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totheendmcr04
11/13/08, 03:28 PM
I'm on my high school speech team, and i'm doing poetry as one of my events.. but I didn't want to be the same as everyone else and just find poems online, i've decided to look for songs with lyrics that fit well.
unfortunately, some songs just don't sound as good when theyr spoken.. ha so i'm having some problems

SOOOO, if anyone has any suggestions of songs that they think have outstanding lyrics that don't need music to back them up, anything would be apprectiative.


ideal but not necessary measures:
--the lyrics relate somehow to potential, goals, failure, or mistakes (or if you know the song "Handlebars" by Flobots, just have it relate to that in some way, that's what I'm going for because that's my first choice)
--the presentation has to be 5-10 minutes. and i have one piece that's about 2-3 minutes.. so diffintely nothing that would take longer than 5-6 minutes to read but nothing shorter than 2 minutes.
--i'd like to find a song that's either really inspirational or has an amazing message
--parallelism (like in the song "Vices" by Dead Poetic if that helps anyone) with progression (starting a chorus the same but making changes throughout the song) seems to be effective to me.
--make mulitple suggestions!
--all genres of music are good.


or, if by chance anyone knows any phenomenal (actual) poetry, i'd appreciate that too. i just haven't really had any luck. preferably "slam poetry" though (not cheesy rhyme-every-other-line poetry. hah)




THANK YOU sooo much to anyone who posts suggestions & i'll post my feedback too if i get some responses.

ArTkY_
11/13/08, 04:56 PM
Read Alan Shapiro's poem "Anger." Edgy, sexy, and incredibly heartbreaking.

fishingthe_sky
11/13/08, 05:52 PM
If you're looking for lyrics that translate well into poetry, look at Aaron Weiss (mewithoutyou), Dustin Kensrue (Thrice circa-The Artist and the Ambulance, and especially the sonnets from the Alchemy Index), John K. Samson (The Weakerthans), and Brendan Kelly and Chris McCaughan (The Lawrence Arms, especially The Greatest Story Ever Told). (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_McCaughan)All of them have a true sense of poesy and ably use it in their lyrics.

Actual poetry: T.S. Eliot, William Carlos Williams, Gwendolyn Brooks, Eavan Boland, Walt Whitman (the father of American poetry is a must here). Saul Williams is good for more "slam" type stuff, I would check out the Dead Emcee Scrolls or Said a Shotgun to the Head