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THIS POST STAYS ON TOP -INDEX OF SONGS / POSTS ARE BELOW THIS - CLICK ON THE SONG - iT SAVES SCROLLING DOWN!Welcome to this new blog. Not quite sure how this will work out yet, but hopefully it will provide an opportunity to discuss the poetry and lyrics of rock etc. possibly from various angles - structure, content, issues, techniques, music - maybe even as a stimulus to write your own lyrics on a similar issue. I will probably include lyrics that have influenced my own writing or I think are particularly good or portray an issue but suggestions are welcome. I will probably try and cover lyrics from different decades and musical styles as it goes on. I ran a Poetry of Rock Course for Leeds University Adult Education and it was interesting to hear different perceptions or questions that came up. Sometimes this was quite different to the authors perception. We all bring our own meanings to creative work depending on our experience and personality. It's often interesting to share those perceptions. Someone might throw light on a certain line that someone else didn't understand or sometimes there are mutliple meanings to lines. I will throw in my thoughts on the lyric and any information I have and put a link to where it can be found on Amazon or a performance on You Tube. It could be argued that rock poetry (in the widest sense) is more reflective of modern culture than mainstream poetry. Obviously some of their power acruses to the music and performance but poetry started in this way as an oral tradition often linked with music. The word Lyric meant a poem accompanied by the lyre and many of the poetic forms Rondo, Ballad reflect its roots in music and dance and ritual. Students have often been amazed when they've looked at the lyric without the music - a common comment was 'I've been listening to htis track for 15 years and I didn't realise there was so much in it". Some lyrics are just fillers for a musical riff or make a simple statement - they all have their place. In the main lyrics that do a bit more than the basics will be looked at here. Feel free to comment and share your thoughts etc.

I've now posted Wednesday's pictures to the Writers' Café Vox. I always seem to struggle with the lighting in the Georgian Theatre; usually it's too dark but this time the problem was different. There was the usual gloom stage left (ie right as you look at it) but a video cameraman had a bright white light shining from stage right. Fine from his camera angle but I didn't want to obstruct his view and was stuck with dark shadows of noses, microphones &c. That's my excuse for the early shots being so poor, but I am quite pleased with some of the shots of Penny Rimbaud; his face seemed to suit the lighting. Here's a couple more...WC 05-09-07 154WC 05-09-07 165bw

whatever you think there's a crisis in the world please help to fix it. - lezlee

An acoustic version of this band play at the Writers' Cafe as The Steve Marron Project