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Dust treaders challenge. fav. author/poet.
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Dust treaders challenge. fav. author/poet. |
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brian madden Member Elite
since 2000-05-06
Posts 4374ireland 
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Rock and roll is the new poetry. "Poetry is the new rock and roll". I am sure someone would have said this if they had known what rock and roll was back in the era of Shakespeare. And indeed Shakespeare and Rimbaud were the rock stars of their era. These days the only poetry kids/teenagers seem to read is what they forced to read and learn at school. This is my first courting with Emily Dickinson, Yeats, Kavanagh and Kinsella. I was sixteen and I and finally discovered poetry I could relate to. Kavanagh especially spoke to me, I was well able to relate to this poem "Iskeen Road" which talked of isolation in a small rural village. It was also the year my own education would begin and new horizons would be opened to me. I had been writing poetry for awhile, taking my inspiration from various lyrics from the inlay sleeves of CDs in my collection, so my earliest poems not like Jim Morrison's musical poems but like cheesy punk rock lyrics. Then I heard a song that changed my life. Strangely enough it was called A Design for Life. The opening line to the song was " Libraries gave us power." The band was called Manic Street Preachers. I rushed out and bought the album, listened to it again and again. It was like nothing I had heard before, a new language almost. After listening to it constantly I was speaking in tongues. These were the first lyrics to speak to me, the first songs that I could relate to. This was not whiny punk, this was music with heart and a soul. This was poetry, " Here chewing your tail is joy," (Small black flowers that grow in the sky) " The circular landscape comes back only with regret." (Further away). Rock and Roll has been proclaimed the new poetry before. For example Kurt Cobain was hailed as a voice of a generation but his lyrics mean nothing to me. Without trying to turn this into a rock and roll history lesson, I shall briefly explain the intellectual musical revolution led by the Manic Street Preachers. It was the early '90's, and the music scene in Britain and Ireland at the time was the E generation of raves and dance music and Manchester bands, music had no message. Then there arrived four angry working-class men from Wales (at the time the Welsh was looked down on by the rest of the British Isles.) who mixed the anger of true punk (punk was considered long dead at this stage), the glamour of glam rock, socialist ideals. They literally "spat out Plath and Pinter". (Faster). The music press of course ripped them apart for daring to try and say something intelligent. To every insult, to every criticism the band always had an answer. Here was a band that lived and believed what they spoke, they were the first honest rock band of the nineties, and one of the most intelligent rock bands ever. They read everything from Orwell, Ginsberg, the beats, Kesey, Nabokov, Rhinehart and Salinger and condensed them into song lyrics. Their first album took on the world attacking everything from banks, the monarchy, drugs, large corporations, sexism (Little baby nothing. Which was a duet with ex-porn star Traci Lords.) they talked of "Culture, alienation, boredom and despair." Their second album even had a song about old war veterans who are brought out for memorial parades " Wheeled out once a year, a cenotaph souvenir. The applause nails down my silence" and returned to their homes penniless to "I retreat into self-pity, it's so easy. Where they patronise my misery." (La Tristesse Durea - scream to a sigh). While this may sound depressing and grim, the music accompanying the lyrics is not. However, the song is handled with such emotion, as to lend itself to the lyrics. Their third album was their most grim to date and their last album as a four piece. One of the Lyricists (they have two) Richey Edwards wrote most of the lyrics to the album, it was to be their darkest album ever (very joy division in mood), dealing with subjects such as the concentrations camps (which they visited, both lyricists studied politics in university) anorexia, prostitution. While the lyrics addressed man's evils in general they were deeply personal. "When you gaze long into the abyss, the abyss also gazes into you". Nietzsche In Richey's case this was frighteningly true, unlike Cobain who died a rock and roll suicide, Richey simply vanished leaving the band (his childhood friends) forever and taking with him his problems caused by looking for perfection in a less than perfect world. He once wrote, " I want to walk in the snow And not leave a footprint I want to walk in the snow And not soil its purity."(4st 7lbs). lyrics about anorexia, which he suffered from as well self-mutilation and alcoholism. This was not another rock and roll tragedy, it was just a tragedy. Richey had these problems a small scale before the band, he had the same disillusionment with life only Rock and Roll sped it up. The band have made the hard choice to continue without their childhood friend, and it is with their fourth album Everything must Go which has the hit single A Design for Life that have received the success and respect they deserved. However this is not about the band this is what they represent. Until I was sixteen I never had a band that I could relate to. I now know how the children of the 60's felt in the age of flower power when music had a message of love and peace. With the Manics it is the same, to their fans they are more than a band. They are like messengers bringing forth the words of Cumus, Orwell, Dylan Thomas. They have made poetry and literature sexy. It is through the band that I have been prompted to read a variety of poets and authors that I would have otherwise ignored. Nicky Wire and Richey Edwards are the two people who made rock and roll the new poetry. Richey especially, sadly it was only with the last album that his poetic genius was revealed. The album the Holy Bible was his testimony to the evils of mankind. Three songs, where he had written the lyrics and heard demo versions before he disappeared, are on their fourth album. For all Manics fans Richey was the poet of our generation. "Words are never enough just cheap tarnished glitter," A lyric from their song, From Despair to Where, ironical it was their words that mattered, that brought people like us poetry and literature and gave us power. Power and improvement through education. I dedicate this essay to the Manic Street Preachers, the only band to walk on stage to Ginesberg's "The Howl" and to have a top ten single with a sound byte from the movie 1984, the only band to tell the truth and the band who made rock music the new poetry. Removables (R.Edwards). Conscience binds you in chains Trail by stone hammer and nails No-one made the holes but me Misery mourns to be devoured Killed God blood soiled unclean again Killed God blood soiled skin dead again Again everywhere again *All removables, all transitory All removables, passing always All removables, all transitory All removables, passing always Never grown preserved gently A bronze moth dies easily Unknown to others weak to me Broken hands never ending Aimless rut of my own perception Numbly waiting for voices to tell me For voices to tell me *repeat chorus again. LOVE TORN US UNDER (R.Edwards/ maybe N.Wire). Heaven's weariness I'm climbing the walls Asleep, I daydream I'd could change it all Running from something too painful to face Epitaph's torn into barefoot soled feet Ecstasy's columns decay into night Underneath hope she let sanity die Wasting my time on the shackles of her love *At night complete love's torn us under Love is dragging me under Betray my other self The lost hours are over A gentleman's left me, a cataract's past life Searching for something I'm unable to find Too weak, too envious, sorrow's daily rhyme I found so much grief that I just turned ice Memory cannot choose where it wants to be Love this sex, self pity as mangled sheets A tenderness declines in the mind * repeat chorus. ---------------------------------------------- The only perfect circle on the human body is the eye. When a baby is born it's so perfect, but when it opens its eyes it's just blinded by the corruption and everything else is a downward spiral. Richey Edwards < !signature--> ------------------------ "Here chewing your tail is joy" Richey Edwards "Take nothing but pictures. Leave nothing but footprints. Kill nothing but time". Baltimore Grotto "Will you accuse me as I hide Behind these layers of disguise And the mirrors of my own happiness.I've loved the freedom of being inside Need a new start and a different time Something grows in the space between me And it's twisting and changing this fragile body" -Nicky Wire [This message has been edited by brian madden (edited 05-30-2000).] |
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Janet Marie Member Laureate
since 2000-01-22
Posts 18554 |
"I want to walk in the snow And not leave a footprint I want to walk in the snow And not soil its purity." --------------- I'm sitting here smiling and shaking my head, I just sent you an E-mail saying I was thinkng about doing this challenge about music...and then I come and find this. Small mindsthink alike???*smile* this is great Bri, so many great analogies and points. Almost every poet I know has a deep rooted love for music, I truly believe poetry and music go hand in hand. Songwriters are poets who put their words to music...Many of my poems have come to be -- when inspired by a single line or emotion in a song. I enjoyed reading your words of respect and adoration for this band. It is obvious how much their music has effected you, and educated you.>>> >>"They have made poetry and literature sexy. It is through the band that I have been prompted to read a variety of poets and authors that I would have otherwise ignored."<< That is a very cool gift to get from music. There is always one musician or band that we discover as teen and the things we relate to and find of our selves in their words, stay with us always. excellent writing Brian, you have given them a very nice tribute here. later-genius poet-gator  jm |
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Jana Tovey Member
since 2000-05-30
Posts 257USA |
I lived in Holywell in Northern Wales when this band first started getting recognition. I taught in a school on the tunnel edge of Wallasey, and some of my pupils introduced me to their songs. My oldest son, who must be about the same age as you are (he is in college now), still listens to their music. And he writes poetry, too...gut wrenching poetry. Your essay brought back loads of memories. I remember attending school sponsored discos and wondering at the dance and rave music that was so predominant in the 90's(they played one in paticular about "cotton-eyed Joe", and it used to tickle me because I was from Texas and this wasn't anything like the cotton-eyed Joe that I remembered). I used to get so ticked off with the pathetic Oasis brothers...and their same-same sounding songs, always on the radio, and them on the news with their latest inane remarks to the press, or whoever they thought they were addressing. And since we are on the subject of music, and poetry, I really like to listen to Irish bands, like the Pogues and the Cranberries. I visited Ireland before leaving the UK and I spent 4 nights in Cork listening to the local bands play (in pubs and outside in the city centre). I was enthralled with a group of men from Chile who played haunting music, all guitars and pipes. Oh, well, sorry to ramble on so. I really enjoyed your essay. |
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brian madden Member Elite
since 2000-05-06
Posts 4374ireland |
thanks for your reply Janet, and for listening to me rant on about the Manics. It just takes the least amount of reference to get me started talking about them, but for me it is not just music it is something, almost a lifestyle but in a good way not the rap thing but just all the images and things that come with the band. Thanks for reading. Jana I am glad that my essay brought back memories, I know rave music makes no sense to me. I find it very boring that said I have nothing again music that uses keyboards, I quite like Depeche Mode and Air. So your son is also a poet, every family has one. lol. I love to read some of his, maybe you can convience him to post some here. I hate Oasis as well, very bland music. Can't say I like the cranberries and the pogues though there are some great Irish bands but they never seem to get the break. Thanks for listening to my rant. =================================== "We are the scum that remind people of misery. When we jump on the stage it's not rock 'n' roll cliche but the geometry of contempt. We don't display our wounds, we shove them in people's faces. We are the decaying flowers in the playground of the rich. We are young, beautiful scum, pissed off with the world". Richey (1989) "Whatever happens to us, at least we'll know that we always tried to be a brilliant band. We've set ourselves up to be compared with the greatest rock bands ever. We've always set out to be something worthwhile, that meant something real and valuable; to make records about ideas and attitudes that are important and real, and that no one else is doing. To be the band we never had when we were growing up". Richey (1991) ------------------------ "I've been too honest with myself I should have lied like everybody else"-Richey Edwards "Take nothing but pictures. Leave nothing but footprints. Kill nothing but time". Baltimore Grotto "Libraries gave us power Then work came and made us free What price now for a shallow piece of dignity" Nicky Wire, A design for Life. manic street preachers La Tristesse Durera (Scream to a Sigh) "Life has been unfaithful And it all promised so so much I am a relic I am just a petrified cry Wheeled out once a year, a cenotaph souvenir The applause nails down my silence La tristesse durera Scream to a sigh, to a sigh I see liberals I am just a fashion accessory People send postcards And they all hope I'm feeling well I retreat into self-pity, it's so easy Where they patronise my misery La tristesse durera Scream to a sigh, to a sigh I sold my medal It paid a bill It sells at market stalls Parades Milan catwalks The sadness will never go Will never go away Baby it's here to stay |
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Christopher
Moderator
Member Rara Avis
since 1999-08-02
Posts 8296Purgatorial Incarceration |
Related to this, try the album "Distance To Here" by the band Live. That is poetry in music. Great job Brian. You've done your research well!  |
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Munda Member Elite
since 1999-10-08
Posts 3544The Hague, The Netherlands |
I'm sorry I am not familiar with this band, but I truly enjoyed reading this and even learned something new. |
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Christopher
Moderator
Member Rara Avis
since 1999-08-02
Posts 8296Purgatorial Incarceration |
"Bumpin'" in the spirit of the challenge! |
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Tim Gouldthorp Member
since 2000-01-03
Posts 170 |
brian, Very interesting discussion. I too feel that there is enormous potentiality in 'the shout in the street' (Joyce, Ullyses) of rock music combining with genuine poetry to produce a new artform. There is so much untapped potential here, not only in the possibilites technology has brought in terms of new music methods, but also in the experiences of the present age. The problem is that most 'popular' musicians are terrible poets and bad musicians. What is necessary is a genius poet and a genius musician to express themselves through these methods. -Tim |
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brian madden Member Elite
since 2000-05-06
Posts 4374ireland |
sorry couldn't resist posting some manic poetry. COMFORT COMES (R.Edwards/N.Wire) Need someone to nurse me Reach out for the first person I see Comfort the helpless sole vanity Caressing the broken heart of me The difference between love and comfort Is that comfort's more reliable and true Brutal and mocking but always there A crutch for enmity's saddest glare I wish that someone would hold me Wrap their arms around a shrinking somebody Comfort comes and leads me to the morning Whispered words of sanctuary The difference between love and comfort Is that comfort's more reliable and true Brutal and mocking but always there A crutch for enmity's saddest glare Is that comfort's more reliable and true Brutal and mocking but always there A crutch for enmity's saddest glare Forgetting how I hate self pity blondes Comfort comes and smoothes her over Callused hands turn a beautiful dress Handcuffs now her pearl bracelets =========================================== She Is Suffering (R.Edwards) Beauty finds refuge in herself Lovers wrapped inside each others lies Beauty is such a terrible thing She is suffering yet more than death She is suffering She sucks you deeper in She is suffering You exist within her shadow Beauty she is scarred into man's soul A flower attracting lust, vice and sin A vine that can strangle life from a tree Carrion, surrounding, picking on leaves She is suffering She sucks you deeper in She is suffering You exist within her shadow Beauty she poisons unfaithful all Stifled, her touch is leprous and pale The less she gives the more you need her No thoughts to forget when we were children She is suffering She sucks you deeper in She is suffering Nature's lukewarm pleasure ============================================ The Intense Humming Of Evil (R.edward/N.Wire) You were what you were Clean cut, unbecoming Recreation for the masses You always mistook fists for flowers Welcome welcome soldier smiling Funeral march for agony's last edge 6 Million screaming souls Maybe misery - maybe nothing at all Lives that wouldn't have changed a thing Never counted - never mattered - never be Arbeit macht frei Transports of invalids Hartheim Castle breathes us in In block 5 we worship malaria Lagerstrasse, poplar trees Beauty lost, dignity gone Rascher surveys us butcher bacteria Welcome welcome soldier smiling Soon infected, nails broken, hunger's a word 6 Million screaming souls Maybe misery - maybe nothing at all Lives that wouldn't have changed a thing Never counted - never mattered - never be Drink it away, every tear is false Churchill no different Wished the workers bled to a machine ------------------------ "Take nothing but pictures. Leave nothing but footprints. Kill nothing but time". Baltimore Grotto "To be nobody-but-yourself-in a world which is doing its best night and day, to make you everybody else - means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight; and never stop fighting." E.E Cummings. "Art is a lie which makes us realise the truth." Pablo Picasso "You do not destroy an idea by killing people; you replace it with a better one". Edward Keating ----- |
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