LITERÁRNÍ TEXT V POPULÁRNÍ HUDBĚ Studijní Opora
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LITERÁRNÍ TEXT V POPULÁRNÍ HUDBĚ Studijní opora Opava 2011 TABLE OF CONTENTS Course Description ............................................................................................................2 Course Schedule ................................................................................................................3 Course Prerequisites ..........................................................................................................4 Recommended Literature ..................................................................................................5 Communication with Tutor ...............................................................................................6 1. John Lennon ................................................................................................................8 2. Leonard Cohen ..........................................................................................................11 3. David Bowie..............................................................................................................14 4. Patti Smith .................................................................................................................18 5. Tom Waits .................................................................................................................22 6. Bob Dylan……………..............................................................................................25 7. Nick Cave ..................................................................................................................29 8. P. J. Harvey................................................................................................................33 9. Ian Curtis ...................................................................................................................36 10. Morrisey ....................................................................................................................40 11. Neil Young ................................................................................................................44 12. Nico ...........................................................................................................................47 Exam Requirements.........................................................................................................50 1 COURSE DESCRIPTION This course explores the borderline between Anglophone literature and music, its delimitation and possible transgressions. Music lyrics of recognized songwriters will be viewed as poems whose musical renditions add new horizons to them and underscore the essential musicality of poetry. Themes, motifs and distinctive styles of the individual artists coming from various areas of the English-speaking world will also be analyzed. The aim of the course is to encourage students to have an independent, critical and rational capacity of analysis, to train students in an engaged, informed and perceptive reading of a variety of lyrics in English, to provide students with the ability to compare lyrics of different kinds, and to teach them how to use theoretical tools and secondary sources in an independent and critical fashion. The students will also be encouraged to creatively respond to different kinds of music lyrics in English. 2 COURSE SCHEDULE Session Homework Name Date* Due Date* Unit 1 John Lennon Unit 2 Leonard Cohen Unit 3 David Bowie Unit 4 Patti Smith Unit 5 Tom Waits Unit 6 Bob Dylan Unit 7 Nick Cave Unit 8 P J Harvey Unit 9 Ian Curtis Unit 10 Morrisey Unit 11 Neil Young Unit 12 Nico 3 COURSE PREREQUISITES The students should have sufficient knowledge of contemporary British, American and Australian pop-music and songwriting. Ideally they will also have passed courses in British and American literature and Criticism. LIST OF PREREQUISITES Technical 1) MS Office 2) Internet Access Non-Technical • Active knowledge of literary terminology 4 RECOMMENDED LITERATURE DeMain, Bill, Behind the Muse, Tiny Ripple Books, 2001. Tucker, Susan, The Secrets of Songwriting, Allworth Press, 2003. Zollo, Paul, Songwriters on Songwriting, De Capo Press Inc, 2003. http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/series/greatlyricists http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/musicblog/2008/jun/20/whoistheworldsgreatestlyr http://www.nme.com/list/the-greatest-lyricists-in-the-world-today/170878/page/1 5 COMMUNICATION WITH TUTOR The students will send the assigned homework to the tutor via e-mail. The students can also consult the tutor during the office hours or arrange a personal consultation. Channels of Communication • E-mail: _______________________________ • Telephone: _______________________________ • WWW: 6 1. JOHN LENNON (1940-1980) Learning Objectives The students will be acquainted with the life and work of John Lennon. The main attention will be paid to Lennon’s political beliefs and social imagination. Time Required for this Unit • Theory: 65 minutes • Tasks: 75 minutes 7 The Theory John Lennon was born in Liverpool in the autumn of 1940. The Battle of Britain had just ended, but the war with Germany was far from over. It was into this unsound environment that John Lennon emerged. Who would have thought that he would become such a multi talented musical genius? John’s early years were certainly not easy. His father worked away for long periods on a ship, and essentially he was raised by his aunt. Subsequently his father emigrated to New Zealand, depriving his son of guidance in his formative years. It is perhaps understandable that John Lennon became disruptive at school. The death of his uncle is also said to have had a weighty impact on the adolescent, and he may have become yet another statistic in the grim Merseyside environment. The turning point in his life though came when he developed a strong interest in skiffle, a type of rock and roll music, whilst in his teenage years. It was while playing for a skiffle band he had formed at school that he met Paul McCartney. The two struck up an immediate friendship, and developed a fine partnership, writing and composing songs. After performing under several band names the pair, along with George Harrison and Pete Best, settled on calling themselves The Beatles. They played eight-hour shifts at various nightclubs in Hamburg, and were popular at the Cavern Club in Liverpool. The drummer, Pete Best, was not particularly good though and held them back. The decision was made to replace him with Ringo Starr, and soon afterwards The Beatles were signed by George Martin for EMI records. The band began churning out hit after hit, with numerous number ones. Lennon and McCartney were the creative force behind the group, and the amount of quality material they produced was amazing. They began touring the world and were hugely popular, especially in the US. This all changed however, when at a press conference, John Lennon claimed the band were more popular than Jesus, provoking outrage throughout America. Collectively, they all agreed to put an end to the tours and returned home in 1966. Around this time, Lennon met Yoko Ono. Although the couple were immediately attracted to each other, John was married to Cynthia Powell and they had a child. It soon became clear to her though, where John’s affections lie, and she filed for divorce. John and Yoko subsequently married in 1969. In those early years together, they devoured a fair quantity of psychedelics such as LSD, and stories of violence towards one another were rife in the press. In 1970, Paul McCartney quit the Beatles, causing tension between himself and John. A year later Lennon released the hugely popular ‘Imagine’ album. Together he and Yoko campaigned for world peace. Calling for an end to the Vietnam War offended the American government deeply, and he nearly lost his green card as a result. 8 From 1975 to 1979, John Lennon produced no music of any real quality, preferring to stay at home with his young son Sean, whom Yoko had borne. If he had known what was to follow it is highly likely that he would have stuck with that peaceful lifestyle.Unable to repress the musical genius inside himself, he wrote the excellent album ‘Double Fantasy’. On December 8, 1980, he was accosted by a young man outside his plush apartment in New York and asked to sign a copy of the album. Thinking nothing of it Lennon went about his business. Upon returning to the apartment later that day, that young man, the addled and demented Mark Chapman, shot and killed John Lennon. Example Imagine Imagine there's no Heaven It's easy if you try No hell below us Above us only sky Imagine all the people Living for today Imagine there's no countries It isn't hard to do Nothing to kill or die for And no religion too Imagine all the people Living life in peace You may say that I'm a dreamer But I'm not the only one I hope someday you'll join us And the world will be as one Imagine no possessions I wonder if you can No need for greed or hunger A brotherhood of man Imagine all the people Sharing all the world You may say that I'm a dreamer But I'm not the only one I hope someday you'll join us And the world will live as one 9 Study Questions 1) What is the message of this song to the world? 2) Which features of the human society do the lyrics gloss over? 3) What changes need to be done in order to better the human lot? 4) How does the song manage to directly address its listener? 5) Is this an entirely utopian song, or can the ideas propagated by it be really implemented? 10 2. LEONARD COHEN (B. 1934) Learning Objectives The students will be acquainted