English 228B, Section 002: Topics in Literary and Cultural Studies

Popular Favourites, or "Song Lyrics Are Poetry, Too"

Lectures: MWF 11:00-11:50 in Lasserre 105.

Prof. Kevin McNeilly
Office: Buchanan Tower 401, phone 604.822.4466
Office Hours, Winter 2014: Tuesdays, 10:00 to 12:00
E-Mail: mcneilly@mail.ubc.ca
Twitter: @theRealMcNeilly

Course Description


True story: my ninth-grade English teacher kept trying to convince her class that pop song lyrics were a kind of poetry. In this course, I want us a bit belatedly to take her at her word. How do words and music function as literature, in the classroom and in the popular imagination? Following up on a cue from the cultural theorist Stuart Hall, I'm asking us to investigate the implications of treating song as one of the "popular arts" -- that is, to think about the various relationships between the aesthetic (or the artistic) and the popular. What becomes of notions of taste or of literary value when we have to teach pop song lyrics as poetry? Or what happens when we get our ethics, as Nick Hornby suggests in his novel High Fidelity, by asking ourselves "what Bruce Springsteen would do"? The recent awarding of a Pulitzer prize to Bob Dylan affirms the cultural status in America of popular song. What does this say about the place of the poetic or of the literary in contemporary Anglo-American culture? We'll read texts that investigate the formative reception of pop song in youth culture, by Roddy Doyle and Lavinia Greenlaw. We'll also analyze a number of pop and folk lyrics directly, and look into the history of contemporary pop song, examining its roots in populist folk music (investigating questions of racial and sexual politics) and in musical theatre. Students will be able to introduce their own favourite songs or artists into class discussions. We'll also analyze the ways in a representative television drama -- Freaks and Geeks -- incorporates popular music into its depiction of emergent North American identities.

Required Texts

Recommended Texts

Grading and Assignments

Lecture Schedule

Lectures are Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 11:00 in Lasserre 105.
Please note that I cannot affirm the accuracy or viability of the external material linked to this webpage; these links are provided solely as supplemental information for our class discussions.
Monday January 6
Introduction: Lyric and Lyrics
Here is the video for Carly Rae Jepson's 2011 song "Call Me Maybe."
Click here to watch/hear a version of "Call Me Maybe" by Carly Rae Jepson, Jimmy Fallon and The Roots.
Click here for a home-made internet transcript of the lyrics to "Call Me Maybe."
Click here for the Gracenote "uneditable" version of these same lyrics; please note the "terms of use."
Wednesday January 8
Reading Songs
Please bring to class a copy of your favourite pop song.
Click here for a printable page on scansion and metrics in poetry.
An audio capture of the brief lecture with which I began this class can be accessed on this website's Audio page, by clicking here.
This same audio podcast, along with a transcription of the text of the lecture, can be found on my blog by clicking here.
Friday January 10
Bruce Springsteen, "Thunder Road" and "Dream, Baby, Dream"
Please read the Nick Hornby excerpt from Songbook (347) in The Bruce Springsteen Reader.
You can listen to Springsteen's version of "Dream, Baby, Dream" streaming on CBC's music site until the release of his new album High Hopes on Tuesday, January 14, by clicking here.
Springsteen's post 2012-13 tour video of "Dream, Baby, Dream" can be viewed on YouTube here.
Click here for a video of "Dream, Baby, Dream" by Suicide (Alan Vega and Martin Rev).
Click here for a wikipedia page on Suicide.
Click here for Bruce Springsteen's official webpage.
Click here for a video of Springsteen performing "Thunder Road" in 1976.
Click here for a video of Springsteen performing "Thunder Road" in London in 2012.
Click here for a fan video of Springsteen performing "Thunder Road" in 2013.
Click here for a video of Springsteen performing "Thunder Road" with Melissa Etheridge.
Click here to view the cover of the October 27, 1975 issue of Time magazine.
Click here for the lyrics to "Dream, Baby, Dream," as performed by Springsteen.
Click here for the lyrics to "Thunder Road."
This week's PLAYLIST: Carly Rae Jepson, "Call Me Maybe"; Suicide, Suicide; Bruce Springsteen, Born to Run; Bruce Springsteen, High Hopes, Fleetwood Mac, "Dreams"; Supertramp, "The Logical Song"; Saul Williams, "Telegram"; Katy Perry, "Roar"; All-American Rejects, "Dirty Little Secret"
Monday January 13
Bruce Springsteen
Please be prepared to read the lyrics to "Born in the USA," "Born to Run" and "Dancing in the Dark." (The lyrics are widely available on the internet, or officially by clicking the "Music" tab on Soringsteen's webpage [link below].)
Please read (from The Bruce Springsteen Reader) Greil Marcus, "The Next President of the United States" (103); George F. Will, "Bruuuuuuce" (107); Bobbi Ann Mason, from In Country (120); James Wolcott, "The Hagiography of Bruce Springsteen" (126); and Simon Frith, "The Real Thing -- Bruce Springsteen" (130).
Click here for Bruce Springsteen's official webpage.
Click here for "Millennials hate Bruce Springsteen" by E. J. Dickson.
Click here for the video for "Dancing in the Dark" (1984).
Click here for the video for "Born in the USA."
Wednesday January 15
Bruce Springsteen
Please watch Springsteen's appearance on "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon" on Tuesday, January 14.
Please read The Advocate interview (BSR 211)
Please listen to (and read the lyrics for) the following songs: Streets of Philadelphia, The Rising and Radio Nowhere.
Click here for a Youtube version of Springsteen and Jimmy Fallon parodying "Born to Run," satirizing the bridge traffic scandal around New Jersey Governor Chris Christie (who is an admitted Springsteen fan).
Click here for Ben Stiller's "Counting with Bruce Springsteen."
Click here for a Jon Stewart's tribute to Bruce Springsteen at the Kennedy Center Honors in 2010..
Click here for a video of Springsteen's Oscar acceptance speech.
Click here for a performance of "Radio Nowhere" from the Today Show in 2007.
Click here for a video of Springsteen performing "The Rising" during the Grammy Awards in February 2004.
Click here for a video of Springsteen showing up at a wedding in Freehold NJ, his hometown, in 1987.
Click here for a clip called "Married to the Boss," an interview with Patti Scialfa.
Friday January 17
Bruce Springsteen
Click here to read "Gender Equality Is a Myth!" -- an essay by Beyoncˇ.
Click here to read "Sherlock and the Adventure of the Overzealous Fanbase," an article by Laurie Penny on fandom, masculinity and creative populism in the New Statesman.
Click here for the video for "Streets of Philadelphia."
Click here for the (apparently rarely seen) video for "The Rising."
Click here for the video for "Radio Nowhere."
This week's PLAYLIST:Beyoncˇ, "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)"; Bruce Springsteen, Born in the USA; HAIM, "The Wire"
Monday January 20
Lavinia Greenlaw, The Importance of Music to Girls
Click here for Lavinia Greenlaw's homepage.
Click here for audio of Lavinia Greenlaw reading her poetry.
Click here for a list (linked to the texts) of articles by and about Lavinia Greenlaw in The Guardian.
Click here for a review by Greenlaw of Bedsit Disco Queen by Tracey Thorn.
Click here for a video interview with Greenlaw. (There are other YouTube videos with Greenlaw in the right sidebar.)
Click here for Lavinia Greenlaw's faculty homepage at the University of East Anglia, where she teaches creative writing.
Click here for a negative review of Greenlaw's book. (Notice the issues the reviewer raises about surfaces and detachment.)
Click here for a more positive review.
Click here for another positive review of the book.
Click here for another, mixed review.
Wednesday January 22
Lavinia Greenlaw, The Importance of Music to Girls
Click here for a YouTube version of the opening of Marc Bolan's 1977 tv show Marc, featuring The Jam, performing "All Around the World."
Click here for a 2003 interview with Greenlaw, in which she discusses her writing practice.
Click here for the Poetry Foundation's page on Greenlaw.
Click here for a page on a version of Greenlaw's Audio Obscura project.
Friday January 24
Lavinia Greenlaw, The Importance of Music to Girls
Click here for a YouTube video of Lavinia Greenlaw talking about science poetry and reading "Iron Lung."
Click here for a video of ABBA doing "Dancing Queen."("With a bit of rock music / everything is fine . . .")
Click here for the "official" video of the Sex Pistols performing "God Save the Queen."
Click here for the video for "Love Will Tear Us Apart" by Joy Divison. (Greenlaw writes about identifying with Ian Curtis.)
This week's PLAYLIST: Bob Dylan, "Lay, Lady, Lay"; The Sex Pistols, "God Save the Queen"; ABBA, "Dancing Queen"; The Jam, "All Around the World"; Leonard Bernstein, West Side Story; Joy Division, "Love Will Tear Us Apart";
Monday January 27
Roddy Doyle, The Commitments
Click here for the entry on Roddy Doyle from Irish Writers Online.
Click here for a brief bio of Doyle.
Click here for a the beginning of the Encyclopedia Brittanica entry on Doyle. (Sadly, you'd have to pay for access to the rest.)
Click here for audio of Doyle reading from his novel A Star Called Henry in 1999. (You may find useful information in the questions from the audience.)
Click here for the concert film The TAMI Show 1964; James Brown and the Flames perform starting at about 1:17.
Click here for a video of The Pogues performing "Dirty Old Town."
Wednesday January 29
Roddy Doyle, The Commitments
Click here for an interview with Roddy Doyle.
Click here for a 1999 interview with Doyle.
Click here for an article from The Guardian on Doyle.
Click here for a reading by Doyle from his novel A Star Called Henry.
Friday January 31
Roddy Doyle, The Commitments
Click here for a music video, including excerpts from Alan Parker's film The Commitments, of the band performing "Mustang Sally."
Click here for a video of Wilson Pickett doing "Mustang Sally."
Click here for the trailer for the film version of The Commitments
Click here for a video of Wilson Pickett and James Brown.
Click here for a video of James Brown performing "Sex Machine" in 1971.
This week's PLAYLIST: The Pogues, Rum, Sodomy and the Lash, Wilson Pickett, The Wicked Pickett; James Brown, "Sex Machine," "Night Train"
Monday February 3
Click here for Zora Neale Hurston's official homepage.
Click here for a brief biography of Zora Neale Hurston.
Click here for a page from the Library of Congress site on their collection of Zora Neale Hurston's plays.
Wednesday February 5
Please read the "Folklore" chapters from Zora Neale Hurston's Mules and Men.
Click here for a brief bio, with links, on Hurston.
Click here for a bibliographic project on Hurston.
Click here for a page relating the work of Hurston to that of novelist Alice Walker.
Click here for the Zora Neale Hurston Digital Archive.
Click here for the Zora Neale Hurston Festival of the Humanities in Eatonville, Florida.
Click here for an archive, hosted by the State Archives of Florida, of mp3 sound files of recordings made by Zora Neale Hurston in the 1930s.
Click here for a YouTube video of ethnographic film footage set -- at its beginning -- to a recording of Zora Neale Hurston singing "Uncle Bud."
Click here for a website on Paul Laurence Dunbar.(Compare, for example, the poetic styles of "Dreams" and "When Malindy Sings," poems linked under "Collection.")
Friday February 7
Please keep reading the "Folklore" section of Zora Neale Hurston's Mules and Men.
Click here for Beyonce's website. Take note of the form, and of how the site presents her image as embedded (at least for this month, February 2014) in African-American history. Does her self-presentation -- in the songs as well as in the videos -- signify on Black gender identities? How does her idiom compare to that of Hurston in Mules and Men?
Click here for a set of links to open-source academic articles on Hurston.
Click here for "Harlem Renaissance Resources" on Hurston, a brief bibliography.
Click here for a brief excerpt from Walt Disney's Song of the South, a film that has not been re-issued and that uses the folk figure of Uncle Remus and the Brer Rabbit stories.
Click here for an introduction (from the Stanford Presidential Lectures) of Henry Louis Gates, Jr.
Click here for a brief summary (from the same site) of The Signifying Monkey, and a description of the idea of signifyin(g).
Click here for an interview with Henry Louis Gates, Jr.
Click here for a YouTube version of a PBS interview (on Charlie Rose) with Gates, on the subject of race, ancestry and genetics.
Click here for an audio file of the poet Maya Angelou defining "signifying." (Click play.)
Essay DUE in class today
Click here for the topic sheet for this essay.
This week's PLAYLIST:
Monday February 10
FAMILY DAY -- NO CLASSES
Wednesday February 12
Midterm Review: Springsteen, Greenlaw, Doyle, Hurston
Please read Bryan K. Garman, "The Ghost of History" (BSR 221)
Click here for the Pete Seeger Appreciation Page.
Click here for PETE SEEGER: FOLK SINGER AND SONGWRITER.
Click here for a video of Pete Seeger (from 1964) singing "What Did You Learn In School?" (There is a heavy dose of irony in this song.)
Click here for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame page on Pete Seeger.
Click here for the PBS page on the documentary Pete Seeger: The Power of Song.
Click here for a YouTube video made to go along with Woody Guthrie perfroming "This Land Is Your Land."
Click here for a video of Springsteen singing "This Land Is Your Land."
Click here for a live recording of Bruce Springsteen singing "We Shall Overcome," January 2010.
Click here for a video of Springsteen singing "We Shall Overcome" during the "Hope for Haiti Now" telethon, 22 January 2010.
Click here for Beyonce singing a version of "Halo" during the "Hope for Haiti Now" telethon.
Click here to read Zora Neale Hurston's letter to Countee Cullen, March 5, 1943.
Click here to read a version of Zora Neale Hurston's 1928 essay, "How It Feels to be Colored Me."
Friday February 14
Midterm Review: Springsteen, Greenlaw, Doyle, Hurston
Click here for a homemade video, with lyrics(!), of Air Supply's version of "Without You" (which Greenlaw recalls singing on pp. 89-91 of her memoir).
This week's PLAYLIST (Some Love Songs on Valentine's Day):
February 17-21 READING WEEK -- NO CLASSES
Monday February 24
Cole Porter
Please come to class prepared to discuss "I've Got You Under My Skin" (69); "I Get a Kick Out of You" (49); "Don't Fence Me In" (64); "All of You" (156); "Anything Goes" (57).
The introduction to Selected Lyrics, by Robert Kimball, should give you some useful information on Cole Porter's life and work.
Click here for "Cole Wide Web: The Cole Porter Resource Site."
Click here to hear Helen Merrill perform "All of You."
Click here for a video of David Byrne's version of "Don't Fence Me In."
Click here for Ella Fitzgerald's version of "Don't Fence Me In."
Click here for Roy Roger's debut of "Don't Fence Me In."
Click here for a video of Neneh Cherry's version of "I've Got You Under My Skin."
Click here for a wikipedia page on Cole Porter.
Click here for Cole Porter's obituary from The New York Times.
Click here for a review of a biography of Cole Porter.
Click here for the syllabus for a course on "The Shows, Musics and Lyrics of Cole Porter" taught at the University of Pennsylvania by David Anthony Fox.
Click here for a biography of Cole Porter from the Songwriters Hall of Fame.
Click here for articles from The Guardian related to Cole Porter. (Notice the top item is by Paul Muldoon, whose work we'll begin studying in two weeks.)
Click here to see the cover of Time magazine depicting Cole Porter.
Click here to hear Helen Merrill perform "Anything Goes."
Wednesday February 26
Cole Porter
Please come to class prepared to discuss "Love for Sale" (38), "Miss Otis Regrets" (48), "Begin the Beguine" (66), "Ev'ry Time We Say Goodbye" (117), "Stereophonic Sound" (156) and "I Concentrate on You" (88).
Click here for a version of "You're the Top" performed by Cole Porter himself.
Click here for the trailer for Night and Day, a 1946 biopic on Cole Porter starring Cary Grant.
Friday February 28
Cole Porter
Please read "Night and Day."
Click here for the trailer for the 1936 Hollywood musical Born to Dance, the movie in which "I've Got You Under My Skin" first appeared.
Click here for Frank Sinatra's version of "I've Got You Under My Skin."
Click here for Louis Armstrong singing "I Get a Kick Out of You."
Click here for a 1949 tv appearance by Ethel Merman singing "I Get a Kick Out of You."
Click here for Patti Lupone singing "Anything Goes" during the 1988 Tony Awards.
This week's PLAYLIST:
Monday March 3
Patti Smith
Please read "Gloria" (28). Please also read through the book, paying particular attention to the fragments of memoir and to the photographs throughout.
Click here for Patti Smith's official homepage.
Click here for a wikipedia page on Patti Smith.
Click here for a biography page on Patti Smith.
Click here for Patti Smith on television lip-synching to her recording of "Because the Night."
Wednesday March 5
Patti Smith
Please pay particular attention to "Land" (51 . . .), "Because the Night" (101), "Rock n Roll N****r" (109), "Frederick" (126), and "People Have the Power" (155).
Click here for Patti Smith in 1976 performing "Horses," "Land of a Thousand Dances" (Wilson Pickett -- compare The Commitments) and "Hey Joe" (originally by Jimi Hendrix). (See pages 51 and 52 of the course text.)
Click here for Patti Smith Group performing "Gloria" in 1979. (See pages 28-29.)
Click here for Patti Smith performing "Because the Night" more recently.
Click here for Bruce Springsteen and Patti Smith performing "Because the Night" with U2 in 2010.
Click here for a video of Wilson Pickett performing "Land of a Thousand Dances."
Friday March 7
Patti Smith
Second essay due in class today.
Click here for the topic sheet for the second essay.
Please come to class having chosen a particular song lyric or a particular line or two from the Patti Smith anthology that has caught your interest.
This week's PLAYLIST:
Monday March 10
Paul Muldoon
Please read through the whole of The Word on the Street
Click here for Paul Muldoon's homepage.
Click here to hear performances of the songs from Muldoon's collection.
Click here for a page on Paul Muldoon at the Poetry Foundation website.
Click here for a bio of Muldoon at the poets.org site.
Click here for links to articles by Paul Muldoon, principally on poetry, from, The New Yorker.
Click here for a 2004 interview with Paul Muldoon, from The Paris Review, on his poetry and poetics.
Click here for a series of video interviews with Paul Muldoon from Big Think.
Wednesday March 12
Paul Muldoon
Please focus on the poems
Click here for a video of Bruce Springsteen performing "My Ride's Here," a song collaboratively written by Paul Muldoon and Warren Zevon.
Click here for Warren Zevon's version of this song.
Friday March 14
Paul Muldoon
This week's PLAYLIST:
Monday March 17
John K. Samson
Please read the whole book, Lyrics and Poems, concentrating your attention in particular (for this class) on "One Great City!" (63), "Left and Leaving" (40), "Highway 1 West" (105), "Plea from a Cat Named Virtute" (57), and "Virtute the Cat Explains Her Departure" (80).
Click here for John K. Samson's webpage.
Click here for The Weakerthans webpage.
Click here for a CBC page on John K Samson, with playable versions of songs from his album Provincial.
Click here for a short film about John K Samson's petition-song delivered to The Hockey Hall of Fame.
Click here for a review of Provincial from The Globe and Mail.
Wednesday March 19
John K. Samson
Click for a YouTube version of "When I Write My Master's Thesis."
Friday March 21
John K. Samson
This week's PLAYLIST:
Monday March 24
Midterm Review: Porter, Smith, Muldoon, Samson
Wednesday March 26
Midterm Review: Porter, Smith, Muldoon, Samson
Friday March 28
Freaks and Geeks, pilot episode
Click here for Paul Feig's website. (Feig is the co-creator of Freaks and Geeks.)
Click here for an interview with Paul Feig.
Click here for the Freaks and Geeks site at Shout! factory.
Click here for an episode guide for Freaks and Geeks.
This week's PLAYLIST:
Monday March 31
Freaks and Geeks, "I'm With the Band"
Wednesday April 2
Freaks and Geeks, "Dead Dogs and Gym Teachers"
Friday April 4
Freaks and Geeks
TERM PAPER DUE in class today.
Click here for the topic sheet for the term paper.
This week's PLAYLIST
Monday April 7
REVIEW
Click here for the outline for the final exam.
This week's (and our final) PLAYLIST