Saturday Rave: Sing For The Moment by Jeff Bass, Steven Tyler and Marshall Mathers.

Last week's rave was about Chattanooga Choo Choo, a song written rather a long time before I was born. 

Well, let's face it, Chattanooga Choo Choo was written before most people were born.

I'd planned to rave about some fantastic rap lyrics but despite reading my way through several Top Billion Rap Lyrics In The History Of The Universe lists, I couldn't find any lyrics that I thought were all that fantastic.

So this week I've tried again.

I realise I have to approach this art form in quite a new way. It seems not to matter that the lines don't usually rhyme properly (but so what? The use of half-rhyme is ancient). As for scanning, half the skill of the performance seems to be in being able to leap nimbly through uneven lines and odd stresses.

Rap is often distressingly violent, but then I can't see why a work of art shouldn't be violent. Its job is to show us something new about the world, after all.

So where does that leave me?

On the whole I think it leaves me still searching for a lyric that gives me a new insight into the world. For something that isn't...well, obvious.

I did find one or two interesting things. Here's something by Jeff Bass, Steven Tyler, and Marshall Mathers. It's part of the song Sing For The Moment that was performed by Eminem on track 3 of the album Curtain Call.
 

They say music can alter moves and talk to you. Well can it load a gun up for you and cock it too? Well if it can and the next time you assault a dude, Just tell the judge it was my fault...and I'll get sued!

Hmm...well, as I say, it was one of the best I could find. The irony that its message is that rap lyrics are ineffective is not lost upon me. Word To Use Today: rap. This word is probably connected with the Swedish word rappa, which means to beat. **I haven't given up on rap, so if anyone has any examples of brilliant original writing then I'd love to know.**