Source – and lyrics for the Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan

From SUmair is IcUmin in (1250) to Cummin Thru Ya Fuckin Block (1994); each generation’s popular song lyrics – for cultural exploration of values and beliefs

Great song lyrics are inspiring. Of course when they are coupled with great music the two have a multiplier effect and become ‘transcendent’. Why? How do the words when combined with the music become so powerful – so powerful that they can ‘take us out of ourselves’ and transport us delightfully?

Once or twice I’ve heard teachers and/or preachers refer to lyrics in popular song and I’m sure a lot of work has been done in schools and colleges. Here I just post one or two ideas and hope that I get to hear about more such work.

 

I did look many many years ago at some of the lyrics used by Joan Baez and Bob Dylan with secondary school pupils in the context of teaching English in the first school in which I taught. (I’m afraid I am one of those who thought that Bob Dylan did fall from grace with the electric guitar – but no one can take away the diamond-like clarity and poetry of his early work!) Still good stuff!

 

If you can avoid too much initial resistance folk song is, of course, a very interesting vehicle to look at historical events and work-related and class and geographic issues.

 

One of the earliest songs is SUmair is IcUmin in (c.1250)

SUmair is IcUmin in, lU-duh sing cUckU
GrOweth sAd and blOweth mAd and springth the wUduh nU
ow-uh blAteth after lahhhmb, lOth after cal-vuh cU
Bullock stairteth, buck-uh vairteth, mUrI sing cUckU
Well singst thU cUckU; nA swick thU nevair nU
Sing cUckU, nU….

Translation:
Summer is coming in, loudly sings the cuckoo, cuckoo, cuckoo….
The seed grows; the meadow blossoms, and the woods alivens anew.
The ewe bleats after the lamb; the cow lows after the calf;
The bull leaps; the goat capers*; merrily sing cuckoo!
Well sing you, cuckoo–don’t ever stop now.
Sing cuckoo, now….

Hear the music HERE

Lastly I want to mention films – probably like me you are astonished in having watched a film to see that it had used 30 or so songs and yet you were not aware of them – so looking at the use of popular music in films is another very interesting area.

TASK/LESSONs – a few ideas

1 Look at some lyrics that stand up as poetry and some that don’t but get transformed when coupled with the music.

2 Explore the multiplier effect’ when lyrics and song come together – via a good/great singer.

3 Use song lyrics (and photographs/photography) in ‘reminiscence work’ with senior citizens and multi-generational work.

4 Explore why each generation gets attached to and is defined by (?) the songs that are popular.

5 what are the down-sides of music in films? What part does music play in ‘Hollywood’ type movies?

6 Watch some key/favourite/ important sections of films with and without the music sound-track – what’s the difference and what’s going on?

7 Cows are said to like music – why. If its true and what is known about music in the work-place?

8 Get children to interview parents grand-parents about key music in relation to key events in their lives.

9 Get children to develop a set of images in relations to a particular song that is important to them e.g. Strange Fruit

HERE ARE A FEW OF MY FAVOURITE LYRICS AND EDUCATIONAL SOURCES FOR THEM

Every time we say good bye (Cole Porter)

We love each other so deeply
that I ask you this, sweetheart,
why should we quarrel ever,
why can’t we be enough clever,
never to part.
Ev’ry time we say goodbye
I die a little,
ev’ry time we say goodbye
I wonder why a little,
why the gods above me
who must be in the know
think so little of me
they allow you to go.
When you’re near
there’s such an air
of spring about it,
I can hear a lark somewhere
begin to sing about it,
there’s no love song finer,
but how strange the change
from major to minor…
ev’ry time we say goodbye.
Ev’ry time we say goodbye
I die a little,
ev’ry time we say goodbye
I wonder why a little,
why the gods above me
who must be in the know
think so little of me
they allow you to go.
When you’re near
there’s such an air
of spring about it,
I can hear a lark somewhere
begin to sing about it,
there’s no love song finer,
but how strange the change
from major to minor…
ev’ry time we say goodbye.
Ev’ry single time
we say goodbye

Source

Miss Otis Regrets
“Oh, hi! A-heh heh! Is Miss Otis in?”
“Miss Otis regrets she’s unable to lunch today.”

Miss Otis regrets she’s unable to lunch today, madam.
Miss Otis regrets she’s unable to lunch today, mmmmmm.
And she’s sorry to be delayed,
but last evening down at lover’s lane
she strayed, madam.
Miss Otis regrets she’s unable to lunch today.

When she woke up and found
that her dream of love was gone, madam,
she ran to the man
who had lead her so far astray.
And from under her velvet gown
she drew a gun and shot her lover down, madam.
Miss Otis regrets she’s unable to lunch today.

When the mob came and got her
and dragged her from the jail, madam,
they strung her up
on the willow across the way.
And the moment before she died
she lifted up her lovely head and cried, madam.
Miss Otis regrets she’s unable to lunch.
Miss Otis regrets she’s unable to lunch today.

Source

Strange Fruit

Southern trees bear strange fruit,
Blood on the leaves and blood at the root,
Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze,
Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees.

Pastoral scene of the gallant south,
The bulging eyes and the twisted mouth,
Scent of magnolias, sweet and fresh,
Then the sudden smell of burning flesh.

Here is fruit for the crows to pluck,
For the rain to gather, for the wind to suck,
For the sun to rot, for the trees to drop,
Here is a strange and bitter crop.

Source

All the things You Are

You are the promised breath of springtime
That makes the lonely winter seem long
You are the breathless hush of evening
That trembles on the brink of a lovely song
You are the angel glow that lights the stars
The dearest thing I know are what you are
Someday my happy arms will hold you
And some day I’ll know that moment divine
When all the things you are, are mine

 

Source

There is a very funny (and strangely moving) version of All the Things You Are by Peter Sellers – you can hear a bit HERE

 

Of course neither have the lyric and romantic charm and transcendental sweetness of Cummin Thru Ya Fuckin Block;

 

Author/Artist/Singer:	Artifacts
Music Title/Track:	Cummin Thru Ya Fuckin Block
Theme ID:	31545
	N/A

 

featuring RedmanTo the beat y’all *rat-a-tat drumming sound*[all] Make it funky (4X) [Red] My nigga Tame [all] makes it funky [Red] My nigga El [all] makes it funky [Red] Redman [all] makes it funky [Red] Huh, check it outVerse One: El Da SensaiI Ego Trip like Ultramag, sag my Girbauds I drag competition so listen and raise the white flag Cause the instructor, of the New Jerz verse dusts another motherfucker I discover what no other brother can do, hard to handle and to, stamp I play Tramp like Grace Jones in that movie Vamp I’m fit to wreck shit, I dip into the skit Spit lyrics exquisite, blitted as I hit it I suppose I knows the ways of the pros Bros be like, “Oh that nigga’s got mad flows” Creep’ll get it deep, I got it when it’s strict against ducks who suck, and didn’t have the best defense I make shit nice, defies with my device And if I’m in a rap fight, you can catch a cap, right Bust it, whassup what did ya ask me? Crafty with my sassafrass P-Funk, thought been handy Dandy Mayor Ave., back in the lab create my trap Dibble dabble in the midst of the Artifact we have swiftness, I blitz, specific and you dig it from N.J., the Notty Headed Terror and da SensaiChorus: Artifacts, Redman Pump! Pump! We’re lickin off the mad shots [Red] It’s the Artifacts and Redman cummin thru ya fuckin block (repeat 3X) Pump! Pump! We’re lickin off the mad shots [Red] It’s the Artifacts and Redman cummin thru ya fuckin!! Verse Two: Tame One Well I come live from the Artifact exhibit as a misfit Larger than Jurassic Park I lick off like Wilson Pickett Drama like a talk show I hit more cheese than nacho Feelin Machu when I Pi on; a Coltrane like Roscoe Hostile underground fossil, nigga bout to rock ya So peep it how I freak it check the technique yeah I rock ya I glide like drips and blaze a trail like I was Portland When ill stressed, I still rock a vest like Ed Norton The ill king, taking all things cash, crash, and asses Backstage passes, V.I.P. all access I got the props pon cock, fuck the know-nots Whose techniques are weaker than the graphics for the Gobots I rock with raw steel like Sue Richards, when Rick smacks her Up motherfuck that I got more funk than muskrats With my hocus pocus I can fuck up where ya focus wit my left hook, dip right jab shuffle I can smoke ya it don’t matter, cause all my shit is fatter than the pads on MPC-60’s, hit me you got five second to jet G Straight from the Bricks, now back to the N.J. The Notty Headed Nigga and da motherfuckin Sensai [Red] Hoooaaaahhh! One two, one two, one two This is for Jersey, haha ahh, ah hah One two, one two Verse Three: Tame One, MC El I’m the black king, quick to grease my naps with Royal Crown and aloe vera representin for the Notty Headed nigga era However whatever my Posse Packs the Pistols and my Skwad got the Boom, rid the room, get the bitches The exact Artifact, who is that, you speak of Leak my speakers, unique and freakin beats track in fact I be dat, nigga who you look for, in your worst fears Peace to my nigga Lord Sear and Samere Display, niggaz from N.J. Notty Headed Terror and da motherfuckin Sensai Outro: Artifacts, Redman Pump! Pump! We’re lickin off the mad shots [Red] It’s that Notty Headed Nigga cummin thru ya fuckin block Pump! Pump! We’re lickin off the mad shots [Red] It’s the Artifacts and Redman cummin thru ya fuckin block Pump! Pump! We’re lickin off the mad shots [Red] Big up to Boom Skwad’s cummin thru ya fuckin block Pump! Pump! We’re lickin off the mad shots [Red] It’s the Artifacts and Redman cummin thru ya fuckin block Pump! Pump! [Red] Booyaka Pump! Pump! (6X) [Red] For nine-fo’ Pump! Pump! [Red] Artifacts get dapped like that y’all *sound of rat-a-tat drumming again* [Red] Jersey’s in the fuckin house y’all New York’s live in the house y’all Newark is live in the house y’all E-O’s live in the house y’all Word is bond in the hizouse y’all I’m in the motherfuckin hizouse y’all So niggaz get the fuckin balls y’all

 

Source

 

Endpoint

Question: If ‘sewage’ is the spiritual food of choice how precisely did we fail to develop the appetite for the sublime?

 

In parenting we go from almost total control to indirect influence. Intrinsic worth, value, meaning, taste, discrimination are the kinds of qualities most of us hope our children acquire. In this process we have to stay conscious of the fact that if we don’t have (a reasonable degree of) control over our children’s environment someone far less benign will be manipulating them.