Sting’s lyrics (from the Police and his solo years) will be immortalized in a book this fall. Appropriately titled Lyrics by Sting, it will also feature his commentary on the origin and meaning of each song.
Now, PopWatch editor Gary Susman says, "Besides Bob Dylan and Elvis Costello, I’m hard-pressed to think of anyone whose collected lyrics I’d enjoy reading cover to cover." I myself would prefer to see Duran Duran dissect their impenetrable prose. (My friend Sheila, a longtime Durannie, insists that one day she’ll enter the University of Liverpool’s Popular Music Studies graduate program and write her thesis on "The Meaning of ‘The Reflex.’")
So which artists’ lyrics do you think really merit a book anthology? And how far behind the music do you actually want to go? Some artitsts don’t want you to know their inspiration because they think it stops you from interpreting a song for yourself. Some music fans don’t want to know that, say, the Dixie Chicks’ song "Lullaby" is actually about a child, not a lover. I think I’m capable of knowing why someone wrote what they did and still bastardize it in my own mind, thanks.
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I’ve always wanted Carl Douglas to explain the true meaning of ‘Kung Fu Fighting.’ It’s a mystery to me….
Tom Waits
Paul Simon. “American Tune” is truly poetic, so’s a lot of his other stuff.
Chris Martin
I would love for Stevie Nicks to come out with a book like that!
Bruce Springsteen
Tori Amos.
Beck
PHISH
I do not have clue what they are singing about
This is a great choice for a book because Sting actually uses proper grammar in his lyrics.
Tragically Hip. Weirdest. lyrics. ever.
I’d say Rufus Wainwright, but I enjoy making up my own interpretations too much. I’ll go with your friend Sheila on the Duran Duran thing. I’d love to know what the “Union of the Snake” is.
Tori Amos
Aimee Mann
Natalie Merchant
I’ve always liked Sting’s lyrics and if there’s anyone’s lyrics I’m most curious about, it’s definitely Sting. Aside from being one of the most literate (he was a teacher before fame) lyricists, I’m most curious about the hidden metaphors and subtle meanings in his songs.
I love Interpol. I want to know if there is actual meaning behind their songs, or if they’re just a bunch of random words thrown together (sung with conviction, though). A Sting book will be awesome. As a kid, Sting’s songs inspired me to learn about the Crusades, World War I, poppies, carbon-14, Scylla and Charybdis, and alabaster. I also learned the definition of corpulent and ebb. Thanks, Sting! Thanks Funk n Wagnalls! (It was pre-internet!)
R.E.M./Michael Stipe. I think even he flubbed the lines to his songs in concert, because they were so inscrutable. Later albums came with lyrics, but somehow, the magic had gone. Ahh, the weekends spent trying to figure out the lyrics to “Gardening at Night” …
I love Jimmy Buffet’s lyrics. He really knows how to string imagery together.
Richard Shindell
Annie Lennox/Eurhythmics
Aimee Mann
Joni Mitchell
I agree with Stevie Nicks and Tori Amos; I would definitely buy those books. The one person whose writing I would be most interested in reading about are Leonard Cohen’s. His songs are so heartfelt and personal. They are the most like poetry of any songwriter’s I know and I would love to hear about the origin and influence behind them. Love, love, love him.
I agree with Stevie Nicks and Tori Amos; I would definitely buy those books. The one person whose writing I would be most interested in reading about are Leonard Cohen’s. His songs are so heartfelt and personal. They are the most like poetry of any songwriter’s I know and I would love to hear about the origin and influence behind them. Love, love, love him.
Since I can’t understand them when she sings them and still can’t understand them when I read them, but still love ‘em the Pretenders/Chrissie Hynde. And then Prince (although I suspect it would be wrapped in brown paper).
I’m with you, Martha. “Union of the Snake” is begging for some kind of explanation!! “Secret Oktober” is another one Simon needs to explain someday…. I remember a critic saying before that Duran’s lyrics were like bad high school poetry, and I’m inclined to agree ( but they are set to catchy music).
Well, if you mean which artists’ lyrics I want elucidated, throw in Led Zeppelin to the mix.
But if you mean, as I think the book’s publishers mean, to collect the lyrics as poetry, to read for enjoyment — Bob Dylan. Or hasn’t he done that already?
TORI AMOS of course, though I kinda doubt she would ever explain exactly what each song is supposed to mean. And Morrissy. His Smiths lyrics are some of the best in all of music.
I think the lyrics of the K-Rex Struts are immensely important and poetic but they are often too abstract so I’d love to see the singer explain himself on a bunch of their songs
Leonard Cohen (although I think they may already be in book form), Neutral Milk Hotel (it’d be a short book but worth it, especially if it came with commentary) and I agree they should have Tom Waits too.
Nix, I have a book of Bob Dylan lyrics (I think it has everything up until Self-Portrait), though I’m not sure if it’s still in print or if they’ve collected everything of his in one handy tome.
I have read were Union of the Snake was about Tantric sex. Which if you look up Tantric sex and read about kinda of makes since
I’ve always thought that the Union of the Snake was a reference to Kundalini which is also related to Tantra and the creative force.
As for lyric anthologies I would like to see Peter Murphy, Bauhaus, Love and Rockets, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Tori Amos, Loreena McKennitt, Train and many others who tend to write in metaphor