• From: The Land Of Song
  • Registered: 2007-12-10
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Topic: poem's v songs

upyerkilt made a comment about one of my songs that he didnt get it until he heard the recording, and i agree. i cant usually make other peoples songs out just by looking at the words with chord symbols, i can read music but i cant make sense of the dots and squiggles till i hear the song played. the song in question was written by first of all putting together the chord sequence then penning the words to fit. so bearing this in mind i thought; how many other songs could we all think of that were written as poem's then put to music as with elton john putting music to bernie taupins words, or a tune with words added later, eg yesterday was called scrambled eggs until mccartney found his words.
let's have some suggestions...dont just look, write

phill

Ask not what Chordie can do for you, but what you can do for Chordie.

Phill Williams's Website

  • upyerkilt
  • upyerkilt
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Re: poem's v songs

loads of robert burns is what i think of straight away
my love is like a red red rose, my favourite.

Also a band from the 80's called " the dogs d'amour" the singer/songwriter/guitarist also wrote all or most of his songs as poems then made them into songs.

thats about all i can think of from the top of my head


ken

ye get some that are cut out for the job and others just get by from pretending
  • selso
  • selso
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Re: poem's v songs

William Butler Yeats never really made since to me untill I got bored and put some of his poems to simple 1-4-5's. Is that what your talking about?

Everything is bad including me
But being bad is good policy
Reverend Horton Heat
  • From: Belfast, Northern Ireland
  • Registered: 2006-03-04
  • Posts: 338

Re: poem's v songs

Was it this one ?

Aedh wishes for the Cloths of Heaven

HAD I the heavens’ embroidered cloths,   
Enwrought with golden and silver light,   
The blue and the dim and the dark cloths   
Of night and light and the half light,   
I would spread the cloths under your feet:          5
But I, being poor, have only my dreams;   
I have spread my dreams under your feet;   
Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.

We used to have it in a frame at the top of our stairs. I always thought it would be difficult to set to music.

"What's so funny 'bout peace, love and understandin' ."    Elvis Costello

alansheeran's Website

5 Reply by selso (edited by selso 2009-03-21 15:48:36)

  • selso
  • selso
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Re: poem's v songs

alansheeran wrote:

Was it this one ?

Aedh wishes for the Cloths of Heaven

HAD I the heavens’ embroidered cloths,   
Enwrought with golden and silver light,   
The blue and the dim and the dark cloths   
Of night and light and the half light,   
I would spread the cloths under your feet:          5
But I, being poor, have only my dreams;   
I have spread my dreams under your feet;   
Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.

We used to have it in a frame at the top of our stairs. I always thought it would be difficult to set to music.

Yes! Also I think it was called Brown Penny? I had a book an ex girlfriend gave me. Tried reading it a few times but never made sense till I took the rhymeing and but them to words. I wouldnt say his poems didnt make sense to me, its just that they had more power to them when I sang them with music

Everything is bad including me
But being bad is good policy
Reverend Horton Heat
  • aabb
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Re: poem's v songs

A song can be poetic; A poem becomes a song with the addition of a cadenced reader or an instrument with a melody. In either case, I enjoy both

  Ron :-)

Ron
  • From: Belfast, Northern Ireland
  • Registered: 2006-03-04
  • Posts: 338

Re: poem's v songs

I whispered, 'I am too young,'
And then, 'I am old enough';
Wherefore I threw a penny
To find out if I might love.
'Go and love, go and love, young man,
If the lady be young and fair.'
Ah, penny, brown penny, brown penny,
I am looped in the loops of her hair.

O love is the crooked thing,
There is nobody wise enough
To find out all that is in it,
For he would be thinking of love
Till the stars had run away
And the shadows eaten the moon.
Ah, penny, brown penny, brown penny,
One cannot begin it too soon.

And that's another rhyme for Love too !

"What's so funny 'bout peace, love and understandin' ."    Elvis Costello

alansheeran's Website