The other day I was driving in my car and listening to the carefully crafted lyrical genius of the Black Eyed Peas song “I Got a Feeling”. As Will.i.am cleverly rhymed the word ‘up’ with the word ‘up’ and continued to entertain by reciting the days of the week, I wondered what actually made a song, a classic number.

I realised that one of my favorite aspects of songwriting is lyrical form, lyrical structure and the balance between the two. In short, I think the lyrics of a song should either be cleverly worded or have a clever meaning. There are many shining examples of this in popular western music, and some of them arise out of the most unlikely places.

A few years ago when I was looking for the chords to the classic song "American Pie" by Don McLean I stumbled instead upon different articles and papers discussing its lyrics. I was surprised to find that behind this seemingly simple and catchy sounding song, there was actually an epic folk retelling of the American cultural revolution of the ’60s. The deliberately open-ended song makes different references to people and events in each line, from Buddy Holly and Mick Jagger, to JFK and Martin Luther King and even God. Here’s one of the dozen or so verses – this one in particular, talking about the changing guard of music and cultural influences, see if you can guess which people he is talking about here: Oh, and while the King was looking down, The Jester stole his thorny crown. The courtroom was adjourned; No verdict was returned. And while Lenin read a book of Marx, The Quartet practiced in the park, And we sang dirges in the dark The day the music died.

(An analysis of this verse and the rest of the song can be found here)

Don Mclean believed deeply in the simplicity of music, and in the central role of music as a mode of having a good time - music you could dance to. But what is most astonishing about this song is that though it’s a mainstream and chart-topping pop song it is also the artist’s commentary on the world around him, and his perception of the way it was changing – a very real, honest and ingenious expression of his feelings and opinions.

There are of course many more examples of such musicians and songwriters all over the world. Here in Pakistan we find an ample supply of folk songs and ingenious poetry to tap into for such poignant lyrics. There are excellent examples of pop renditions - songs from Junoon, Coke Studio, and Laal just to name a few - that borrow the verses of great poets to add power to their music with magical results. This great treasure trove of literary wisdom is not just limited to one subject, but covers a vast spectrum of themes, from social commentary and hope to love, devotion and sorrow.

It seems however that original songs written along these lines are harder to come by. It isn’t of course fair to ask pop musicians to produce verse like Bulle Shah or Faiz Ahmed Faiz, but I would love to see more of them attempt to treat songwriting with a similar approach: as a form of genuine expression and commentary, whether it’s about themselves or the world around them.

(Some notable music in this vein: Junoon, EP’s album Irtiqa, Shehzad Roy’s song "Laga Rahe" and such.)

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