Hi noun,
er Yank,
er, Kieth!
A good question. Here's a not so good answer...
In the early 60s John Lennon had two books published (I've spent a good hour
trying to find them, I felt sure I still had them! Maybe they've gone - they
wern't all that brill...). One was called (I think) IN HIS OWN WRIT and the
other was A SPANIARD IN THE WORKS - and, in a loose way, they were poetry as
much as anything else (but, I seem to recall, there were scribbles,
cartoons, all sorts of things!).
I guess they came out at a time when poetry in England was being reborn,
with a huge event in the Albert Hall organised by Michael Horowitz and poets
appearing in all kinds of places: Liverpool and Newcastle became famous for
their poets, (even) London had a few! Such poets sometimes got as far as
making records, one or two became singers in bands, and there was a loose
conection between poetry and pop music.
And there's still one or two punk poets that used to appear at the same gigs
as punk bands...
But McCartney had a book of (erm) poems marketed earlier this year - but I
don't think poetry reader's wanted to even browse between the covers for a
minute (maybe, like me, they looked round the bookshop to check that no-one
they knew could see them pick it up...).
I think they never got known as great poets because they weren't as good as
the poets of their own generation who (when they made records) weren't great
pop singers.
I often ask poets if they ever played in bands (it's surprising how many
have done). But I can't think of any who still see strong links between the
music they did and the poems they then wrote, or write now.
Bob
>From: noun <[log in to unmask]>
>Reply-To: The Pennine Poetry Works <[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: new sub A Question
>Date: Tue, 10 Dec 2002 00:07:12 +0000
>
>You must have spotted me as a Yank by now.
>When I signed on to this lovely place
>I Didn't know it was English
>No really! I had no idea.
>But now that I have an idea
>I have a question...
>Why is it the Beatles are not known as great poets
>John and Paul especially but Ringo too and George of course?
>Oh yes they are known as great song writers
>But arn't their songs poetry as well?
>Octapusses Garden is a great poem in my book
>What about that?
>
>noun
_________________________________________________________________
Add photos to your e-mail with MSN 8. Get 2 months FREE*.
http://join.msn.com/?page=features/featuredemail
|
