It almost is a poem. I wouldn't have thought it a song.Originally Posted by wlz
It almost is a poem. I wouldn't have thought it a song.
For I have known them all already, known them all:
Have known the evenings, mornings, afternoons,
I have measured out my life with coffee spoons;
I know the voices dying with a dying fall
Beneath the music from a farther room.
So how should I presume?Eliot
This is by The Verve - Sonnet, though they're not. Great song and a few good lines.
Sonnet lyrics
My friend and me
Looking through her red box of memories
Faded I'm sure
But love seems to stick in her veins you know
Yes, there's love if you want it
Don't sound like no sonnet, my lord
Yes, there's love if you want it
Don't sound like no sonnet, my lord
My lord
Why can't you see
That nature has its way of warning me
Eyes open wide
Looking at the heavens with a tear in my eye
Yes, there's love if you want it
Don't sound like no sonnet, my lord
Yes, there's love if you want it
Don't sound like no sonnet, my lord
My lord
Sinking fast within a boat without a hull
My lord
Dreaming about the day when I can see you there
My side
By my side
Here we go again and my head is gone, my lord
I stop to say hello
'Cause I think you should know by now
By now
By now
By now
By now
By now
Oh, by now
Oh, by now
Oh, by now
Oh, by now
That would make a wonderful poem. Maybe not, the last few lines, but there are some fine quality phrases in that.
Fall for You - Secondhand Serenade
Best thing about tonight's that we’re not fighting
Could it be that we have been this way before
I know you don’t think that I am trying......
I know you’re wearing thin down to the core..
But hold your breath
Because tonight will be the night that i will fall for you
Over again
Don’t make me change my mind
Or I won’t live to see another day
I swear its true
Because a girl like you is impossible to find
You’re impossible to find
This is not what I intended
I always swore to you I'd never fall apart
You always thought that I was stronger
I may have failed
But I have loved you from the start
Oh, But hold your breath
Because tonight will be the night that I will fall for you
Over again
Don’t make me change my mind
Or I won’t live to see another day
I swear it’s true
Because a girl like you is impossible to find
It’s impossible
________________________
Well, that is most of it.
My favourite song for a while.
Not bad.
For I have known them all already, known them all:
Have known the evenings, mornings, afternoons,
I have measured out my life with coffee spoons;
I know the voices dying with a dying fall
Beneath the music from a farther room.
So how should I presume?Eliot
Lateralus by TOOL is one of the single most beautifully written things I've ever read.
You need to read more.
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.
I don't love you for your graveyard eyes
I don't love you for your shaven thighs...
Yep... they just get worse and worse.
Beware of the man with just one book. -Ovid
The man who doesn't read good books has no advantage over the man who can't read them.- Mark Twain
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My favoritest band ever is U2. I love their songs. I hardly ever listen to music Willingly unless it is one of their albums.
However, do their lyrics make good poetry?
One of my favorite songs by them is Yaweh from their album "How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb".
YAWEH
Take these shoes
Click clacking down some dead end street
Take these shoes
And make them fit
Take this shirt
Polyester white trash made in nowhere
Take this shirt
And make it clean (clean)
Take this soul
Stranded in some skin and bones
Take this soul
And make it sing
Yahweh, Yahweh
Always pain before a child is born
Yahweh, Yahweh
Still I'm waiting for the dawn
Take these hands
Teach them what to carry
Take these hands
Don't make a fist (no)
Take this mouth
So quick to criticise
Take this mouth
Give it a kiss
Yahweh, Yahweh
Always pain before a child is born
Yahweh, Yahweh
Still I'm waiting for the dawn
Still waiting for the dawn... sun is coming up
Sun is coming up on the ocean
This love is like a drop in the ocean
This love is like a drop in the ocean
Yahweh, Yahweh
Always pain before a child is born
Yahweh, tell me now
Why the dark before the dawn?
Take this city
A city should be shining on a hill
Take this city
If it be your will
What no man can own, no man can take
Take this heart
Take this heart
Take this heart
And make it break
Is it deep? Yes. Does it make me sing along in my off-tune, unmelodious voice? Yes. Does it make me cry sometimes when I listen closely to the words and the passion and uncertainty behind Bono's voice? Yes.
Are the lyrics on their own good poetry? Nope, though since I love the song I want to say yes.
But, does it mean that there will never be a song whose lyrics can stand alone as good poetry?
Not by a long shot. I'd just say we're waiting for a poet to become a rock star.
That was pretty uncalled for. I didn't go out of my way to demean your preferences. I'm not sure what you did that put you in such a venerated position justifying you making such judgments.Lateralus by TOOL is one of the single most beautifully written things I've ever read.
You need to read more.
Og ég fæ blóðnasir
En ég stend alltaf upp
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.
That was the premise of the post. i think posters are enjoying the thread anyway.
The disadvantage that song lyrics have is that they are crafted to the music which then rounds off the form. It may contain interesting lines, but it is not solely reliant upon the words. There isn't the adherence to poetic form that you get with poetry, and the emphasis and power id focused often upon the music. Despite that there are still good lines within the lyrics.
Hmm Paulclem, I think that makes songs - GOOD SONGS - superior to poetry, as it is double poetry: a poetry of words and music (music might add a great touch to the words, even a change in the meaning)!
Mechanix by Megadeth
You need your metaphor detectors [ON]
Imagine you were at my station
And you brought your motor to me
Your a burner yeah a real motor car
Said you wanna get your order filled
Made me shiver when I put it in
Pumping just won't do ya know luckily for you
Whoever thought you'd be better
At turning a screw than me
I do it for my life
Made my drive shaft crank
Made my pistons bulge
Made my ball bearing melt from the heat
oh yeah yeah
We were shifting hard when we took off
Put tonight all four on the floor
When we hit top end you know it feels to slow
Said you wanna get your order filled
Made me shiver when I put it in
Pumping just won't do ya know luckily for you
I'm giving you my room service
And ya know it's more than enough
Oh one more time ya know I'm in love
Megadeth - Black Friday
Hey, I don't feel so good.
Something's not right,
Something's coming over me
What the **** is this?
Killer, intruder, homicidal man.
If you see me coming, run as fast as you can.
A blood thirsty demon who's stalking the street.
I hack up my victims like pieces of meat.
Blood thirsty demon, sinister fiend,
Bludgeonous slaughters, my evil deeds.
My hammer's a cold piece of blood-lethal steel.
I grin while you writhe with the pain that I deal.
Swinging the hammer, I hack through their heads,
Deviant defilers, you're next to be dead.
I unleash my hammer with sadistic intent.
Pounding, surrounding, slamming through your head. Yeah!
Their bodies convulse, in agony, and, pain.
I mangle their faces, till no features remain.
A blade for the butchering, I cut them to shreds.
First take out the organs, then cut off the head.
The remains of flesh now sop under my feet.
One more bloody massacre, the murders' complete.
I seek to dismember, a sadist fiend.
And, blood baths are my way of getting clean.
I lurk in the alleys, wait for the kill.
I have no remorse for the blood that I spill
A merciless butcher who lives underground.
I'm out to destroy you and ,I will, cut you down.
I see you, and, I'm waiting ,for Black Friday.
Killer, intruder, homicidal man.
If you see me coming, run as fast as you can.
A blood thirsty demon who's stalking the street.
I hack up my victims like pieces of meat.
I lurk in the alleys, wait for the kill.
I have no remorse for the blood that I spill
A merciless butcher who lives underground.
I'm out to destroy you and ,I will, cut you down.
It's Black Friday, paint the devil on the wall.
'Anger's my meat; I sup upon myself,
And so shall starve with feeding.'
Volumnia in Coriolanus
Yes. It probably explains the vast expansion of music in relation to poetry. It also does credit to memorable poetry which doesn't have the musical backup, just the internal music.Hmm Paulclem, I think that makes songs - GOOD SONGS - superior to poetry, as it is double poetry: a poetry of words and music (music might add a great touch to the words, even a change in the meaning)!
It probably explains the vast expansion of music in relation to poetry.Yes. It probably explains the vast expansion of music in relation to poetry. It also does credit to memorable poetry which doesn't have the musical backup, just the internal music.
I said good music so the expansion is not that vast!
the internal music
Ha! Got me with that one!
One thing I could repeat though, is that music can stand alone for poetry, so once again, the amount of poetry is increased...
My eclecticism is as big as an ipod, (though not my wallet). I think there's loads of great music, and I guess you're right about the poetry of music.
Not sure that I've ever heard song lyrics that could stand alone as poetry, but there is a certain buoyancy in The Smiths at their best:
Punctured bicycle
On a hillside desolate
Will nature make a man of me yet ?
When in this charming car
This charming man
Why pamper life's complexity
When the leather runs smooth
On the passenger seat ?
I would go out tonight
But I haven't got a stitch to wear
This man said "it's gruesome
That someone so handsome should care"
Ah ! A jumped-up pantry boy
Who never knew his place
He said "return the ring"
He knows so much about these things
He knows so much about these things
I Know It's Over is probably the pinnacle...
Oh Mother, I can feel the soil falling over my head
And as I climb into an empty bed
Oh well. Enough said.
I know it's over - still I cling
I don't know where else I can go
Oh ...
Oh Mother, I can feel the soil falling over my head
See, the sea wants to take me
The knife wants to slit me
Do you think you can help me ?
Sad veiled bride, please be happy
Handsome groom, give her room
Loud, loutish lover, treat her kindly
(Though she needs you
More than she loves you)
And I know it's over - still I cling
I don't know where else I can go
Over and over and over and over
Over and over, la ...
I know it's over
And it never really began
But in my heart it was so real
And you even spoke to me, and said :
"If you're so funny
Then why are you on your own tonight ?
And if you're so clever
Then why are you on your own tonight ?
If you're so very entertaining
Then why are you on your own tonight ?
If you're so very good-looking
Why do you sleep alone tonight ?
I know ...
'Cause tonight is just like any other night
That's why you're on your own tonight
With your triumphs and your charms
While they're in each other's arms..."
It's so easy to laugh
It's so easy to hate
It takes strength to be gentle and kind
Over, over, over, over
It's so easy to laugh
It's so easy to hate
It takes guts to be gentle and kind
Over, over
Love is Natural and Real
But not for you, my love
Not tonight, my love
Love is Natural and Real
But not for such as you and I, my love
Oh Mother, I can feel the soil falling over my head
Oh Mother, I can feel the soil falling over my head
Oh Mother, I can feel the soil falling over my head
Oh Mother, I can feel the soil falling over my ...
Oh Mother, I can feel the soil falling over my head
Oh Mother, I can even feel the soil falling over my head
Oh Mother, I can feel the soil falling over my head
Oh Mother, I can feel the soil falling over my ...
Depressing words, depressing song - superb for a moody night.
Yea I guess sad songs are alright. Only great if you want to cry. Then again, a lot of poems are like that. Maybe I'm just squeamish.
For I have known them all already, known them all:
Have known the evenings, mornings, afternoons,
I have measured out my life with coffee spoons;
I know the voices dying with a dying fall
Beneath the music from a farther room.
So how should I presume?Eliot
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