As I walk through the valley of the shadow of
death
I take a look at my life and realize there's
nothin' left
Something, hum, hum, something…
Been spending most their lives, living in the
gangsta's paradise
Something, something, something, hum…
Tell me why are we so blind to see
That the ones we hurt are you and me
That’s me trying to sing along to Gangsta’s Paradise the other day while I
was watching Dangerous Minds. I
couldn’t really remember much of the song – or the movie for that matter. I
vaguely remembered it as the story of a tiny little white teacher having to
teach a class of streetwise kids from the ‘hood.
What I didn’t remember, was the coolest part of the
whole movie – the way she gets the children to be interested in poetry, by using
music. I loved the idea of the Dylan/Dylan contest!
So this got me thinking – there are so many
songs out there that, if you strip them of the instrumentals they would still
totally stand up as poetry.
Let me just clarify – I’m not saying all
lyrics can be likened to poetry. Despite how well I like big butts rolls off of the tongue, it’s hardly poetry (even
though it actually rhymes!) But there are some really great songs out there
that could be considered as serious poetry. In fact, I think there are many
songs out there far more beautiful than any poems I’ve ever read.
Here’s one of the favourite bits I came
across the other day:
I saw a beggar leaning on his wooden crutch,
He said to me, "You must not ask for so
much."
And a pretty woman leaning in her darkened
door,
She cried to me, "Hey, why not ask for
more?"
~ Leonard Cohen, Bird on a Wire
But my latest thing hasn’t been so much
looking at song lyrics as poetry, but rather plucking one line from songs – one
line packed full of meaning that you can take so much from. I’ve found a few
good ones, and I’ve decided that I’ll line a wall in my house one day with
framed lines from songs.
Like my all time favourites from the Beatles:
All you need is love
Let it be
Take a sad song and make it better
I am the Walrus, goo goo g’joob (Just Kidding)
So far I’ve got:
We’re just two lost souls swimming in a
fishbowl
Don’t worry be happy
Don’t stop believing
Everybody hurts sometimes
It’s the end of the world as we know it, and
I feel fine
Nothing Else Matters
Excuse me while I kiss the sky
Hey Joe, what you doing with that gun in your
hand
There must be some way out of here
Hello darkness, my old friend
There’s a lot to be said for nowhere
I even found a great one by 2 Pac – Even the
genius asks questions.
 |
| It will probably look a little something like this |
 |
| Or this... take a moment to figure it out. |
And so I’m just going to keep collecting cool
lines from songs to add to my wall one day. Let me know if you think of any.
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