Snarky Opinions, Issue 5: Literacy and The Musician

We once again have a week where there is nothing interesting coming out, and I instead fall back on the chip on my shoulder for ideas.

For my few readers that don't know me personally (if any of you exist), I write poetry and often make the mistake of reading it in public. Sometimes, these readings result in cash from the donation jar, interesting discussion, and a long discussions in diners long into the night (indigestion optional). During one such long discussion, the issue of musicians not coming to poetry readings came up. It's a long-standing gripe with some of the poets, the lack of crossover between the two (to be fair, I don't see many poets at music open mikes either).

Local scene quibbles aside, a topic did come up that is relevant to this blog: the songwriting ability and its association with poetry, writing in general, and how so much music blows chunks these days due to people not reading. I will draw examples from several of my favorites. Nick Cave strikes me as a fantastically literate man. This year's powerhouse from Cave & The Bad Seeds features some amazing songwriting, including practically rewriting The Odyssey and some name dropping and comparison of famous writers, although I disagree that "Bukowski was a jerk." Also from this year, Haale presented a touching and beautiful album strongly influenced by Persian poetry. Haale sets Rumi and other Persian poets to music, and does a fine job of it. She has an MFA in poetry, so I guess you can say she's literate.

I also must mention Tom Waits (you didn't think I'd leave him out, did you?). While literary references don't exactly leap from his music, I do know that he is a reader. I am told that he is a big fan of Edna St. Vincent Millay, but this is rumor as far as I know. But, as far as real evidence is concerned, let's look at 2002's Alice. This album was originally written as music for a play of the same name, based around Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. While the play was based on Lewis Carroll's most famous book, I can't say I really see much influence in the music. However, the unsettling song "Poor Edward" shows that Mr. Waits is familiar with folk tales and oddities. The Edward of this song is based on Edward Mordrake, a young Briton of noble birth who committed suicide at the age of 23 due to a second face that he claimed was driving him mad. Edward Mordrake's tale is often dismissed as being fanciful or at least skewed with retelling, but with the knowledge we have now of conjoined twins and other birth oddities, there is the possibility of a seed of truth to this story. Of course, in order to write a song about such a man, one must know about him, yes? To know, one must research.

Confession: I never liked "Poor Edward." Not because I thought the lyrics or music were bad in any way; it's that the song is so bloody unsettling that I can't stand to listen to it. I now find it twice as unsettling knowing that someone had such a maddening deformity, even if retelling of his short life has altered the facts of the case.

The point that I am getting at is knowledge makes for a better songwriter. How many generic love/hate/depression songs have you heard in your life, coming from musicians that sound the same? Can't begin to count them, can you? How about describing your prior loves as characters from The Odyssey? Impressive, yes? Dragging up old folk tales of mad and deformed nobles? Amazing. I could probably drag up tons of examples (no, you don't need to send me a list of your own examples), but here are but a few musicians that did something downright unusual: they picked up a f#cking book.

So, do yourself a favor and pick up a f#cking book and read it, you AIM-speaking douche.