A Portrait of the Songwriter as a Poet

by Andrew Norris

i once had an argument with a room of Bob Dylan fans. The debate concerned the question; “Is Bob Dylan a poet?” They said yes, I said no, they said stop and I said go, go, go.

When the author Blake Morrison quoted a selection of song lyrics in his novel ‘South of the River’ he found there was a price to be paid, £4,401.75 to be exact including £535 for a line of ‘Wonderwall’. This is a bit rich considering the song title itself was stolen from George Harrison who himself was sued and paid out $1 million dollars after going to number one all over the world with ‘My Sweet Lord’.

That particular argument was about the tune rather than the words. And there lies the rub.

Poems do not have melodies, aside from their natural rhythm when read. So even if a song lyric started life as a poem or has poetic quality, once the tune hits, the game is up. I think a songwriter calling themselves a poet is, as Bob himself said in his song Lay Lady Lay, though not exactly so lawyers put your pens away, a case of having your cake and eating it too.

How many poets call themselves lyricists, songwriters or rock stars? Why should it work the other way? I would love to quote my favourite Bob Dylan lyric at this point but as we have established this would be unwise, so you will have to hunt them down. On the ‘Blood on the Tracks’ album there is a song called “Idiot Wind” which contains a verse that starts with the phrase “they say I shot” and ends with the word; “lucky” and is as witty as anything from the pen of Cole Porter.

“Bob Dylan is not a poet. Bob Dylan is one of the 20th Century’s greatest songwriters. Ain’t that enough?

Andy Norris The Sweet Confusion Bob Dylan Poet Songwriter

To The Sea
by Andrew Norris

Here is my heart
Yours to keep
We live our lives
And then to sleep
My love
And in our dreams
We will return
To the sea

Hold me now
Together we ride
The mighty storm
The turning tide
My love
Body and soul
Will return
To the sea

The sighing trees
The broken sky
The alabaster moon
You and I
My love
In the end
This all returns
To the sea

Is ‘To the Sea’ a poem or a song lyric? What do you think?

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