Poetry in Motion

Sep 2

Background: When I was around 8 years old, I started learning about rhyming. My mom would read Dr. Seuss’ Happy Birthday To You every year on my birthday, so I had been exposed to it, but when I say I learned about rhyming, I mean in formal school lessons. I remember writing poems about the seasons, and at that point, felt it was important to rhyme as much as possible in those poems, which I translated to some of the earliest songs I wrote. As I would later find out, not all poems are songs, not all songs are poems, and not all songs have to rhyme. But some of my favorite songs started out as poems, and some of my favorite writers have been able to make that transition seamlessly. That is our focus for this blog.

“Lacy” by Olivia Rodrigo

Lyrically: “Lacy” began as a poem that Olivia wrote for a class at the University of Southern California. Though not all poems have to rhyme, one defining characteristic of most poems is the repetition within the stanzas, and each verse’s first line uses Lacy’s name, and the repetition works well with the narrator’s obsession with the titular character. Whether you are writing a poem or a song, painting a vivid picture is key in hooking your reader or listener. Olivia does this by mixing passive aggressive compliments with straight up lust, with the line in the first verse, “Lacy oh Lacy, skin like puff pastry, aren’t you the sweetest thing this side of hell?” and later referring to Lacy’s compliments as “bullets on my skin.” My favorite hit to come out of Nashville in the past decade or so is “Girl Crush” by Little Big Town, due to its vivid imagery and twist on a common phrase. To me, “Lacy” works just like “Girl Crush” does, but due to its vague nature, takes it to a whole new lyrical level. There are many theories about who this song is about, but what makes it work so well (in addition to what I have already mentioned), is that we’re not sure, as listeners, whether this is a former romantic interest, a former friend, or a former colleague who did her wrong. The other thing I love about Olivia’s writing is that it always comes back to her own decisions. So, throughout the whole song, we get to hear about how toxic Lacy is for her, but the twist at the end is that she “(Despises her) jealous eyes, and how they fell for you,” as well as her “rotten mind and how it worships you.”

Melodically: “Lacy” is written in Eb and uses an arpeggio picking pattern on guitar. With the capo on the first fret (raising the chords shown by a half-step), she uses D in the intro, followed by D, Bm, G, and D in the verses, which gets played four times. This is a I, vi, IV, I pattern, which also gets repeated in the bridge. The chorus uses Em and Bm, followed by F#m, Em, Bm, F#m, Em, Bm, F#m, Em, Bm, G, and Gm, which alternates between the iii, ii, and vi, before ending on the IV/iv.

Structurally: The song uses a verse, chorus, verse, chorus, bridge, verse format. Stemming from a poem, this song would have been just fine without a chorus, but as I mentioned when I talked about the verses, there’s a vagueness as to why the narrator is so envious of Lacy. She’s pretty, she’s successful, and everyone loves her, but why does that eat away at the narrator so much? It could also be that this song is about imposter syndrome, and Lacey is the person she wishes she could be. This theory makes sense in the larger context of Guts, its parent album, which is all about trying to live up to the expectations society puts on you and the ones you put on yourself.

“Lacy” is embedded below.

2. “Gold All Over the Ground” by Brad Paisley (lyrics by Johnny Cash)

Lyrically: This song’s lyrics were inspired by a Johnny Cash poem of the same name, which was published in 2016. It describes the narrator’s desire to give his significant other everything she deserves, including saying her “feet would walk on velvet, with gold all over the ground,” that he would “give (her) rows of roses, with gold all over the ground,” “turn her green to emerald, and your skies to diamonds, with gold all over the ground.” There is nothing new about this theme, and unlike “Lacy,” which we looked at earlier, the visuals are not super complex or hard to imagine. But they are gorgeous nonetheless. It had been years since I had heard this song, but immediately upon reviewing the lyrics, I was transported to the narrator and the person he’s singing about, envisioning the two of them almost on a yellow brick road. Poetically, it thrives on addition, rather than repetition, almost in an implied “12 Days of Christmas” type of way. Each refrain tells about something else he’ll do for her, the implication being that all the things he previously mentioned will be included, but the big cherry on top is the gold all over the ground – because the ground she walks on deserves to be sacred, simply due to the fact that she walks on it. Johnny Cash was married twice, and I’d like to think I could have the same luck if I could write anything this poetic!

Melodically: The song is written in the key of E major. The intro uses E5, E, A (a I, IV pattern), while the verses use an E, A, B, E pattern (I, IV, V, I). The refrain uses A, B, E (IV, V, I). The climb up from the IV to the V builds tension, which works well with the aforementioned lyrical addition to the gentle reveal of “With gold all over the ground,” which happens as he returns to the E chord. The chorus, sung twice at the end, builds that tension even more by adding in an extra IV and V chord movement (A to B) before returning to the E chord. Instrumentally, the song is driven by acoustic guitar, but adds light percussion, gentle electric guitar, mandolin, and bass.

Structurally: The song uses a verse, verse, chorus, solo, chorus format. When I think of songs where the chorus only comes in at the end of the song, I think of “Dream On” by Aerosmith and “Don’t Stop Believin’” by Journey. The use of a chorus in this song is especially interesting. Like “Lacy,” the point has already been made, so the chorus is used to drive the point home, but not in a big crescendo like in the Aerosmith and Journey songs. Instead, the chorus is used as a gentle reminder of everything the narrator will do to prove his love to the person he’s talking to, and the solo isn’t a blaring statement, the way it is in “Don’t Stop Believin’.” I love Brad’s guitar playing, but he’s a good enough composer to know that not every song calls for a blaring solo, and a good enough songwriter to know not every chorus has to be booming, even in a sentimental song like this one.

“Gold All Over the Ground” is embedded below.

3. “Riders on the Storm” by The Doors

Background: When I originally thought up the idea for this blog, I thought of “Sylvia’s Mother,” which was written by Shel Silverstein. But my rule was that the song had to have originally been conceived as a poem and later turned into a song, which wasn’t the case with Shel, despite his other career as a poet. With the Doors, I had the opposite problem. Their final album, An American Prayer, took Jim Morrison’s spoken word poetry and set it to music. If you’re interested, the title track is a fascinating look at the destruction of American culture, thanks to technology (way ahead of his time, as always). As I was researching The Doors in relation to this project, I found that “Riders on the Storm” was based on a Jim Morrison poem called “The Hitchhiker.” I will link the poem, in addition to the final product, so you can compare.

Lyrically: According to an interview in Far Out Magazine, published in 2020, the song was inspired by “Ghost Riders in the Sky,” but the lyrics, which reference a hitchhiker, were inspired by the 1953 film, ”The Hitchhiker.” Much like the title track, I feel as though it expresses disillusionment with the City of Los Angeles. This can be heard in the first verse’s lines, “Like a dog without a bone, or an actor out on loan.” The hitchhiker comes in during the second verse, and says what will happen if you let him in the car: “If you give this man a ride, sweet family will die.” I will discuss this a bit more in the melody section, but the repetitive nature of the song makes it easier to tell that it was inspired by a poem (though the original poem was a little more detailed than the song).

Melodically: Written in the key of E minor, the song is driven by the bassline and drums, but also contains Ray Manzerek’s keyboard part, which interplays with the guitar. The song uses the chords Em, A, Em, A (i, IV, i, IV pattern), played twice, before going to Am, C, and D, (a iv, VI, VII pattern), before going back to the aforementioned i, IV, i, IV, a D and C (VII, VI), and ending on the Em, A, Em, A(i, IV, i, IV) pattern. As I mentioned before in the lyrics section, there is a lot of repetition, and the lyrical repetition is complemented by the melodic repetition. The main riff is based around the i and IV, and the lyrical accentuations add the VII and VI around it. The melodic simplicity adds to the mystery of the song. Other instrumental contributions include Robby Krieger’s electric guitar and tremolo, John Densmore playing drums and Jerry Scheff playing bass.

Structurally: The song contains all verses, once again built around the i, IV, i, IV main riff. We talked in an earlier blog about story songs, example songs, and hybrid songs. This one, to me, is an example song. It doesn’t really have a main point to drive home, but it does paint a clear picture of the apocalyptic landscape the narrator is a part of. As a result, it doesn’t need a big booming chorus, just a few simple chord changes from the main riff (the D and C), before diving back into the main riff (and repeating the first verse as the last verse). Blues songs are not overly reliant on bridges and choruses, and with this song being blues-derived, the structure works.

“Riders on the Storm” is embedded below, as is a link to Jim Morrison’s “Hitchhiker” poem.

https://hellopoetry.com/poem/74011/the-hitchhiker/

4. “A Hard Rain’s ‘A Gonna Fall” by Bob Dylan

Background: In my early exposure to Bob Dylan, my dad always drilled in my head that Bob is a poet, in addition to being a songwriter. I talked in the opening about how difficult it is to be both and that some are good at being one or the other. When Dylan was awarded the Nobel Prize in literature, there were many people who were confused – I was not one of them. In writing this blog, I wanted to make sure I distinguished between a songwriter who was “poetic” and a songwriter who actually wrote poetry. Again, Bob falls into both categories, but this song in particular did start off as a poem.

Lyrically: The song’s verses begin with a repeating pattern, asking, “Where have you been?” and “What did you see?” Rather than trying to interpret what Dylan means in the lyrics, I want to focus on the narrative structure that he uses within the song. First, it strikes me as somewhat of a Prodigal Son type set up. Dylan, before he was officially Born Again, was not afraid to use Biblical imagery in his songs. But the twist that differentiates it from the story of the Prodigal Son is that the son in the Dylan song has all this wisdom from his time away. I mentioned earlier that the question set up by the father follows the same structure, while the son’s answers switch up the verbs he uses: When he was on the mountains, he stumbled. When he was on the highways, he crawled. It’s worth noting, however, that the deeper he gets into his journey, the more it becomes about the horrors he saw, and less about what he did. As a result of his horror, the recall becomes more repetitive: “I’ve been out in front of a dozen dead oceans. I’ve been ten thousand miles in the mouth of a graveyard.” In the second verse, when he asks, “What have you seen?” every answer begins with the phrase “I saw.” The same pattern follows with “What did you hear?” and “Who did you meet?” (with “I heard/heard” and “I met”) beginning every response. But with the end of each verse, he concludes that “It’s a hard rain’s ‘a gonna fall.” The symbolist imagery is evocative of Arthur Rimbauld (who Dylan would later compare his love life to in the lyrics to “You’re Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go”).

Melodically: The song’s verses alternate between the chords E, A, E, and A, B, E, while the refrain uses E, B, E, A (played twice) and E, B, A, E. It is written in the key of E major, and therefore the verses use a I, IV, I, IV, V, I, while the refrain uses a I, V, I, IV, I, V, IV, I pattern. Instrumentally, there is just an acoustic guitar.

Structurally: We already talked a little bit about the structure in the lyrics (with the importance of repetition), but this song, like many Dylan tunes, relies solely on verses and a refrain, rather than a chorus. The verses contain such vivid imagery that any chorus would be overkill. I mentioned at the beginning of this analysis the slight parallels between the Prodigal Son and this song. Poetically, Dylan borrowed the call and response structure from “Lord Randall” by Francis Child, and it fits this song so well.

Closing note: It’s easy to look at Dylan’s discography and call something like Highway 61 Revisited, Blonde on Blonde, or Blood on the Tracks his best work. His first album contained mainly covers of traditional folk songs, and it wasn’t until his second album, where this song appeared, that he began to show his brilliance as a songwriter. But even with that, The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan is an excellent album to study. The best songwriters do little things exceptionally well, and The Freewheelin’s lyrics and imagery are very accessible as a listener and a writer – so even though “Hard Rain” is poetic, it’s a great one to study. You can listen below!

Mike Mielenhausen

Poetry in Motion

Escapism

Mysticism