In the Dorothy Kilgallen bracket, the road to the Final Four finds two of the greatest rock bands of all time—Jefferson Airplane and Led Zeppelin—in soft mode, going at each other.
What surprised a lot of people when the “loud” “youth” sounds took over in the 50s, reaching a pinnacle in the 70s and 80s, was how many delicate songs were eventually produced, from “Yesterday” and “Strawberry Fields Forever” by the Beatles to “Ruby Tuesday” and “Lady Jane” by the Stones, and thousands more. “Comin’ Back To Me” by Airplane and “Thank You” by LZ are classic examples.
Maybe practicing “heavy” in music makes one good at “soft,” as well.
After all, Beethoven demonstrated as much.
If 1960s musicians were expected to “corrupt youth” as puppets of corporate evil, that failed to some degree—due to the sheer beauty of much of the music that was made by pimply rock stars in those raucous, “fun, fun, fun” years.
Let’s look at the lyrics of the two songs in our first matchup.
“Thank You,” the top-seeded favorite, goes like this.
If the sun refused to shine
I would still be loving you
When mountains crumble to the sea
There will still be you and me
Kind a woman, I give you my all
Kind a woman, nothing more
Little drops of rain, whisper of the pain
Tears of love’s lost in the days gone by
My love is strong, with you there is no wrong
Together we shall go until we die, my, my, my
Inspiration’s what you are to me
Inspiration, look ‘n’ see
(solo)
And so, today my world it smiles
Your hand in mine, we walk the miles
Thanks to you, it will be done
For you to me are the only one
Alright, yeah
Happiness, no more be sad
Happiness, I’m glad
If the sun refused to shine
I would still be loving you
Mountains crumble to the sea
There will still be you and me
There is a tendency to think that Led Zeppelin’s “heavy metal” sound is 90% of their appeal and Led Zeppelin’s lyrics comprise a small portion of what made them successful—simply providing “atmosphere” and hitching a ride with the pounding phantasmagoria and skill of the music. Robert Plant—a blonde blues-singer from Manchester, who was 20 years old when the band formed—wrote the lyrics. A serious poet? That dude? Impossible!
Yet if we examine the poetry of “Thank You,” we see far more poetic skill than we see in 99 out of a hundred free-verse sophisticates. This is difficult for the poetry world to admit—and the rock world only appreciates the lyrics as something distinct from the guitar picking and the drum fills. Therefore the true worth of the poetry escapes everyone.
Music, as musicians all know, no matter how elaborate or pretty, obeys time more than anything else. The lyrics of “Thank You” keep to a four beat line throughout—the strictness hidden by the cadences of the musical performance. More than that, the song’s meter is trochaic—the beat is on the first syllable of each foot: IF the/ SUN re-/FUSED to/ SHINE. Singers can use little tricks to maintain the meter—singers have more freedom than a written page, so if you see “When mountains crumble to the sea” it is sung (to maintain the rhythm) more like WHEN (the)/ MOUNT-ains /CRUMB-le /TO the /SEA. The crucial part is that the similarity is maintained between the lines in terms of the established trochaic rhythm. For the narrative shift in the song of “And so…” we get the opposite meter—iambic, for the sake of variety.
And SO/to-DAY/my WORLD/it SHINES, your HAND in MINE we WALK the MILES.
In addition, the rhyme scheme of the first 3 stanzas is strictly patterned, as well. It looks like this:
abcc, defg, hgcc which is, in fact, quite sophisticated.
Lunk-head free-versers pay little attention to this type of thing (except in the back of their minds as some boring ‘lesson’ about hardly necessary meter they may have once learned). What looks easy in poetry or song is often not. And many times what is going on is not even on the radar—such as the poetry of Led Zeppelin.
“Comin’ Back To Me” by the Jefferson Airplane lyric “sounds” like this:
The summer had inhaled and held its breath too long
The winter looked the same, as if it never had gone
And through an open window where no curtain hung
I saw you
I saw you
Comin’ back to me
One begins to read between the pages of a look
The shape of sleepy music, and suddenly you’re hooked
Through the rain upon the trees that kisses on the run
I saw you
I saw you
Comin’ back to me
You came to stay and live my way
Scatter my love like leaves in the wind
You always say you won’t go away
But I know what it always has been
It always has been
A transparent dream beneath an occasional sigh
Most of the time I just let it go by
Now I wish it hadn’t begun
I saw you, yes, I saw you
Comin’ back to me
Strolling the hills overlooking the shore
I realized I’ve been here before
The shadow in the mist could have been anyone
I saw you
I saw you
Comin’ back to me
Small things like reasons are put in a jar
Whatever happened to wishes wished on a star?
Was it just something that I made up for fun?
I saw you, I saw you comin’ back to me
The lyrics are by Marty Balin, who sings the song, accompanied by guitar and recorder. Balin (real name: Martyn Buchwald) was 24 when the Airplane started to record their great ‘summer of love’ album in late 1966. The meter is a little less rigorous than “Thank You,” (I imagine Jefferson Airplane’s approach to producing songs was not quite as disciplined as Led Zeppelin’s) but there is some dazzling meter nonetheless and the rhyme scheme of “Coming Back To Me” is excellent, befitting the haunting words. Does one hear the rhyme of “Now I wish it hadn’t begun” and “The shadow in the mist could have been anyone?” The sounds are far enough apart to be a test for the listener.
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The other contest in this bracket features more 1960s California: “Shaman’s Blues” by the Doors—typically of them, brisk and precise, musically; meandering yet intense, lyrically—Morrison matching improvisatory, poetry vocals to the band’s up-tempo energy; rock as some form of beatnik jazz. On paper, the Doors should have sucked; in reality, the Doors were really, really good. “Shaman’s Blues” is in 6/8 and has a super-cool impetuosity. One can imagine Morrison composing the song and repeating some of the lines over and over again, as in a trance—“ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever” or “ask for more? ask for more? ask for more?”
There will never be
Another one like you
There will never be
Another one who can
Do the things you do, oh
Will you give another chance?
Will you try, little try?
Please stop and you remember
We were together
Anyway
All right
And if you have a certain evenin’
You could lend to me
I’d give it all right back to you
Of how it has to be with you
I know your moves
And your mind
And your mind
And your mind
And your mind
And your mind
And your mind
And you’re…MINE.
(Solo)
Oh will you stop and think and wonder?
Just what you’ll see
Out on the train yard
Nursin’ penitentiary
It’s gone
I cry
Out long
Play it, brother
(Solo)
Did you stop it to consider?
How it will feel
Cold, grinding grizzly bear jaws
Hot on your heels
Do you often stop and whisper?
It’s Saturday’s shore
The whole world’s a savior
Who could ever, ever, ever
Ever, ever, ever
Ask for more?
Do you remember?
Will you stop?
Will you stop?
(two beats)
The pain
(drums)
And there will never be another one like you
There will never be another one who can
Do the things you do, oh
Will you give another chance?
Will you try, little try?
Please stop and you remember
We were together
Anyway
All right
How you must’ve think and wondered
How I must feel
Out on the meadows
While you were on the field
I’m alone
For you
And I cry
(following is spoken:)
Sweat for me
Optical promise
You’ll be dead and in hell
Before I’m born
Sure thing
Bridesmaid
The only solution, isn’t it amazing?
The Spinners battle the Doors with a psychedelic soul piece employing the greatest simple two chord hook ever, underneath desperate love-pleading.
Hit quality 70s soul against Morrison’s soul.
The Spinners song “I’ll Be Around” is so ecstatic and hook-laden that it powers forward—knowing it’s a hit—and then fades out—the listener might wish the song were elaborated into something which was even better, but the greatness of the song in its beginning and middle will have to do.
This is our fork in the road
Love’s last episode
There’s nowhere to go, oh no
You made your choice (tingling organ enters)
Now it’s up to me
To bow out gracefully
Though you hold the key, but baby
Whenever you call me, I’ll be there
Whenever you want me, I’ll be there
Whenever you need me, I’ll be there
I’ll be around
I knew just what to say
Now I found out today
That all the words had slipped away,
but I know there’s always a chance (tingling organ enters)
A tiny spark will remain,
Yeah and sparks turn into flames
And love can burn once again, but I know you know
Whenever you call me, I’ll be there
Whenever you want me, I’ll be there
Whenever you need me, I’ll be there
I’ll be around, yeah
(solo)
Whenever you call me, I’ll be there
Whenever you want me, I’ll be there
Even if I have to crawl, I’ll be there
I’ll be around
Just call me on the phone, I’ll be there
I’ll never leave you alone, I’ll be there
Just call out my name, I know, I know you know
I’ll be around
I’ll be standing in a coffin, I’ll be there
I’ll be a-rippin’ it up, I’ll be there
I’ll be calling out your name to let you know
I’ll be around
The impetus of the music is not seen in the lyrics, for the insistent two chord hook which underlies “be there” sung in the chorus is heard as a musical riff only—twice per line in the verse. If the words had the spondaic ‘be there’ present as one peruses the poem from the beginning, the poem would succeed in a manner more closely resembling the music. Lyrics as “bad poetry” is inevitable when the music is doing a lot of the ‘poetry work.’ “Shaman’s Blues” is closer to “I’ll Be Around” due to the fact that the musical feel, the song’s riffs and so forth, exist slightly more apart from the poetry than in “Thank You” or “Comin’ Back To Me.”
Thank You v. Comin’ Back To Me
Shaman’s Blues v. I’ll Be Around
Which wins?
#marchmadnesssongs