Poetry in Rock Music in the 1960's

he best of rock music does not have to be poetic. Sometimes it's the music, the beat, that matters.

Sometimes the words have power because they are raw, and the opposite of poetic.

But sometimes, the best of rock music is poetic. And the time when the music blossomed as a poetic form was the 1960's.

Before the 1960's, rock and roll music was, for the most part, formuleic and fairly simplistic

lyrically: the main themes revolved around the desire of a boy for a girl or a girl for a boy.

If it rhymed and it had a beat, that was enough. I love the music of that era, but for the most

part it does not work as poetry without the music.

But in the 1960's, that changed. Take any of Bob Dylan's words and take away the music, and you

still have powerful poetry:

"She's got everything she needs,

She's a poet, she don't look back,

She's got everything she needs,

She's a poet, she don't look back,

She can take the dark out of the night time

And paint the daytime black..(1)

Lennon and McCartney, of course, had many songs that would stand along as poetry, such as

Paul McCartney's I Will:

Who know how long I've loved you,

You know I love you still,

Will I wait a lonely lifetime,

If you ask me to, I Will.. (2)

or John's haunting Julia:

"Half of what I say is meaningless,

But I say it just to reach you,

Julia...(3)

But Dylan and The Beatles were far from the only groups to create poetry in the 60's.

Take the Stones' Ruby Tuesday:

She will never say where she comes from,

Yesterday don't matter if it's gone,

While the sun is bright,

Or in the darkest night,

No one knows,

She comes and goes..(4)

Or, for a darker, harder, touch, The Doors:

You know that it would be untrue,

You know that I would be a lier,

If I was to say to you,

Girl, we couldn't get much higher,

Come on baby, light my fire,

Come on baby, light my fire..(5)

One artist from the 60's who epitomized the poet as musician nearly as much as Dylan was Donovan,

who excelled at creating a true poetic image in a few words:

The lock upon

My garden gate's

a snail, that's what it is,

The lock upon

My garden gate's

A snail, that's what it is..(6)

My favorite poem-song of Donovan's is a simple affirmation:

Happiness runs in a circular motion,

Thought is like a little boat upon the sea,

Everybody is a part of everything, anyway,

You can have everything if you let yourself be.

Happiness runs,

Happiness runs..(7)

So the sixties were the time when the words really began to matter in rock music, and I think that

that had a profound effect on the writers and poets who grew up listening to the music. I believe that

the generation that came of age in the 60's gained a stronger appreciation for the power and beauty of words, due to the rock poets of our generation, and that that appreciaton for words has continued to inform rock music in the days that have followed.

(1) Dylan, Bob: "She Belongs to Me"

(2) Lennon-McCartney: "I Will"

(3) Lennon-McCartney: "Julia"

(4)Jagger-Richards: "Ruby Tuesday"

(5) Doors, The: "Light My Fire"

(6)Leitch, Donovan: "There is a Mountain"

(7) Leitch, Donovan: "Happiness Runs"