5 songs that are more poetry than music

Robert Longo - Men in the cities (1979)

I was listening to my playlist and realised that since I started writing poetry my music taste changed.

I used to like drum and bass, techno and classical music (great combo right).

Now I love hip hop, jazz and ocassionaly still some electronic and classical music.

I want to share with you 5 songs that I love because of how poetic these are, and maybe ask you to send me something that you think I will like :)

1. The Cinematic Orchestra (feat. Roots Manuva)- All things to all men

I love this one for the orchestral composition and how it blends with Roots Manuva’s recital. Lyrics are short for a 10 minute song, which creates a lot of depth to the music composition. His tembre is the cherry on top.

2. Kendrick Lamar - Mortal Man

Kendrick created a master piece that combines a song, a poem, and a conversation with 2 Pac. His second album - To Pimp a Butterfly, is a raw, jazz-infused exploration of race, identity, and systemic oppression.

It’s a nice blend of hip-hop with funk and spoken word. The album’s dense lyricism and experimental sound cemented Kendrick’s place as a voice of a generation.

3. Fred Again - Sabrina (mash up Chanel x Moderat x Sabrina)

I love Fred Again. I think he is the best music producer at the moment. He changed the electronic music and invented a new genre that people still don’t know how to call.

The name of my first poetry book was inspired from this song - I am the party inside your head, or I think it’s more correct to say it was inspired by Sabrina’s poem.

You should also listen to the original performance by Sabrina - Explaining my depression to my mother.

4. Gil Scott-Heron - B-Movie

100% class, 0% arrogance. The OG of Spoken Word as someone may know Gil, produced songs and wrote poem that funny enough, 45 years later, are describing perfectly the world we live in today.

5. The Streets x Fred Again x Dermot Kennedy - Mike

For this one try a different approach. Read this poem first, and then listen to the song produced by Fred Again and explain to me how???

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Two people on a carpet with light around the curtains

Two people from a circus on a flying carpet

Give me a thousand and one nights to tell you this story

And then I'll help with the dishes

Like Solomon on green silk with the golden stitches

From old and weathered art

Only the silk is fast fashion

And the stitches are barely holding together your heart

Let me re-up your dose of grape

Don't stain your spotless mood

Up close, your face don't look thе same as from across the room

Your eyеbrows look tidier

Your hair, the sort of mess that takes hours

Pleasant sky at night on the ceiling

plot a bearing in the sea

Two Bedouin people just sharing out the tea

Two people on a carpet, couldn't care for what's real

Two people on a carpet with light around the curtains

Two people from a circus on a flying carpet

You're wiser than your years, but everything changes

And when it does, wise people refuse to

You caught me at a good time 'cause I'm feeling bad

Tonight, the wind is following your command

Is it the Arabian aromas? Or maybe it's the takeaway

Your eyes are off an advert

Take you back to my loneliest thoughts

Lately, my back has got to know the wall

I'm aimless, describing what I'm saying, innit

But you persuade me to define what I'm saying in it

I want life from the sky with none of the pain of living it

Not afraid of heights, but I'm afraid of widths

A riot in my thinking when your lips go to bite

It's quiet in the kitchen but for the disco lights

Your thoughts go in and find my inner ear

The years of your life giving life to my years

Two people on a carpet with light around the curtains

Two people from a circus on a flying carpet

You had your heart broken, but you're making it stick

Taking apart everyone you dated since

A riot in my thinking when your lips go to bite

It's quiet in the kitchen but for the disco light

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Here I’m busking 🎩

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