Lyrics from bands in same vein as buk (1 Viewer)

I know Modest Mouse some people love it some hate it but you can't deny good poetry.

Travelling swallowing dramamine
Feeling spaced breathing out listerine
Id said what Id said that Id tell ya
And that youd killed the better part of me
If you could just milk it for everything
Ive said what Id said and you know what I mean
But I still cant focus on anything
We kiss on the mouth but still cough down our sleeves
Travelling swallowing dramamine
Look at your face like youre killed in a dream
And you think youve figured out everything
I think I know my geometry pretty damn well
You say what you need so youll get more
If you could just milk it for everything
Ive said what I said and you know what I mean
But I cant still focus on anything
 
What's much more instructive, are song lyrics referencing or directly inspired by Buk.

But I'm guessing there's been many strings on that before, No?
 
Thanks Father Luke!

Some cool stuff there...the Hair reference!?

The Chiodos title brings the Buk to another generation...I know 15-16 year olds who are crazy for that band...maybe someday they'll understand the reference. Or maybe they do now; I should give more credit!
 
Yes, I can deny it.
(whatever that means)
I think that's very bad poetry.

We should probably make the distinction between song lyrics and poetry. Some song lyrics rise to the level of poetry. My main definition of this would be a set of lyrics that can stand on their own. Words you can read, admire and be enlightened by without any musical accompaniment.

But in most cases, 1) lyrics need the music to drive the point home, or 2) are themselves sometimes just a way to flesh out a melody. In either case, they are inseperable from the music.

I know this because I write shitty music and awful lyrics, myself.
See you at the Grammys...
 
In case anyone has wondered, my signature is a Steely Dan lyric excerpt. The song is "Any World (That I'm Welcome To)". And yesterday was Walter Becker's birthday. Happy Birthday Walter.
 
I can see you guys don't like that one
maybe I'm crazy
Probaly
How bout this one

the reception's gotten fuzzy.
the delicate balance has shifted.
put on your gloves and your black pumps.
let's pretend the fog has lifted.

now you see me.
now you don't.
now you say you love me.
pretty soon you won't.

if we get our full threescore and ten,
we won't pass this way again.
so kiss me with your mouth open.
turn the tires toward the street
and stay sweet.

all the chickens come on home to roost.
plump bodies blotting out the sky.
you know it breaks my heart in half, in half
when I see them trying to fly.

'cause you just can't do
things your body wasn't meant to.
hike up your fishnets.
I know you.

if we live to see the other side of this,
I will remember your kiss.
so do it with your mouth open.
and take your foot off of the brake
for christ's sake

The Mountain Goats
 
I can write a rhyming poem
about chickens in the sky

But when I sit down
and start to type
I think to myself

Why?
 
The Mountain Goats, eh ? I don't know a lot about them, but I know there is a connection to John Vanderslice in some way (he produced them/toured with them/collaborated...???). I saw Vanderslice a while back and was pretty impressed with his stuff. This was around 1999-2000, I think.
 
I think there's other Mountain Goats lyrics that would be more appealing to a Bukowski fan. Not to shoot you down or anything, but You or Your Memory or even Broom People are less oblique, which I often find appealing about Bukowski's approach.

You or Your Memory

I checked into a bargain priced room on La Cienega,
gazed out through the curtains of the parking lot.
Walked down to the corner store just before nightfall
in my bare feet.
Black tarry asphalt,
soft and hot.
And when I came back I spread out my supplies.
on the counter by the sink,
I looked myself right in the eyes.

St. joseph's baby aspirin,
bartles and jaymes
and you or your memory.

I ducked behind the drapes when I saw the moon begin to rise,
gathered in my loose ends
switched off the light
and down there in the dark I can see the real truth about me.
as clear as day.
Lord if I make it through tonight
then I will mend my ways
and walk the straight path
to the end of my days.

st. joseph's baby aspirin,
bartles and jaymes,
and you or your memory.

Broom People

36 Hudson in the garage,
all sorts of junk
in the unattatched spare room,
dishes in the kitchen sink,
new straw for the old broom.

Friends who don't have a clue,
well meaning teachers,
but down in your arms,
in your arms,
I am a wild creature.

Floor 2-ft high with newspapers,
white carpet thick with cat-hair,
half-eaten gallons of ice-cream in the freezer,
fresh fuel for the sodium flares.

I write down good reasons to freeze to death
in my spiral-ring notebook,
but in the long tresses of your hair
I am a babbling brook.



I think its hard to write lyrics that can be considered as strong poetry. You are generally restricted to the structure of the song which, usually, needs melody and repetition to be used more obviously than poetry. But, that being said, I would consider a lot of lyrics poetry because musicality and poetry are very closely linked. If you consider the explicit use of rhythmic lyricism in song-writing as a positive thing then it can work effectively.
 
What would Bukowski think? If he's in the afterlife looking down on us reading this, this might be like the fires of hell. Valerian is bad enough.
It is nice to be inspired by him, let the reader decide what may have come through from him. I mean please, read all the other threads. Oh excuse me, I am a babbling brook.
Hey I still love you that you love Bukowski, that's why we are here.
 
This is the best Mountain Goats piece...

No Children

I hope that our few remaining friends
Give up on trying to save us
I hope we come up with a failsafe plot
To piss off the dumb few that forgave us
I hope the fences we mended
Fall down beneath their own weight
And I hope we hang on past the last exit
I hope it's already too late
And I hope the junkyard a few blocks from here
Someday burns down
And I hope the rising black smoke carries me far away
And I never come back to this town
Again in my life
I hope I lie
And tell everyone you were a good wife
And I hope you die
I hope we both die

I hope I cut myself shaving tomorrow
I hope it bleeds all day long
Our friends say it's darkest before the sun rises
We're pretty sure they're all wrong
I hope it stays dark forever
I hope the worst isn't over
And I hope you blink before I do
Yeah I hope I never get sober
And I hope when you think of me years down the line
You can't find one good thing to say
And I'd hope that if I found the strength to walk out
You'd stay the hell out of my way
I am drowning
There is no sign of land
You are coming down with me
Hand in unlovable hand
And I hope you die
I hope we both die
 
What would Bukowski think? If he's in the afterlife looking down on us reading this, this might be like the fires of hell. Valerian is bad enough.
It is nice to be inspired by him, let the reader decide what may have come through from him. I mean please, read all the other threads. Oh excuse me, I am a babbling brook.
Hey I still love you that you love Bukowski, that's why we are here.

I don't really understand your point I don't think, I just want to clarify that I'm not saying the Mountain Goats are lyrically inspired by Bukowski. I only wanted to say that the lyrics chosen were not the most fitting for someone who was looking to draw a comparison. I myself don't really think they're all that similar, but I like both so what the hey.

As for letting the reader decide what may have come through him, it seems an odd thing to say seeing as I am a reader... Maybe I'm misunderstanding the post?

Anyway, not to worry, I'm not being confrontational, I just don't really understand!

But, interestingly (and maybe more fitting for another thread) the question: "what would Bukowski think"... Do you think that is significant at all?
 
I just like people who create things that stimulate my brain if it rhymes or not if it's music or a sculpture made from feces I didn't mean to start a controversy just thought people could add lyrics that were not mundane not that they have to be like bukowski just wanted to know what lyrics people liked
 
But, interestingly (and maybe more fitting for another thread) the question: "what would Bukowski think"... Do you think that is significant at all?

There are many threads that mention what Bukowski would think about this or that. It is usually used by forum trolls when they jump on the forum and then insult the other members for sport. The excuse almost always is that they are just being like Bukowski and that Bukowski would hate everyone on this forum.

I'm not in any way accusing you of this. I'm just letting you know that there are a ton of references to what Bukowski would have thought. If you do a search under that I'm sure you'll some interesting threads.

Best,
Bill
 
What would Bukowski think?
Nothing. If forced to comment would tell them to go create something original, and then suggest that they probably couldn't.

the best lyrics as poetry are those by Bob Dylan, no doubt.
There are no best lyrics as poetry, and Bob Dylan (much of whose music I love) is no exception. That shit ain't poetry. Great songs. Awful, awful poetry.

The two forms, lyrics and poetry, do not overlap. You cannot read lyrics as poetry if you have heard the song. It's impossible. And if you haven't heard the song, the lyrics always read like tenth rate-Dorothy Parker smarmy, rhyming dogshit.

When Allen Ginsberg died I was kind of sad for a moment, and then I thought, "Oh, wait, this means I don't have to hear any of that putrid autoharp pseudo-Eastern bullshit music/poetry of his anymore! THANK GOD!"

Lyrics are lyrics. Stop trying to make them poetry. And for the love of all things human and decent, stop trying to shoehorn Bukowski's poetry into music.

There, I have spoken. I am sure you are all duly impressed.
 
The two forms, lyrics and poetry, do not overlap. You cannot read lyrics as poetry if you have heard the song. It's impossible. And if you haven't heard the song, the lyrics always read like tenth rate-Dorothy Parker smarmy, rhyming dogshit.

For the most part I agree, but you can sometimes find snippets of good poetry buried in song lyrics. But then, as Father Luke pointed out elsewhere, you can find poetry (in a manner of speaking) in the comments of Donald Rumsfeld.
 
I think its natural that Bukowski's influence would be felt in music. He was a populist, and music can be an extremely accessible artform. But that's neither here nor there. I'm not trying to shoehorn his poetry into music (if the accusation was levelled at me), on the contrary I think his poetry is probably some of the least musical I know. I'm not sure if I thought this or read this, but I always like the idea that writers before Bukowski sort of moved poetry towards musicality and Bukowski went one further by moving it towards actual speech.

What I meant by the overlap is writers like T.S. Eliot actively sought to write poetry that moved people in the way that music does, that is to say, the primal response we have to music, he tried to recreate that in his poetry. Also he had a poem (I think The Wasteland) that mirrored Vivaldi's Four Seasons. I'm not sure about that though, but I'm sure there's plenty of examples of that sort of thing.

And the Bukowski, would he care thing, I just meant it as a topic of debate. My personal view is, as said, he would just insist on individuality which in essence was meant to be a way of saying 'who cares what Bukowski would think'.
 
Also, just to add fuel to the fire I suppose...

What about Leonard Cohen? I always felt his lyrics came pretty close to poetry and the music is minimal enough and his voice is close enough to speaking to become a reading? Maybe, I'm really just seeing what others think.
 
I'm not trying to shoehorn his poetry into music (if the accusation was levelled at me)
It was not, unless you have a myspace page somewhere with awful bedroom 64 track computer mewzik mixed really loudly over an old tenth generation cassette version of Bukowski reading a poem. Or unless you have adapted his poetry word for word into laughably horrifying pseudo-OPERA that may well be one of the signs of the apocalypse, or cringe-inducing musical the-ah-tah. But if you have done any of those things, or any similar things that I missed, yes, that was leveled at you.

What I meant by the overlap is writers like T.S. Eliot actively sought to write poetry that moved people in the way that music does, that is to say, the primal response we have to music, he tried to recreate that in his poetry.
Well, you say "tried." Did he succeed or fail?

A musician will always have an advantage because there are chord patterns you can play to make people feel happy, sad, angry, etc. I can write them down for you on a piece of paper and teach you to play them on a guitar in an hour or two. Every musician knows them.

You can throw some marginally passable or suitably meaningless rhyming words over a musical progression that has a known effect on the vast majority of humanity, and it will elicit reactions that neither the music or the words deserve on their own. But yes, together they can be magic.

That is why I say that the very best example of a song lyric that you can find will never, ever stand up to any of the thousand or so greatest poems. The great poem is infinitely more difficult to achieve. I speak from 40 years of experience failing at both, so I think my opinion should count for something. ;)

You bring Eliot and Vivaldi into it, but that's way off topic and a whole other kettle of fish. I think the bulk of these discussions have been about song lyrics, not classical music.
 
i hope PaulFowler keeps posting despite not always agreeing with other members here... i can't remember seeing a new member show up who rolls with the punches and lucidly explains his/her opinions without being a dick or getting defensive (myself included) as well as he does.
 
I like Stan Ridgeway (from Wall of Voodoo), Lou Reed, Jim Morrison, Dylan, Tom Waits, Richard Hell as far as music folks who had some good lyrics that would actually qualify as poetry. Maybe X, too.
 
You bring Eliot and Vivaldi into it, but that's way off topic and a whole other kettle of fish. I think the bulk of these discussions have been about song lyrics, not classical music.

Ha, its funny because I tried to edit my post (obviously for some reason I couldn't manage that...) to say 'But that's way off topic, and in any case I'm comparing classical and poetry which is not the same as saying song lyrics and poetry can be similar. All I'm saying is poetry and music can achieve the same effect whereas lyrics, generally, can't.' Or something to that effect. Basically, I agree.

And thanks Jordan, I appreciate it. I don't want to be seen as only coming on here to argue or anything!
 
There have been some lively discussion, eh.

For my part, I agree that poetry and lyrics are as separate as
chorus and free verse.
 
I am not too keen on absolutes...

I hear you and agree with a lot that has been said.

I don't like rhyming poems for the most part, but Dylan rhymes in an unorthodox way that lends power when reading his songs off a page.

just picking one Dylan song rather quickly and reading the lyrics I found it to be pretty darn good:

ETERNAL CIRCLE

I sang the song slowly
As she stood in the shadows
She stepped to the light
As my silver strings spun
She called with her eyes
To the tune I's a-playin'
But the song it was long
And I'd only begun

Through a bullet of light
Her face was reflectin'
The fast fading words
That rolled from my tongue
With a long-distance look
Her eyes was on fire
But the song it was long
And there was more to be sung.

My eyes danced a circle
Across her clear outline
With her head tilted sideways
She called me again
As the tune drifted out
She breathed hard through the echo
But the song it was long
And it was far to the end

I glanced at my guitar
And played it pretendin'
That of all the eyes out there
I could see none
As her thoughts pounded hard
Like the pierce of an arrow
But the song it was long
And it had to get done

As the tune finally folded
I laid down the guitar
Then looked for the girl
Who'd stayed for so long
But her shadow was missin'
For all of my searchin'
So I picked up my guitar
And began the next song
 
And for the love of all things human and decent, stop trying to shoehorn Bukowski's poetry into music.

But you know, there's this Norwegian woman with a smokey voice... :p
 
i hope PaulFowler keeps posting despite not always agreeing with other members here... i can't remember seeing a new member show up who rolls with the punches and lucidly explains his/her opinions without being a dick or getting defensive (myself included) as well as he does.
Yes, I think Ponder is right. Thank you Mr. Fowler.
I am always impressed by the power and depth of debate in this forum. If someone is off base in this forum the knowledgable ones around here will state the facts.
I make about as much a point as a bowling ball.;)
 
But you know, there's this Norwegian woman with a smokey voice... :p
Kersteenie Abjorgelsnostensen! I love her smokey music for the soundtrack of There's gonna be a god damn riot in here. You can hear it faintly in the background right around the 58 minute mark of the DVD...
 
Definitely Oranges.
No wait - apples.
Pineapple?
Ok, you win - banana.
 
For my part, I agree that poetry and lyrics are as separate as chorus and free verse.
Rimshot!

Maybe that's how the old Jim Carrol recording sessions went back in the 70's (or was it the 80's? I've tried to put them out of my mind) - "Okay guys, verse, verse, chorus, free verse, chorus, and we're out."
 

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