暗网吃瓜

暗网吃瓜 music theorist explores the interrelationship between poetry, lyrics, and music.

Reading the opening lines of Van Morrison鈥檚 鈥淚nto the Mystic,鈥� , an associate professor of music theory at the , notes that 鈥渢he song is widely viewed as a classic and a great song. However, it is not great poetry.鈥�

Concurring in that view is Morrison himself. When Rolling Stone magazine interviewed him for a 1978 article about the lyrics, he suggested people take them too seriously, and the words might even be 鈥渋rrelevant.鈥�

We were born before the wind

Also, younger than the sun

鈥楨re the bonnie boat was won

As we sailed into the mystic.

Someone studying Morrison鈥檚 songs could be convinced they should overlook the lyrics to focus on other elements, like harmony, texture, vocal timbre,听 rhythm, and meter. But BaileyShea shows in his new book that with close attention, there is a great deal to savor in Morrison’s words.

In the book, (Yale University Press 2021), BaileyShea takes a basic understanding of poetry to explore and draw attention to words, and the sounds of the language to get a deeper interpretation of songs from a wide variety of music styles, from hip-hop to rock to art songs. The goal of the book, he says, is 鈥渢o get people thinking more carefully about the subtle, sophisticated details of song lyrics, especially in how they relate to the music.鈥�

BaileyShea has been teaching music theory in both the and the 听since 2003. The relationship between poetic texts and their musical settings has long been a focus for BaileyShea, who organized a symposium for the University鈥檚 to explore the topic. The interdisciplinary gathering engaged scholars from the Eastman School, the and the .

Q&A with Matt BaileyShea

When did you first start thinking about the connection between poetry and song lyrics?

叠补颈濒别测厂丑别补:听I鈥檝e been studying vocal music for decades, but about 10 years ago I began thinking more seriously about the question 鈥淲ho sings to whom?鈥� in song. I was recognizing that songs often shift pronouns in ways that make this question a bit complicated鈥斺�渉e鈥� becomes 鈥淚鈥� becomes 鈥測ou,鈥� and so forth. I asked [the Joseph Henry Gilmore Professor of English and renowned poet] for some help with this and he graciously agreed to meet with me. He gave me excellent advice about lyric poetry in general, and I eventually sat in on one of his poetry courses, which was especially eye-opening. It really changed the way I think about poetry and song. The book mainly emerged from those early discussions with him.听

There鈥檚 an ongoing debate about whether song lyrics should be treated as poetry. You鈥檙e interested in both song lyrics and poetry, but are not especially interested in this debate. Why not?

叠补颈濒别测厂丑别补:听In most cases, song lyrics are conceived and written in lines, using rhymes, metaphors, imagery, and much else that we often find in poetry. Pop songwriters don鈥檛 usually intend to have people read them aloud as if they were poems鈥攊t would usually sound silly if we did鈥攂ut we can certainly benefit from thinking about the poetic elements of a song. That鈥檚 the main goal of my book: to get people thinking more carefully about the subtle, sophisticated details of song lyrics, especially in how they relate to the music.

Yet Bob Dylan was a recent recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature, and we often see written collections of lyrics by people like Leonard Cohen, Jay-Z, or Kurt Cobain. Do you think it makes sense to see certain lyricists as great poets?

叠补颈濒别测厂丑别补:听Personally, when I want to read poems, I鈥檇 rather pick up a book by a contemporary poet like Terrance Hayes. When I want to experience lyrics鈥攚hether by Joni Mitchell or Jay-Z鈥擨鈥檇 rather listen to the songs. That鈥檚 the thing about lyrics; they must work well with music. Also, I think we get caught up too often in silly stereotypes about artistic value. People sometimes suggest that calling a songwriter a 鈥済reat poet鈥� is the ultimate compliment. The implication is that writing song lyrics is inherently inferior to writing poetry. But why? They鈥檙e both very hard to do well.

Throughout your book, you engage your readers in discussions of songwriters and musicians that span a range of musical styles, such as Kendrick Lamar, Patti Smith, Benjamin Britten, and Bj枚rk. You also look at poetry by people like Anne Sexton, Robert Frost, and William Blake. Was there difficulty in choosing which works and artists to focus on? What was the process like?

叠补颈濒别测厂丑别补:听I mostly drew from poetry and songs that I was listening to at the time. I have relatively broad tastes, so the playlist for the book ends up looking somewhat haphazard. But I think it鈥檚 a good thing. Most readers will probably recognize a least a few songs and poems that they already know and enjoy. And the diversity of repertoire is crucial for another reason: it allows us to identify similar patterns and strategies across a wide range of texts.

What do you want readers to gain from your work?听

BaileyShea: I mostly just hope the book makes people enjoy reading poetry and listening to songs more than they already do. I imagine many of my readers will be coming at this from either the poetry side or the music side. Hopefully it helps poetry fans listen more closely to lyrics. And hopefully it makes musicians into fans of poetry.

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