Hey 5 followers (and other, more stealthy, under-the-radar types)!
This week, I’ve been listening to Kris Kristofferson a lot, and I discovered something I’d never considered about a song I’ve listened to since I was about 5 years old.
The song is from an album called “Jesus Was A Capricorn” from 1972, and it’s called “Out of Mind. Out of Sight.” I had never really considered the alliteration present in this song–you remember alliteration, don’t you? Let’s go back to our 5th grade English class for a second:
Alliteration is the repetition of the first consonant sound in a group of words.
The classic examples of alliteration adhere rigidly to these constraints. In Shakespeare, you get things like this:
“whereat with blade, with bloody blameful blade he bravely broached his bloody boiling breast”
– A Midsummer Night’s Dream
I think most modern interpretations would include stressed syllables in the definition.
So, I had just been blithely singing along and not thinking about the lyrical structure of this Kris Kristofferson song for 30 years, so I figured it was as good a time as any to start thinking about something. Here’s what I noticed: the “Refrain” (for lack of a better term) in this song goes like this:
Buddy, tip your bottle back and climb aboard the bus
join your brothers in the band
if you ain’t bombed in Birmingham, then you ain’t one of us
we don’t really give a damn.
So the alliteration becomes glaringly apparent when you see it written out.
Let’s make it unmissable:
Buddy tip your bottle back and climb aboard the bus
join your brothers in the band
if you ain’t bombed in Birmingham, then you ain’t one of us
we don’t really give a damn.
Nine stressed “B” syllables in four lines, not bad.
The danger, of course, is to use alliteration just to be alliterative, without saying anything. Sure it’s easy to make up something like:
lately life loses its lightness
when laughing loud listening to Lou
and lovingly lilting to Lennon
is as close as I get to the blues
Right? …but it probably requires more effort to come to this:
they paved paradise, and put up parking lot
So try that. Skillful use of alliteration, along with skillful internal rhymes, is what separates the ams from the pros.
There ya go. A late short one. But clearer. And less rambling.
This Week:
Almost finished recording my newest song, just need my amp to start behaving, and it’ll be finished!
Kris Kristofferson, apparently.
Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit
Jonathan Coulton
Lyle Lovett
Marc Cohn
Metallica
James McMurtry
Jeep FC-150?
Happy Birthday Dad!
…try this one:
Take responsibility for your own awesomeness.