Hey Mr. DJ: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle Edition

I have been pretty preoccupied lately and you know what that means, right? I have to relate the DJ post to something that I am already doing. Among other things (my Dad is in ICU in Los Angeles, but we don’t need to deal with that), I am taking a “Modernist Literature” class for an elective. I didn’t review the syllabus well enough and lo! what do we have here; a shitload of poetry. Really boring poetry in arcane language that no one uses any more. Imagine my relief when I got to the 4 or 5 line mini poems like this:

“The Pool”

Are you alive?
I touch you.
You quiver like a sea-fish.
I cover you with my net.
What are you—banded one?

Yeesh. If I thought for one second something wasn’t alive. Poetry has a way of putting you in the scene somehow like literally poking at a dead fish in the sand. Who would write a poem about that? I thought I hated poetry until …

After a few pieces with the class summaries and analysis, I remembered that music lyrics are a form of poetry with varying degrees of quality and rhymywhyminess. Most of the turn of the 20th century poetry rhymes. Set some of it to music and I bet it works. Well, turns out it has been done.

I LOVE music with interesting lyrics that I can relate to. I have one of those “pattern seeking” personalities and find patterns everywhere so a lot of the music I like connects things in my mind somehow. I am not sure why I don’t like poetry; I should. When set to music I “get” it. On the page it reads like it came from a punch card.

Prose is totally different for me. The class did a unit on Faulkner’s “As I Lay Dying”. Totally get the story and how it relates to real life. (Hint: don’t make seriously bad decisions when many people are telling you they are bad decisions and your wife’s dead body is in a pine box on your rickety wagon.)

You guys may or may not be into poetry, but now is the tine to tell us about why you like the songs that you like:

Poetry/prose set to music – Easy. If it was originally a poem or essay and someone set it to music it fits here. This applies to interpretations and mashups. I am surprised at how the music changes the poems.
Music that can be poetry – This is totally subjective. If you think that Van Halen’s “Ice Cream Man” is poetry, who am I to say otherwise? If you can, provide a few lines to show us.
Fun with metaphors – Poetry is full of them. So is music. You know what they are; have fun with them! Is the Ice Cream Man really something else?

Here is the playlist: