Oh where have you been, my blue eyed son?

Oh, where have you been, my blue-eyed son?
Oh, where have you been, my darling young one?
I’ve stumbled on the side of twelve misty mountains,
I’ve walked and I’ve crawled on six crooked highways,
I’ve stepped in [...]

Right Way / Wrong Way: Particularity

It’s a truism in writing workshops and English classes that deft use of detail in creative writing can improve your poetry and fiction. I’d say the same is true for song lyrics. Seems like the best songs will always include bits of the particular alongside the more imagistic and emotional generalities that necessarily underpin pop [...]

Maybe the birds are on tape.

The last verse of Rod Stewart’s bodice-ripping hit “Do You Think I’m Sexy” has been bugging the shit out of me. It’s not so much the way he turns the song into a Capra-esque romance. Rod is an “Every Picture Tells a Story” kind of guy — his songs typically resolve into tight, treacly narratives [...]