
I just love you for that
Beat-beat-beat-beat-beating


I've got a safety pin stuck in my heart
For you, for you

I don't love you for your professed hate
I don't love you for your cards of fate
I just love you for that
Beat-beat-beat-beat-beating

I don't love you for your painted shoes
I don't love you for your friends you never choose
I just love you for that
Beat-beat-beat-beat-beating

I've got a safety pin stuck in my heart
For you, for you

I don't love you for your many reasons
Propagandas, doctrines, treasons
All I know's that
Beat-beat-beat-beat-beating

I've got an ear inflamed on my dog chain
Painted faces, painted names -
My shirt - it's all that
Beat-beat-beat-beat-beating

I've got a safety pin stuck in my heart
For you, for you

[MartyJones]

Empty is the sky before the sun wakes up.
Empty is the eyes of animals in cages.
Empty, faces of women mourning
When everything's been taken from them.
Me, don't ask me about empty.

Empty is a string of dirty days
Held together by some rain.
And the cold winds drumming at the trees again.
Empty is the color of the fear
Long about September when the days
Go marching in a line toward November.
Empty is the hour before sleep chills you every night
And pushes you to take me away from every kind of light.
Empty is me.
Empty is me.

-Frank Sinatra, "Empty is"

[sixsmith]

I'm sorry to say that I think this thread simply reinforces a fairly well known truth. Song lyrics, to an overwhelming extent, make for awful poetry.

[Pryderi Agni]

Dunno if it's been posted before, but here are two of my faves:

"Shadow Of The Day"

I close both locks below the window
I close both blinds and turn away

Sometimes solutions aren't so simple
Sometimes good bye's the only way

[Chorus]
And the sun will set for you
The sun will set for you

And the shadow of the day
Will embrace the world in grey

And the sun will set for you
[End Chorus]

In cards and flowers on your window
Your friends all plead for you to stay

Sometimes beginnings aren't so simple
Sometimes good bye's the only way

[Chorus]
And the sun will set for you
The sun will set for you

And the shadow of the day
Will embrace the world in grey

And the sun will set for you

And the shadow of the day
Will embrace the world in grey

And the sun will set for you

And the shadow of the day
Will embrace the world in grey

And the sun will set for you
[End Chorus]

And:

Every time I look in the mirror
All these lines on my face getting clearer
The past is gone
It goes by, like dusk to dawn
Isn't that the way
Everybody's got their dues in life to pay

Yeah, I know nobody knows
where it comes and where it goes
I know it's everybody's sin
You got to lose to know how to win

Half my life
is in books' written pages
Lived and learned from fools and
from sages
You know it's true
All the things come back to you

Sing with me, sing for the year
Sing for the laughter, sing for the tears
Sing with me, if it's just for today
Maybe tomorrow, the good lord will take you away

Yeah, sing with me, sing for the year
sing for the laughter, sing for the tear
sing with me, if it's just for today
Maybe tomorrow, the good Lord will take you away

Dream On Dream On Dream On
Dream until your dreams come true
Dream On Dream On Dream On
Dream until your dream comes through
Dream On Dream On Dream On
Dream On Dream On
Dream On Dream On

Sing with me, sing for the year
sing for the laughter, sing for the tear
sing with me, if it's just for today
Maybe tomorrow, the good Lord will take you away
Sing with me, sing for the year
sing for the laughter, sing for the tear
Sing with me, if it's just for today
Maybe tomorrow, the good Lord will take you away......

For the clueless, the two songs are Linkin Park's Shadow of the Day and Aerosmith's Dream On.

[Heathcliff]

I'm sorry to say that I think this thread simply reinforces a fairly well known truth. Song lyrics, to an overwhelming extent, make for awful poetry.

Agreed.

There are one or two that aren't so bad, but it just isn't the same.

[Molpadia]

Lateralus by TOOL is one of the single most beautifully written things I've ever read.

With my feet upon the ground
I move myself between the sounds and
Open wide to suck it in
I feel it move across my skin
I'm reaching up and reaching out
I'm reaching for the random or
Whatever will bewilder me,
Whatever will bewilder me
And following our will and wind
We may just go where no one's been
We'll ride the spiral to the end and
May just go where no one's been...

[Paulclem]

[QUOTE=Vautrin;821511]There are countless songs we consider poetic or, at least, poetic sounding. However, most of these songs, when stripped of their instrumentals, may not hold up so well as serious poetry. /QUOTE]




I'm sorry to say that I think this thread simply reinforces a fairly well known truth. Song lyrics, to an overwhelming extent, make for awful poetry. Sixsmith

The thread began with that premise, but Vautrin was asking for possible exceptions.

[wlz]

"The thread began with that premise, but Vautrin was asking for possible exceptions."

Well in that case...

Diamonds and Rust Lyrics

(Words and Music by Joan Baez)

I'll be damned
Here comes your ghost again
But that's not unusual
It's just that the moon is full
And you happened to call
And here I sit
Hand on the telephone
Hearing a voice I'd known
A couple of light years ago
Heading straight for a fall

As I remember your eyes
Were bluer than robin's eggs
My poetry was lousy you said
Where are you calling from?
A booth in the midwest
Ten years ago
I bought you some cufflinks
You brought me something
We both know what memories can bring
They bring diamonds and rust

Well you burst on the scene
Already a legend
The unwashed phenomenon
The original vagabond
You strayed into my arms
And there you stayed
Temporarily lost at sea
The Madonna was yours for free
Yes the girl on the half-shell
Would keep you unharmed

Now I see you standing
With brown leaves falling around
And snow in your hair
Now you're smiling out the window
Of that crummy hotel
Over Washington Square
Our breath comes out white clouds
Mingles and hangs in the air
Speaking strictly for me
We both could have died then and there

Now you're telling me
You're not nostalgic
Then give me another word for it
You who are so good with words
And at keeping things vague
Because I need some of that vagueness now
It's all come back too clearly
Yes I loved you dearly
And if you're offering me diamonds and rust
I've already paid

The above is far from being poetry but I love these lyrics, (and the song).

[Paulclem]

The above is far from being poetry but I love these lyrics, (and the song).

I like them.