{"id":1109,"date":"2008-02-01T00:14:55","date_gmt":"2008-02-01T06:14:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/?p=1109"},"modified":"2008-02-01T00:15:34","modified_gmt":"2008-02-01T06:15:34","slug":"poetry-friday-lyrics-and-poetry-related-prose-from-neko-case","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/?p=1109","title":{"rendered":"Poetry Friday: Lyrics and Poetry-related Prose from Neko Case"},"content":{"rendered":"

Neko CaseI had something of a religious experience last weekend: I saw Neko Case<\/strong><\/a> perform live at the State Theatre<\/strong><\/a> in Ithaca.<\/p>\n

“Country Noir” is one phrase I’ve heard used to identify her style, and it’s probably the best description I’ve heard. I’ve been a big fan for a couple of years now, thanks to Jules, and seeing her live just crystallized it. If you ever have the chance, GO<\/strong>.<\/a><\/p>\n

I’ve always thought her lyrics have a strong tendency towards poetry. So I was looking online for a link to something of hers I could share with you all for Poetry Friday, and found something kind of unusual: an article she wrote for Poetry Magazine<\/strong><\/em><\/a>, entitled “My Flaming Hamster Wheel of Panic About Publicly Discussing Poetry in This Respected Forum.”<\/strong><\/a> Besides having perhaps the best title of a poetry essay EVER, the article is great because it addresses a misconception that I think a lot of people have: that poetry is for “other people… smarter people.” Even Neko, a bonafide poet in her own right, feels inadequate in the face of Poetry-with-a-capital-P:<\/p>\n

I think it’s because I don’t want to let poetry down. Poetry is such a delicate, pretty lady with a candy exoskeleton on the outside of her crepe-paper dress. I am an awkward, heavy-handed mule of a high school dropout. I guess I just need permission to be in the same room with poetry.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

But she goes on to recognize that these feelings are wrong, that “we all have the right to poetry!” And she notes that she doesn’t feel the same reservations about poetry in the context of music.<\/p>\n

So, in the hopes that it will lead you to some of Neko’s poetry-as-music, here are some lyrics from one of my favorite songs, “Deep Red Bells.”<\/p>\n

He led you to this hiding place
\nHis lightening threats spun silver tongues
\nThe red bells beckon you to ride
\nA handprint on the driver’s side
\nIt looks a lot like engine oil and tastes like being poor and small
\nAnd Popsicles in the summer<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The rest of the lyrics are here<\/strong><\/a>. And trust me – it’s even better with music.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I had something of a religious experience last weekend: I saw Neko Case perform live at the State Theatre in Ithaca. “Country Noir” is one phrase I’ve heard used to identify her style, and it’s probably the best description I’ve heard. I’ve been a big fan for a couple of years now, thanks to Jules, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1109","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-poetry-friday"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1109","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1109"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1109\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1109"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1109"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1109"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}