Comments on: Not So Lyrical Anymore, Are We?

By: lindacopy

lindacopy — Thu, 11 Nov 2010 18:50:01 +0000

Ed, what’s so extraordinary about those lyrics is how each line undermines itself. “Double-crossing of a pair of heels” is brilliant! A pair of heels is attractive and feminine, but the woman double-crossed him. Same for “faint aroma of performing seals.”– Picture the sensual aroma of perfume and after-shave wafting through the air as the unhappy couple puts on a show of being happy in public.

By: Ed

Ed — Wed, 10 Nov 2010 23:59:52 +0000

Good catch. Discomfiting indeed, that “blackened eye” reference jumping out of the rest of the (mostly) poetry.

Me? Right now I’m puzzling over “The faint aroma of performing seals.”

By: lindacopy

lindacopy — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 02:48:27 +0000

Wow, that truly is poetry. But what does “the blackened eye” mean? Disturbing image unless I’m missing something benign. Somehow I doubt it….

By: Stop being mean to Kelly!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Stop being mean to Kelly!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! — Mon, 08 Nov 2010 23:31:52 +0000

Ed, I saw “De-Lovely” with my mother (which, come to think of it, sounds like something Cole Porter himself might have done.) Of course Cole is king of wit in the American songbook, but Lorenz Hart has to be at least a pretender to the throne. Here are a few choice verses from his ballad of post-breakup melancholia “I Wish I Were in Love Again”:

The flying fur of cat and cur
The fine mismatching of a him and her
I’ve learned my lesson but
I wish I were in love again

The furtive sigh
The blackened eye
The words I love you ’til the day I die
The self-deception that believes that lie
I wish I were in love again

When love congeals
It soon reveals
The faint aroma of performing seals
The double-crossing of a pair of heels
I wish I were in love again

No more care
No more despair
Now I’m all there
But I’d rather be punch drunk

Believe me sir, I much prefer
The classic battle of a him and her
I don’t like quiet and I wish I were
In love again
In love again

By: jennifer

jennifer — Mon, 08 Nov 2010 22:38:29 +0000

Nor “cuz” nor “suck.” I’ll add DeLovely to my list!

By: Todd

Todd — Mon, 08 Nov 2010 22:29:08 +0000

Heard discussed on the radio, Taylor Swift’s song about being dumped by John Mayer, “Dear John” I think. Apparently, a clear message of him taking advantage of her.

By: Ed

Ed — Mon, 08 Nov 2010 19:06:02 +0000

Right you are, Ms Crabb Reynolds and Ms, um, lindacopy.

Yep, there’s great delight in just listening to the classics and (for me) wondering/marveling where that lyrical wordsmithing comes (came) from.

…and if you want to see a pretty neat, nicely done movie that gets into all of that and adds a personal/historical “layer of complexity” re Cole Porter’s life and music (though if truth be known, only a partial and overly romanticized picture of that life) find yerself a copy of “De-Lovely.” Great music (natch) and terrific performances by Kevin Kline and Ashley Judd.

Bonus: You’ll hear neither the words “yerself” nor “natch” sung anywhere.

By: lindacopy

lindacopy — Mon, 08 Nov 2010 16:17:27 +0000

Couldn’t agree more! I so admire truly original lyrics and love hearing composers and songwriting teams discuss which came first — the words or the music. The fact that people (like Sondheim) who write for musicals also need to write lyrics/tunes that support and propel a story line is another layer of complexity, as you say.
At least the Kris Allen verse gets some points for effort, as awkward as it is; the Kelly Clarkson one is unforgivable!