Poetry mashups: These are not the beats you were looking for

October 16, 2008 3:22 AM

I do not know which to prefer,
The beauty of inflections
Or the beauty of innuendoes,
The blackbird whistling
Or just after.

See hover text for link descriptions.

Acknowledgement/Mea Culpa: The T.S. Eliot/Portishead mashup was a previous FPP in its own right, (props, hypersloth!) but it fit so well with the other links that I included it in this FPP anyway.

posted by mosk (9 comments total)

I see what you did there - very clever.

These are very cool.

One of these days, I may even finish my project to mash-up "I Am Sitting In A Room" over some killer loops, fat joints, and dope beats.

Or, you know, most likely, prolly not
posted by kcds at 4:43 AM on October 16, 2008

Oh man... I love that verse. The first three lines served as my .sig for years.
posted by Kattullus at 4:48 AM on October 16, 2008

I LOVE these poems. Nice post.
posted by apis mellifera at 5:18 AM on October 16, 2008

Bleh. This reminds me of all the awful ways Burroughs has been 'set' to 'music' over the years.

Hint: good settings of poems require good composers (and I'm not fussy about the definition of composers: dead white dudes, killer DJs, whatever—as long as you actually give a fuck about music). Taking something as intricately crafted and rhythmical as Prufrock and setting it to a four-beat loop is like creating a new soundtrack for Metropolis featuring a semi-concussed ex-bar singer on the spoons and vocals, backed up by a one-handed drunk on a bass and some dude with a tape player he found in the trash.

Or, you know, Portishead.
posted by sixswitch at 6:55 AM on October 16, 2008

a semi-concussed ex-bar singer on the spoons and vocals, backed up by a one-handed drunk on a bass and some dude with a tape player he found in the trash.

This sounds pretty great actually. Also, I hate to snark about poetry which I love, but that dude's voice in the youtube clip about stevens is really annoying and poety. I hate poety voices read poetry but it makes it so much worse when reading prose.

I did like the Bukowski mashup though, maybe because it's just the bashing hypnotic drum sound, so hollow and classic.

IMO not bonham's best though. I'd give that to the bridge in the Ocean.
posted by Potomac Avenue at 7:34 AM on October 16, 2008

Ah, Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird. Thank you for reminding me of this wonderful poem. Great post.
posted by m0nm0n at 8:25 AM on October 16, 2008

I liked the first the first half of the YouTube video, but right around the time the guy got to "lachrymose pages" I started thinking, "Whoa, man, you're trying way too hard." Good concept, mediocre execution.
posted by bettafish at 8:42 AM on October 16, 2008

"Thirteen Ways" is my favorite poem, so thanks for reminding me of that. If I had the skills, I think it would make a totally awesome Flash animation-art film-type thingie-do.

I'll enjoy exploring the blog.
posted by Miko at 9:28 AM on October 16, 2008

...it would make a totally awesome Flash animation-art film-type thingie-do motion-graphics wankjob.

FTFY...although I use the term "motion-graphics wankjob" in a loving and affectionate way.
posted by sixswitch at 9:54 AM on October 16, 2008