In my opinion, song lyrics ARE verse/poems. I don't understand why we have this divide that says that if a verse is a song then it can't be poetry or that it's unlikely to be good poetry. I think this is stupid, a remnant of the New Criticism, which wanted to isolate all branches of Art from one another. An interesting academic exercise no doubt, but hardly conduicive to creativity!
What turned me on to poetry was song lyrics. I often used to sit with the sleeve notes and read all a record's lyrics before turning my attention to the music. And I think there is and has been tremendous poetic talent in a large number of pop/rock/country/soul etc. songs. It always strikes me as strange that people bemoan the lack of interest in poetry when in fact song lyrics are on the lips of millions.
I can certainly commiserate with those who point out that the STANDARD of the verse/poetry in many songs is appalling, but we shouldn't throw the baby out with the bathwater. It behoves us as poets to try to lift the standard of the verse/poetry in songs by writing good songs that are also poems/verse.
For myself, most of my poems are also songs or become songs. And I doubt I'd bother writing poetry if it weren't for the musical element in poetry. Singing a verse is for me a far more natural way of performing it than speaking it.
I'm reminded of Larkin's essay where he complains about how some popular songs have much more poetry in them than a lot of contemporary verse (I don't have the piece to hand) and think: have we really come no further in 35/40 years?
Duncan
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