Friday, August 10, 2012

Revolutionary Grammar

Poets sometimes violate grammar rules for effect but songwriters often ignore grammar simply to please the ear. 

Consider two familiar lyrics: 



     Daniel my brother you are older than me (Bernie Taupin)

     I wish I was / Homeward bound (Paul Simon)


I think it's this casual indifference to grammatical correctness that drives language change, as opposed to an ostentatious defiance of grammatical strictures that stands for social consciousness in any number of poets who seek to tweak the establishment as they see it. 

Lyricists and poets share much technique, but it's the former who are the effective revolutionaries. The Revolutionary Poets Brigade might take note.

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