Songs and poems

I realize I've been doing too many song lyrics, but really songs speak so much to me, they are the poetry I'm reading lately, current modern poetry not doing so much for me.

In passing conversation, gossiping about an acquaintance's divorce, I said, 'she's like the girl from the song, who realized at the age of 37 that she would never go to Paris and feel the wind in her hair.' Of course I couldn't remember the song at that moment, but I could remember the essential lyric and how years later, it still resonated. Even if you've been to Paris, and don't particularly like convertibles, you know what she means (for the curious, the song was The Ballad of Lucy Jordan, and the singer Marianne Faithful.)

And I've also been listening to Amy Winehouse's Back to Black. God that's a terrific cd. I really think its one of the years best, it's one of the best debut cd's I've ever heard. Makes me even sadder when I hear of her current crazed situation - not that she didn't describe it in detail in her music. It's like she wrote the script and now she's acting it out. The pain and knowledge and nuance in her voice, and she's all of 24, it's astonishing. I really hope we get to hear more from her...

And then we had homework poetry. My son (4th grade) had to read and analyse a poem. It was William Carlos Williams, The Red Wheelbarrow. Don't fret, here it is:

so much depends upon

a red wheel barrow

glazed with rainwater

beside the white chickens.


So my ten year old declared that he hated it and found it meaningless. I've never read WCW before, and after 10 careful minutes of consideration, I had to give in and google him, because, frankly, the poem didn't speak much to me either. Wikipedia had all sorts of information (as Wikipedia does)

But the link that gave us most joy, was to amazon, where we found this wonderful book - Love that Dog - where a 10 year old boy, who hates poetry because he thinks it's the sort of stuff that girls write, gives his own take on the poem:-

I don't understand
the poem about
the red wheelbarrow
and the white chickens
and why so much depends
on them.

If that is a poem
about red wheelbarrows
and white chickens
then any words can be a poem
You just
got to make
short lines.

Well, we laughed and laughed, it so agreed with his opinion and instantly ordered the book, and I'm so looking forward to reading it with him. It was just lovely to find someone else with his exact opinion, and I imagine the book goes on a bit more about it, but even if it doesn't, it sounds like it will be a lovely introduction to poetry for a 10 year old boy...

Spring Awakening

So last week my husband organized tickets for Duncan Sheik's small concert at this converted Church on the Upper West Side. Duncan Sheik wrote Spring Awakening, a musical that my husband really loved, but I didn't. He loved exactly what didn't work about it for me - which was that it was set in the repressive 1890's in Germany, but the kids would break into rock songs to reveal their inner most thoughts. And I kept thinking, kids who could express themselves like that, wouldn't be as afraid or timid or trapped as they were when they weren't singing. It's incongruity didn't work for me, whereas it was exactly that exploding into song but being so timid to parents and authority figures that worked for him. Well, he loved the music, which I liked but didn't love either.

So I wasn't that excited about the Duncan Sheik concert. But it was actually quite lovely. He sang a few songs from Spring Awakening but mostly sang other stuff, which I didn't know. And he sang some love songs which were so sweet without being mawkish, moving and simple, that I really warmed to him and his style. He was also quite overwhelmed by the response of the audience (about 800 or so? I can never guesstimate crowds properly) and interacted really sweetly with the audience, in what felt to be a genuine manner. So I warmed to him and to his music. We were about the average age of the audience (late 30's, early 40's) There were a few people in their 20's but it wasn't a young audience by any means.

I'll end it with the lyrics from one of the songs he sang, and you'll see what I mean:

Days Go By

I know it's not fashionable
To be this hopeful,
Or laugh away.

I didn't think it was possible
To be this grateful,
Any way.
And I know it's not sensible
To be this passionate,
Everyday.

Days go by.
I catch myself smile
More than you'd ever expect.
It's been a long while
Since it's been okay
To feel this way.

In the volumes of history,
Have you ever seen anything
So pure?
In the wildest mythology,
Were the gods and goddesses ever
So in love?
In your own experience,
Have you ever known tenderness
Like this?

Days go by.
I catch myself smile
More than you'd ever expect.
It's been a long while
Since it's been okay
To feel this way.

These are the most precious of all my days.

Now doesn't that bring a smile to your face? He had quite a few songs like that. Those ones, I liked....