Booking Through Thursday: Sing!

Ahh, those of you who have seen this week’s Booking Through Thursday prompt have been chomping at the bit, waiting for me to drag my sick (again) carcass off the couch and come answer it. I know you have been.

If you’re not sure why you’ve been waiting, here’s the question:

* What songs … either specific songs, or songs in general by a specific group or writer … have words that you love?
* Why?
* And … do the tunes that go with the fantastic lyrics live up to them?

See? Tailor-made for Susan!

Since there’s mention made of Broadway in the part I didn’t copy for you, I’ll start there. My #1 all-time musical?

Rent.

Does this surprise anyone? And not just because I came a job acceptance away from going and living my own variation on that bohemian lifestyle (Sorry, Mark. I love you anyway!).

It’s One Song/Glory that gets me. And c’mon, those of you with creative, artistic urges, you know you feel the same way. To create just one moment of brilliance that’ll survive our lives (even if they aren’t going to be as shortened as the Rent dudes’)…

*sigh* Maybe even a *swoon*

There’s also that line in Les Mis, near the end, when Fantine is dying: To love another person/is to see the face of God.

Definite swoon.

BUT… we all know I’m a rocker chick. I could talk about lyrics as poetry forever. In fact, if I’d stayed in academia, I probably would be teaching a course or two in this subject, irritating all the Fundamentalists by creating classes like Heavy Metal Poetry.

’cause, for me, this is the essence of it all. Real heavy metal lyrics, not Motley Crue’s Girls Girls Girls. Thrash, speed, whatever you want to call it. Disturbed’s Liberate, which quotes a famous prayer:

Out of Zion shall come forth a law
And the word of the Lord from Jerusalem
Nation shall not raise sword against nation
And they shall not learn war anymore
For the mouth of the Lord hath spoken

Given what’s going on in Gaza, this takes on yet a new urgency, doesn’t it?

Hell, Disturbed’s Prayer: This is the way I pray.

This makes more sense when you understand that a part of Kabbalah assigns value to each letter in a Hebrew word. And in this system, the words for Prayer and singing are the same.

I doubt that’s the way the band meant it to come out; there’s some veiled sexuality there if you read the lyrics in context, but part of me thinks it’s very hard to take a band in proper context. Lyrics are personal, they are powerful. They’re sort of like tarot cards: you get out of them what you need.

(anyone who remembers Late-Night Load Out, which is in Demo Tapes: Year 1, can see this prayer/song attitude in action.)

This is the tip of the iceberg for me. I could go on for days. Look at Godsmack’s Voodoo Too: Have you ever wondered why in a dream you can touch a falling sky/Or fly to the heavens that watch over you?

Ahh, the sense of wonder in there. Of childish abandon and hope.

But for sheer power of the mental image it provokes, the award’s gotta go to the King of bands, at least in Susan’s heart. Yeah, you know. That M-band. Again.

I’m frantic in your soothing arms/
I cannot sleep in this down filled world.

(that’s copied from the lyric book, but I swear James changes down to doubt.)

Yep, in an album that most people panned as utter drek, I’ve found these two lines that create a mental image so powerful, I can’t shake it. There’s so much emotion going on here… man, I can’t wait to create some fiction based on that image. There’s a sensuality, a power, an insanity, a desperation…

Who knows? Maybe one day I WILL get to teach a course in Heavy Metal Poetry. Maybe we’ll combine it with some creative writing and use the lyrics as a prompt. Where does this take you? What does it inspire?

Look around this blog and you’ll see what it inspires in me.

(note: all lyrics are copyright of their owners. I’ve used them entirely without permission but with even more respect. Got an issue? Tell the Tour Manager and we’ll take ’em down. But the post won’t make much sense if we do!)