Poetry and music have a symbiotic relationship. Like oxpeckers and large mammals in the African bush, these two genres of art have a long-standing, mutual relationship of elitism. Musicians today and even more commonly in the past often work in homage to their favorite poets.
Sometimes they are obvious, like Modest Mouse, who on their latest record had a track entitled Bukowski,"" a direct shout out to Charles Bukowski, one of our many, but near and dear drunken beat poets. Such references are deeply embedded within a slew of obscure lyrics, as well, giving the intellectual youth an elaborate game of hide-and-go-seek to engage in.
The two genres of art mix so closely because they are both such an integral part of America's dirt and grass past. Poetry and the oral tradition are integral to the development of folk music. Woody Guthrie emerged from the god forsaken dust bowl of Oklahoma with not only a guitar full of songs for America's common man, but a plethora of stories and poems. His writing went unpublished until the 1990s, and was the focus of Billy Bragg and Wilco's collaboration, Mermaid Avenue.
A tradition was begun and carried out by the raspy voiced likes of Bob Dylan""who allegedly borrowed his stage name from the Welsh poet, Dylan Thomas""Leonard Cohen, and Tom Waits. All three singers approached famous poets of the 60s and 70s, such as Allen Ginsberg and William Burroughs, to provide guest vocals on their work.
Cohen earned a degree in poetry from McGill University and a creative writing award, and has published several books of poetry with his albums. Bob Dylan has been impressively equated as a poet with the likes of John Milton by Oxford Professor of Poetry, Christopher Ricks, in Great Britain.
The nonchalance sweat and garage rock of the 70s in New York carried an air of the sophiscated, well-read punk, as well. Patti Smith, in the news as of late as the last singer to hold down the stage at the CBGB club, often dressed in a man's shirt and tie as both a critique of rock's obsession with gender roles and as an impersonation of French poet-critic, Charles Baudelaire. Smith would also bust out spontaneous exclamations of ""Oh Baudelaire!"" during her live performances.
Andy Warhol's musical compatriots, the Velvet Underground, dedicated the song ""Heroin"" and ""European Son"" to Lou Reed mentor, poet Delmore Schwartz, who died of drug and alcohol abuse. The band also closely followed the New York school of poetry, rich with famous American poets like Frank O'Hara, and tried to emulate the school's attempt to focus on the daily life of the city and its people.
Today's music scene does not go so far as to offer guest spots to contemporary poets, but it is still there. Even the Crash Test Dummies, that band from the 90s who made a whole song about humming, opened up their mouths long enough to make a song about T.S. Eliot. One of the Allman brother's most famous albums, Eat a Peach, is also dedicated to Eliot and his poem, ""The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock."" Ryan Adams sings about Slyvia Plath. Elvis Costello and Joni Mitchell both made songs about William Butler Yeats.
There was a brief period when Top 40 radio incessantly and without my consent drilled into my head Natasha Bedingfield's ""catchy"" lyrics, ""Read some Byron, Shelley, and Keats / Recited it over a hip hop beat / I'm havin' trouble sayin' what I mean / With dead poets and a drum machine."" This sort of reference is not really what I had in mind, but an F for bad lyrics doesn't mean I won't give props for effort. Unfortunately, the majority of her listeners probably think Keats, Shelley and Byron make big purses or fill up ruby encrusted crunk glasses.
But in the end, music is still a great place to start if you're looking for a poetry education, or even some hipster points. One Thousand points earns you the right to wear girl pants 24/7.
