Inspiration from songs
I know people who have found story ideas and book titles and such from songs. I've not gotten story ideas from music, but I have gotten some ideas for poems from song lyrics.
Sometimes it's an epigraph - as with a couple of lines from Linkin Park's song, "Waiting for the End".
Sometimes it's the idea of writing a certain type of poem, as with Taylor Swift's "Story of Us" - it's a poem I haven't written yet, but the idea of writing a poem that tells the story of a particular relationship is on my radar.
Sometimes it's the idea for a type of poem - like perhaps one based on "Body Parts," one of my favorite songs from The Wonders of the Younger, the latest CD from Plain White T's. Now, it sounds like a song about Dexter or something, but it's actually an achingly beautiful song about lost love. (Lead guitarist Tim G. Lopez wrote it about his divorce, and sings leads on it in this album.) And I am quite serious in saying that the lyrics work for me as a poem, which is not always the case when it comes to songs. Seriously, this is one gorgeous song - give it a listen:
Here's the first verse and chorus:
Body Parts
by Tim G. Lopez
My heart was talking to my head,
said I've loved once, I'll never love again.
And my head to this replied,
I miss her too, she was easy on the eyes.
Now all they do is look around for you
And every night, with their lids closed tight,
They're lost in dreams that they'll awake and see
You lying next to me.
I love the structure of this verse (first four lines) and chorus (second four), and the slant rhyme (head/again, replied/eyes - in the second verse you have soles/home, same/away), and, most of all, I love the idea of body parts having a conversation among themselves. All of these are things I intend to play with in the near future. (Right after I stop playing this song on "replay" - it's my latest song obsession.)
What about you? Have you been inspired by a song?
Sometimes it's an epigraph - as with a couple of lines from Linkin Park's song, "Waiting for the End".
Sometimes it's the idea of writing a certain type of poem, as with Taylor Swift's "Story of Us" - it's a poem I haven't written yet, but the idea of writing a poem that tells the story of a particular relationship is on my radar.
Sometimes it's the idea for a type of poem - like perhaps one based on "Body Parts," one of my favorite songs from The Wonders of the Younger, the latest CD from Plain White T's. Now, it sounds like a song about Dexter or something, but it's actually an achingly beautiful song about lost love. (Lead guitarist Tim G. Lopez wrote it about his divorce, and sings leads on it in this album.) And I am quite serious in saying that the lyrics work for me as a poem, which is not always the case when it comes to songs. Seriously, this is one gorgeous song - give it a listen:
Click to viewHere's the first verse and chorus:
Body Parts
by Tim G. Lopez
My heart was talking to my head,
said I've loved once, I'll never love again.
And my head to this replied,
I miss her too, she was easy on the eyes.
Now all they do is look around for you
And every night, with their lids closed tight,
They're lost in dreams that they'll awake and see
You lying next to me.
I love the structure of this verse (first four lines) and chorus (second four), and the slant rhyme (head/again, replied/eyes - in the second verse you have soles/home, same/away), and, most of all, I love the idea of body parts having a conversation among themselves. All of these are things I intend to play with in the near future. (Right after I stop playing this song on "replay" - it's my latest song obsession.)
What about you? Have you been inspired by a song?