What really is the difference between a lyric and a poem. When I started to make this entry two hours ago, I'd written 2 paragraphs of derisive stuff against poetry before I remembered "Mr. Tamborine Man" and the Dylan vs. Dylan contest in "Dangerous Minds". Bob Dylan wrote poems... That's as concrete an example as you'll ever get of a poet-in-a-song-writer's-skin as you'll ever get... That made me think... I'll get back to what it made me think, but first some examples of lyrics that should have been in poems:
(in 'Brother' by Alice in Chains)
Roses in a vase of white
Bloodied by the thorns beside the leaves
That fall because my hand is
Pulling them hard as I can...
(in ‘Mr. Tamborine Man’ by Bob Dylan)
Though I know that evenin's empire has returned into sand,
Vanished from my hand,
Left me blindly here to stand but still not sleeping.
My weariness amazes me, I'm grounded on my feet,
I have no one to meet
And the ancient empty street's too dead for dreaming.
(in ‘Wish you were here’ by Pink Flyod)
And did they get you to trade
Your heros for ghosts?
Hot ashes for trees?
Hot air for a cool breeze?
Cold comfort for change?
And did you exchange
A walk on part in the war
For a lead role in a cage?
If you know those songs, can you avoid singing them in a tune? I’m not well versed enough in poetry to comment about the converse being true for poems. That little fact showed me that maybe I should shower my wisdom from elsewhere, namely:
http://www.musesmuse.com/poem-vs-lyric.html :)
Here’s what some people have to say:
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The major difference is that the writer calls poems "poems" and song lyrics "song lyrics". In other words, when you write you decide what it's going to be.
Songs are spritual. Poems are intellectual.
Seriously, the intention of the writer.
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There’s therefore no difference between a good lyric and a good poem. The Metallicas can wait for their accolades :).
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