Thursday, June 13, 2019
VA - Poems That Became Songs CD1 + CD2 + CD3
POETRY IN ROCK
VA - Poems That Became Songs (A Butterboy Compilation) CD1 + CD2 + CD3
Poetry is often defined as putting the fewest possible word together to obtain the greatest amount of meaning. This can also be true when constructing song lyrics, however there are a few differences. Firstly, you wouldn't want a song to be too short as in the poetry of the world shortest poem by American poet Strickland Gillilan titled "Flea". The poem reads in full: Adam. Had em'.
Historically, poems were sung to music but now we tend to write them down and read them on the page. We can read a poem at our own pace, taking all the time we need to understand and react to each beautiful line. Songs, on the other hand, forces us to move along in tune with the music’s pace. Listeners need to understand enough on the fly to be drawn into the lyric and stay involved. Poetry is as subjective as is musical taste but if we look closer we will be delighted to find some wonderful poetry written as lyrics in a song. Sometimes if we look at or read a poetic lyric we can understand the meaning of the song more and intern appreciate it more. I dont suggest we read the lyric alone as if it were a poem, that would sell short the songwriters music and word collaboration. I believe we should understand the lyric with its music as poetry. If the music that accompanies the words is beautiful it will make the meaning even more accessible and joyous. So for me the words are just as important as the music. A songwriter must make great decisions when making music so as to elevate the words we hear, as if the words and music were born together. If a songwriter does this job well they will be immortalized, whatever the genre.
Here are some examples of fine poetry in rock music. While most song here are by the original artists not every song is by the original writer and have been chosen for their emotional impact and for their lyrical beauty. I have selected these songs because they have something to say and because they touch me deeply. As a bonus I have included a 3rd disc of music where the poems have been turned into songs. There are some wonderful moments there to be found. Enjoy
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VA - Poetry in Rock CD1 (A Butterboy Compilation)
https://www79.zippyshare.com/v/satza82m/file.html
VA - Poetry in Rock CD2 (A Butterboy Compilation)
https://www79.zippyshare.com/v/R7isHZuL/file.html
VA - Poems That Became Songs CD3 (A Butterboy Compilation)
https://www79.zippyshare.com/v/y7VXzMil/file.html
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Tracklist 1
01 Cat Stevens - Morning Has Broken :03:20 1971
02 Simon & Garfunkel - The Sounds of Silence :03:09 1966
03 Prince - When Doves Cry :03:48 1984
04 Don McLean - Vincent :04:00 1971
05 Sam Cooke - A Change is Gonna Come :03:13 1964
06 Bob Dylan - Blowing in the Wind :02:45 1963
07 Jethro Tull - Acres Wild :03:23 1978
08 Leonard Cohen - Lady Midnight :03:02 1969
09 Verve Pipe - The Freshmen :04:30 1992
10 Doors - Riders on the Storm :07:22 1971
11 Pink Floyd - Brain Damage :03:51 1973
12 Passenger - Let Her Go :04:12 2012
13 Billy Thorpe - Over the Rainbow :03:54 2007
14 Led Zeppelin - Stairway to Heaven :08:02 1971
15 Bruce Springsteen - The River :05:03 1979
16 Harry Chapin - Taxi :06:45 1972
17 Rolling Stones - Wild Horses :05:43 1971
18 Elton John - Candle in the Wind :03:50 1973
19 Tom Jones - Tower of Song :03:57 2012
20 Oasis - Live Forever :04:37 1994
21 Billy Joel - Until the Night :06:36 1978
22 Procol Harum - A Whiter Shade of Pale :04:08 1967
23 Scorpions - Always Somewhere :04:57 1979
24 Carly Simon - That's the Way I've Always Heard it Should Be :04:18 1971
25 Elvis Presley - Are You Lonesome Tonight :03:09 1960
Tracklist 2
26 Leonard Cohen - Hallelujah :04:39 1984
27 Buffalo Springfield - For What It's Worth :02:32 1966
28 U2 - One :04:35 1992
29 Laura Nyro - Stoney End :02:48 1967
30 Johnny Cash - Hurt :03:39 1994
31 Hank Williams - I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry :02:48 1949
32 Bob Dylan - The Times They Are A-Changin' :03:13 1964
33 Neil Young - After the Goldrush :03:47 1970
34 Rolling Stones - Sympathy for the Devil :06:18 1968
35 Joan Baez - Diamonds and Rust :04:46 1975
36 Bob Dylan - Highway 61 Revisited :03:19 1965
37 Johnny Cash - I Walk the Line :02:44 1956
38 Jefferson Airplane - The Other Side of This Life :06:45 1969
39 Peter Gabriel - In Your Eyes :05:32 1994
40 Animals - House of the Rising Sun :04:29 1964
41 Midnight Oil - Beds Are Burning :04:17 1987
42 Bruce Springsteen - Born to Run :04:33 1975
43 Bee Gees - How Can You Mend a Broken Heart :03:58 1972
44 John Lennon - Imagine :03:04 1971
45 Beatles - Yesterday :02:06 1965
46 Pulp - I'm a Man :05:00 1998
47 Porcupine Tree - Arriving Somewhere But Not Here :11:26 2005
48 Pink Floyd - Comfortably Numb :06:20 1979
49 CÅ“ur De Pirate - Tu Oublieras Mon Nom :03:13 2015
50 Queen - The Show Must Go On :04:36 1991
Tracklist 3
01 Leonard Cohen - Suzanne :03:48 1967
02 Donovan - Jabberwocky :02:37 1971
03 Doors - Not to Touch the Earth :03:55 1968
04 Billie Holiday - Strange Fruit :03:12 1939
05 Joni Mitchell - If :05:33 2007
06 Loreena McKennitt - Snow :05:35 1987
07 John Denver - The Box :02:48 1971
08 Keane - A Bad Dream :05:07 2006
09 Fleetwood Mac - Dragonfly :02:48 1971
10 TLC - Unpretty :04:40 2009
11 John Cale - Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night :03:44 1989
12 Dead Can Dance - How Fortunate the Man With None :09:10 1993
13 Chris Thompson - The Song of Wandering Aengus :04:30 1973
14 Donovan - Walrus and the Carpenter :08:35 1971
15 Jim Morrison - An American Prayer :03:05 1978
16 Rufus-Wainwright - Sonnet 29 :03:01 2016
17 Loreena McKennitt - Lullaby :04:26 1985
18 Phil Ochs - I Ain't Marching Anymore :02:37 1965
19 Alan Parsons Project - A Dream Within a Dream :04:14 1976
20 Martina McBride - When You Are Old :03:07 1992
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looks fab! (for me, esp disc 3). cheers; another winner A
ReplyDeleteThanks Antony j
DeleteHope you enjoy this compilation.
Cheers
What a lovely concept and follow-through; this one _asks_ for the personal touch in its selections, and (just going by the tracklist) does not disappoint. Now you've got me just itching to dig through my Vault's deeper reaches, for earlier-era poems-into-song. E.g., Joyce Kilmer's 1913 classic, "Trees" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2k-gkA2kCg), one of my grandmother's favorites. Hmm...
ReplyDeleteHi Aging Child,
DeleteWith this lot I tired to keep the poetry in rock genre. There are so many more songs with poetic lyric that I will probably do another volume (Half of Bob Dylan's work could be include. I also tried to include songs I haven't used before in my comps.
But I struggled to find actual poems that became songs. Love to know if there are more that I could have include. Enjoy the music. Thanks for the link.
Cheers.
I think these selections are excellent (e.g., the easily overlooked "Dream Within a Dream"), and your boundaries of staying within the rock oeuvre wise. Even beyond Dylan's vast catalog and Morrison's own poesy-rich oeuvre (plus Graeme Edge's contributions to the Moody Blues), more poetry can doubtless be found in Folk and some higher-brow Jazz (not that there's much lowbrow jazz). You've got me really curious about poetry in recorded popular music of, say, the 1890s-1920s or so... hardly Rock, even in it roots, yet some of it still foundational. And I might be able to pull together a CD's worth, or two; hmm...
Delete