I know much less about music than I do about books, but I can definitely tell you that my taste in music is influenced by my appreciation for good writing. I especially love songs with wordplay or that take on a slightly different meaning the more you listen to them. With this in mind, I've compiled a list of my favorite poetic singers in the hopes that they will confound and delight you, too.
1. Marina Diamandis aka Marina and the Diamonds - She's probably my favorite singer of all time. "Mowgli's Road" is one of her most poetic and clever songs, but I was totally mystified by it for a while. It's pretty clear that she's feeling pressure to conform to what the music industry wants from her, but then there's also this weird silverware metaphor about how "the cutlery will keep on chasing me" and how the "spoons are metally mean and "the knives are bloody cold". It took me weeks before I suddenly had a eureka moment listening to this one line, "There's a fork in the road, I choose the unchosen", and the whole thing clicked. But I'm not going to explain the whole song to you! Go listen to it yourself :P
2. Regina Spektor - Jeez, she has such beautiful voice, and her lyrics are so fascinating. One of my favorite songs by her is called "Samson," as in Samson of the Bible, whose strength was a gift from God that would never fail him unless he cut his hair. Eventually he lost his strength when his lover, Delilah, cut his hair and betrayed him. In this song Spektor says that she cut Samson's hair, but instead of feeling betrayed, he said that she'd "done alright." Is this song about betrayal? Is it about being vulnerable in love?
3. The Arctic Monkeys - Almost all of their songs are about sex, but they are really creative about it - "Was it a Mecca Dabber or a betting pencil?", for example...
4. The Orwells - Similar subject matter to the Arctic Monkeys', and the same skill in communicating it. Their most clever song title is probably "Southern Comfort" :P
5. Florence + the Machine - The first time I heard it, "Cosmic Love" truly had me sitting at my keyboard forgetting to breathe. The galactic background gong drum and the boldness of saying that "the stars, the moon, they have all been blown out" by her boyfriend's departure probably did it.
And now I shall leave you all with a photo of a new bauble It is a book necklace given to me for my 16th birthday (Hallelujah! Still no driver's license though) by my lovely family friend, Jonea.
If you guys think of any other singer-songwriters who need to be on this list, tell me in the comments!
- Carly
1. Marina Diamandis aka Marina and the Diamonds - She's probably my favorite singer of all time. "Mowgli's Road" is one of her most poetic and clever songs, but I was totally mystified by it for a while. It's pretty clear that she's feeling pressure to conform to what the music industry wants from her, but then there's also this weird silverware metaphor about how "the cutlery will keep on chasing me" and how the "spoons are metally mean and "the knives are bloody cold". It took me weeks before I suddenly had a eureka moment listening to this one line, "There's a fork in the road, I choose the unchosen", and the whole thing clicked. But I'm not going to explain the whole song to you! Go listen to it yourself :P
2. Regina Spektor - Jeez, she has such beautiful voice, and her lyrics are so fascinating. One of my favorite songs by her is called "Samson," as in Samson of the Bible, whose strength was a gift from God that would never fail him unless he cut his hair. Eventually he lost his strength when his lover, Delilah, cut his hair and betrayed him. In this song Spektor says that she cut Samson's hair, but instead of feeling betrayed, he said that she'd "done alright." Is this song about betrayal? Is it about being vulnerable in love?
3. The Arctic Monkeys - Almost all of their songs are about sex, but they are really creative about it - "Was it a Mecca Dabber or a betting pencil?", for example...
4. The Orwells - Similar subject matter to the Arctic Monkeys', and the same skill in communicating it. Their most clever song title is probably "Southern Comfort" :P
5. Florence + the Machine - The first time I heard it, "Cosmic Love" truly had me sitting at my keyboard forgetting to breathe. The galactic background gong drum and the boldness of saying that "the stars, the moon, they have all been blown out" by her boyfriend's departure probably did it.
And now I shall leave you all with a photo of a new bauble It is a book necklace given to me for my 16th birthday (Hallelujah! Still no driver's license though) by my lovely family friend, Jonea.
If you guys think of any other singer-songwriters who need to be on this list, tell me in the comments!
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| If you're reading this, THANK YOU VERY MUCH JONEA! It's so pretty :') |
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Thank you for talking to me!! I wish you lots of good books and brownies!