The idea of songpoems is not a difficult one to understand: lyrics written by amateur poets are set to music and thus magically transformed into songs. Student songpoems enlist high school aged students who are asked to write their poems about subjects intimately important to them. Thus, insight into the workings of the teenage mind is gained, and I know I speak for all concerned when I say the future has never looked brighter. Just like in our own youth, the topics of football, trucks, and peanut butter remain as important as ever. But songpoems are far more complex than what appears on the surface. As people who have been involved with music nearly the entirety of our lives, we approach song writing, and in particular the writing of lyrics, differently. To varying degrees, the desire to capture a moment, idea, or feeling in “totally cool” words (that will impress lots of people to the point of spending their money to access more of one’s brilliant insight) causes hours of second guessing, editing, revising, and capitulation. However, no such limitations interfere with the crafting of student songpoems. They are honest, they are from the heart, they are real, and they are frequently first drafts. Sure, there are misspellings, crazy twists of grammar, and the use of words and phrases that complete a rhyme but otherwise make no sense whatsoever, but there is an inherent beauty in these creations that nobody who is writing a song on purpose could ever capture. Seriously, it would have never occurred to me to write a song about The Legend of Zelda, but it was a student’s first choice when he was told he could write a poem about anything in the universe, and he bared his soul in the process. Enjoy!
Created in partnership with the Canadian noisemakers, the late legend's final collaborative LP enshrines his ability to lift joint ventures into otherworldly territory. Bandcamp Album of the Day Nov 8, 2021