Poetry and Songwriting

Looking through two books on songwriting. One offers lyric-writing exercises designed to inspire a kind of “poetic” language you never hear in actual songs (successful songs, at least). The other offers the advice that song lyrics are not poetry. I’ve always thought that the best country writers weren’t the poets but the ones with a more modest view of their craft. Hayes Carll wasn’t endorsing my opinion (or offering career advice) but I admire his line, “They say, Boy, you ain’t a poet/Just a drunk with a pen” (“Hard Out Here”).

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