I’m pleased Dylan got the Nobel prize. It might be true, as some have indicated, that his lyrics when read aloud don’t quite match his vocal delivery of them, but many contemporary poets’ poems when read aloud also lose some of their “power. I don’t know how many soporific poetry readings I sat through in the 1990s, listening to comedy/protest/observational poems about cats, dogs, the poll tax, the Tory party, Tony Blair, etc. If it weren’t for the alcohol available at the majority of these gigs, I don’t think I could have endured them.
I saw Kate Tempest on TV recently performing some of her work, and was struck by how much it reminded me of the poets I saw at these 1990s readings. Yet she is held by some to be some sort of new “poetic hope”.
Maybe in 50 years I might have a more favourable opinion of her. I’m such a square, that had I been a youth when “Blonde on Blonde” first came out, I would have been saying that the oeuvre of Andy Williams was much better—I do like William’s beautiful version of “God Only Knows” by the Beach Boys. Check it out on YouTube. It has a more plaintive quality than the original, which is more in keeping with the lyrical content of the song.
|