I noticed a week or two ago that the latest volume published as part of the Library of America's American Poets Project is titled COLE PORTER: SELECTED LYRICS (ed. Robert Kimball). An excerpt from one of the editorial reviews at Amazon reads as follows: ". . .even in the absence of his melodies, his words distill an unmistakable mixture of poignancy and wit that marks him as a genius of light verse."
In your opinion, can Porter's-- or anyone's-- popular song lyrics really be appreciated as verse, light or otherwise, without benefit of music? Or are the words and the music inextricably intertwined? I've thought about this a lot, and I suggest that a few songwriters have indeed produced a few lyrics capable of being read on their own, i.e. as pretty decent poetry, without accompaniment. Porter is probably one of them. Maybe Oscar Hammerstein. What about Bob Dylan, Billy Joel, Paul Simon? Or younger lyricists that a fogey like me has never heard of?
I'd be very interested in any thoughts-- and examples!-- that you might want to toss around on this matter.
Marilyn
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