Thursday, March 25, 2010

Between Music and Poetry



Saul Williams - DNA

I've been reflecting upon my iPod recently.  A lot of the stuff you find in there is stuff you wouldn't find on the average black man's iPod.  And While I realize the obvious answer to that is 'I'm not the average black man' I had to try and figure out precisely what it was that drew me to some of this music.  In a completely left-brain sense, a lot of it isn't very good.  The voices, the instruments, the composition.  And yet, I not only like it, I covet it.  i crave, at times, the disonorous rasp of CocoRosie, or Cat Power's addled interpretations.  So what is it about these songs?

In a word: Poetry.  They blur the lines between song and spoken word, all of them.  And with a little bit of prompting i'm almost always singing along.  The lyrics are the first thing I get down, before the tune or the rhythm.  All my music, at least all the music I really, really go nuts for, blur the line between song and poem.

Just a nutty little piece of reflection for you.  Carry on.



Milk Thistle - Conor Oberst

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The in-betweens

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