Recently I asked my creative writing students to do this exercise: Begin by remembering a particular song and then say what you were doing the first time you heard that song. It helps if it’s one of your favorites. Here’s one of mine:
Many people whose opinion I admire say that Radiohead’s lyrics are weak. Not so, mon frère. Radiohead is composed of mad genius poets. Their lyrics do stand up on the page, though admittedly an entirely new form of language is created when joined with their music and Thom’s warbling. I chose “Idioteque” at random knowing I wanted something off of Kid A. There is an homage to Dadaist poetry on this album, and the band has admitted to using this method of cutting up lyrics and arranging the songs by drawing words out of a hat. As a poet and editor, I find this immensely satisfying. There is even a made up word in “Idioteque:” skwrking, at least in the lyrics I’ve found.
“Idioteque” is a timeless piece that encompasses the destructive force of wars, both past and present, and looks toward a future desolate landscape wrought by our need to consume unabated. The repetition of “women and children first” reminds me of piling into lifeboats, like on the Titanic. For me, “Idioteque” embodies the breakdown of reason inherent in any war, or in anyone who holds a gun and shoots it at another living being.
Who’s in bunker, who’s in bunker?
Women and children first
Women and children first
Women and children
I’ll laugh until my head comes off
I swallow till I burst
Until I burst
Until I..
Who’s in bunker, who’s in bunker
I’ve seen too much
I haven’t seen enough
You haven’t seen enough
I’ll laugh until my head comes off
Women and children first
And children first
And children..
Here I’m allowed, everything all of the time
Here I’m allowed, everything all of the time
Ice age coming, ice age coming
Let me hear both sides
Let me hear both sides
Let me hear both..
Ice age coming, ice age coming
Throw me in the fire
Throw me in the fire
Throw me in the..
We’re not scaremongering
This is really happening, happening
We’re not scaremongering
This is really happening, happening
Mobiles working
Mobiles chirping
Take the money and run
Take the money and run
Take the money..
Here I’m allowed, everything all of the time
Background: (The first of the children)
first published on www.poetrycrush.com
The last week of summer when “Single No More,” by Richard Jones skipped along the radio waves, I had been stopped at a desolate four-way intersection deciding between us surviving through the night or trying to keep my promise. I bolted my eyes onto the rear view mirror analyzing her shivering childlike frame. Her matted brown locks intertwined with the rugged wilderness that we had just snatched her out of. I could sense the unfamiliarity in his face and when he pulled back the tarp, I knew he would forever be changed, as the sheeted body lunged for his throat.
The first time Lula heard Hallelujah by Jeff Buckly, she in the attic going through a box of dolls her mother had when she was a girl. She heard his voice and came down to see Gramma Oakly crying in her rocker, her hands trembling like they were cold from wind. “Nice song, hmn?” Lula heard her Gramma say, as she made her way back into the attic. When Lula turned twenty, Oakly entered a nursing home…The next time Lula visited, her grandmother couldn’t recognize her. Lula was set on never going back, when she heard her Grandmother singing, “Hallelujah. Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah…”
The first time Russell heard “And the Beat Goes on” by The Whispers he was in a seedy bar. He glanced down at his hand, staring at the empty air where the last joint of his finger should be. ‘If I mess this up…’ he worried internally, taking another look around. His breath caught. The song had stopped, but a moment later it was back. The mark was talking to someone, Russell watched him from the corner of his eye. He steeled himself, pulling the gun from the inside waistband of his pants.
The first time I heard “Sober” by Tool, I was over at my friend Michelle’s house, waiting for somebody to pass the pipe. The song sounded like somebody had read the words of my wrecked heart, and placed them into a melody of suffering. With my eyes closed, I imagined myself walking up to the singer. In my vision, he was on stage, surrounded by black roses. Their razor sharp thorns sliced my skin as I continued down my path. When I reached him, we cried, powerless over our addiction, knowing we were no longer who we used to be.
The first time I heard “A Day in the Life” by The Beatles, I was seven years old. Newspaper headlines reported the latest developments from the OJ Simpson murder controversy. Mass media hurricanes of love, sex, and murder hit hard, obliterating the force field that had been sheltering me from adulthood. This was just the beginning, because as many people know, the hardest part comes when the dust has settled. When it did, some kids created their own new identities. The rest had identities assigned to them. It didn’t take a genius to know which side you would be on.
As usual for Jasmine and Joseph every Tuesday night they watch American Idol. Jasmine is a very insecure woman with trust issues. The song “What hurts the most” by Rascal Flatts was preformed by one of the contestants from that year. As he sang, you can notice Jasmine’s fear in her eye. That song made her think about her only family member who had passed away already and was divested to think about loosing the only other person she has, her other half. She stops and thinks, “The power of mind can destroy you.”
The first time I heard the song, Going West in a Covered Wagon, by some unknown pioneer, I was driving my team behind the lead wagon as Charlie sang out loud. Charlie was a simple man who knew more about the land than any of us following him. Fear filled my mind of dangerous trail, wild natives, but Charlie’s song eased me. It made me think of the many times he lead families safely out west. I wasn’t afraid, “We’ll make it to California, where my husband waits in our new home. This is why we brave the Cumberland Gap.”
First time he heard Break Even by The Script, we were in his one bed room apartment as we were bringing our relationship to an end. Samuel decided that he was going to accept that we didn’t work out and he was going to move on with his life. A month later I caught myself still thinking of him. Half a year went by and I could still feel his presence but I was finally recovering. He was able to move on with his life with someone new. We had a love that I will never forget.
The first time I heard “Just a Girl” from No Doubt I was a freshmen in high school. I was going to school with my cousin, and she was playing their cd. The lyrics that stood out were “I’m just a girl so don’t let me drive late at night. I’m just a girl so don’t let me have any rights.” I became a fan. I bought their cd, and I heard all their songs, and I paid attention to the lyrics. That cd taught me something about my writing that I can use my writing to express my feelings.
“My horrible past has made me a stronger person but I just want to stop thinking about it for once.” I said.
“Oh, honey. Van would never want you to be or feel alone. I’m sure he would want you to be happy and maybe find love again.” My mother said.
I want to do something more meaningful with my life. Van would want me to travel and do the things he and I planned for. Life is too short.
Beginning the new chapter of my life and this time no regrets or waiting for life to throw me miracles…
The first time I heard “Consurge” by Cerulean I felt like my life was ending. I couldn’t be home because my parents were fighting again, Kayla was with her boyfriend who didn’t like me and Anthony’s mom didn’t want me near him. Therefore, I went to the only place I knew I belonged Lake Soria. It was the one place I could hide from everything and let all the chaos of my life free and replace it with tranquility. I put my headphones in and listened.
/Don’t let the world bury you alive / Et surge, et pugnare! /
The first time Maddie heard “Pumped Up Kicks” by Foster the People, she’d been buckled into her car-seat in the back of her tia’s beat up Dodge. The beat caught her one year old body and she let it take her away! The darkness of the lyrics didn’t matter; she didn’t understand the words anyway.
Her tia had been a little amused yet scandalized; she did understand the paradox the song represented. The reality of self-hate, violence and abuse in the lyrics contradicted the catchy tune. When analyzed, the song was one of the most twisted she had ever heard.
The first time I heard “Old Man” by Neil Young I was riding shot gun in my Pops 1963 Chevy Pickup Truck in the country side of Yakima, Washington. I wasn’t an overly sentimental person, being a teenage boy and all, but I’ll never forget how these lyrics made me think about my Pops and his poor habits, and how I never wanted to live my life the same way he did. Funny thing is, sometimes the very things you intend to avoid are the very things that creep up one night in your sleep, and become you.
K. garcilazo
The first time I heard The Forest by The Cure I was home laying down on the couch trying to relax from a long day of class and work.
The mystical yet hypnotizing and soothing feel of the song floated from upstairs from my brother’s room through the stairway and into my ears some how.
My eyes where closed yet I was taken away to a foreign place.
I could feel and sense the forest without actually being or visualizing it.
Open my eyes after the music stopped and oh what a trip.
The first time I heard the song “I’ll Show You” by Ailee, I was inside my car driving away from my home. I was leaving the place that was my hell for more than three years and going somewhere where I can start over. I am determined to leave everything behind and show everyone that I am not a weak, pathetic person they thought I was. The moment he left to go to work I packed my belongings and got inside my car. The moment I stopped the car, I broke down and cried for the first time in years.