The first version of Dylan's "Tangled Up In Blue" has an amazing twist on perspective if you're familiar with the released version. The first few verses are written in the third person and then there's a switch to the first person. However, there are now three characters and not two! Check it out here (scroll down): https://glyphobet.net/strthrwr/bob/18-01.html
Telling a story without the use of personal pronouns is my favorite form of lyricism. It requires more observation and empathy, less introspection / ego. Switching between first and third person plays on that real-world interaction between the self and other. That’s what makes it powerful for me.
Speaking of perspective, I’ve always been completely blown away by the bridge of Tom Petty’s Even The Losers:
Two cars parked on the overpass
Rocks hit the water like broken glass
I should’ve known right then it was too good to last
God it’s such a drag when you’re living in the past
It’s all first person, but lines 1-2 are in the moment; line 3 is looking back on the moment and line 4 is looking at himself looking back on the moment. Just genius.
THANK YOU! I've always loved "Stan", just brilliant writing, and now people who have NO IDEA of its origin throw this "word" around adds to my delight (a decade ago I would have been SO PISSED about this, age has given me wisdom HA).
Intro to Gershwin's "They Can't Take That Away From Me"
'Our romance won't end on a sorrowful note. Though by tomorrow you're gone. The song is ended, but as the songwriter wrote: "The melody lingers on." ' Which is Gershwin's nod to Irving Berlin...
"Black Blade" by Blue Öyster Cult has a cool change in perspective. The lyrics are by Sci-Fi/Fantasy author Michael Moorcock. Most of the songs are in the first person from the perspective of Moorcock's character Elric. He expresses concern that he losing control to his sword Stormbringer, forcing him to kill even those he loves. It includes lyrics like "It keeps calling me its master, but I feel like its slave." The last part of the song is from the point of view of the sword, who confirms that it is in control of Elric: "My master is my slave."
If you want a more recent example, Money Game, Part 2 by Ren recycles the she sells sea shells nursery rhyme as a model for capitalism: https://youtu.be/0ivQwwgW4OY?si=74XfAPP_359qWHUB. In a kind of duet between two of his personalities, Ren’s alter ego mocks Earnest Ren’s MG song by quoting it back to him: https://youtu.be/s_nc1IVoMxc?si=td72jSx4m_CDmK2Z. I tend to like music where there is more talent or creativity than taste, so consider yourself warned.
Dylan’s “Hard Rain” appears to have at least two voices: the opening refrain question that begins each verse addressed to “you” and then the question’s first-person answers. And the refrain lines that end each verse (“And it’s a hard,” etc.) could be thought of as being in third person.
In English, “you” can be pretty ambiguous: it can refer to the reader/listener, or to someone the speaker/singer is talking to in the poem/song, or the speaker/singer themself, or even as a less-affected substitute for “one.”
So in this song the “you” could be Dylan addressing himself (he has blue eyes, a detail he added to the “Lord Randall” questions used in the song) and then answering himself. Usually context makes it clear what “you” means, but maybe not in this case.
The first version of Dylan's "Tangled Up In Blue" has an amazing twist on perspective if you're familiar with the released version. The first few verses are written in the third person and then there's a switch to the first person. However, there are now three characters and not two! Check it out here (scroll down): https://glyphobet.net/strthrwr/bob/18-01.html
This is an interesting piece. Have you ever thought of metafiction?
Telling a story without the use of personal pronouns is my favorite form of lyricism. It requires more observation and empathy, less introspection / ego. Switching between first and third person plays on that real-world interaction between the self and other. That’s what makes it powerful for me.
Thank you for the insightful essay!
Speaking of perspective, I’ve always been completely blown away by the bridge of Tom Petty’s Even The Losers:
Two cars parked on the overpass
Rocks hit the water like broken glass
I should’ve known right then it was too good to last
God it’s such a drag when you’re living in the past
It’s all first person, but lines 1-2 are in the moment; line 3 is looking back on the moment and line 4 is looking at himself looking back on the moment. Just genius.
Mott the Hoople’s ‘Ballad of Mott’ is a lovely, reflective song about the band’s history. It’s on the album called (inevitably) ‘Mott’.
THANK YOU! I've always loved "Stan", just brilliant writing, and now people who have NO IDEA of its origin throw this "word" around adds to my delight (a decade ago I would have been SO PISSED about this, age has given me wisdom HA).
Intro to Gershwin's "They Can't Take That Away From Me"
'Our romance won't end on a sorrowful note. Though by tomorrow you're gone. The song is ended, but as the songwriter wrote: "The melody lingers on." ' Which is Gershwin's nod to Irving Berlin...
"Black Blade" by Blue Öyster Cult has a cool change in perspective. The lyrics are by Sci-Fi/Fantasy author Michael Moorcock. Most of the songs are in the first person from the perspective of Moorcock's character Elric. He expresses concern that he losing control to his sword Stormbringer, forcing him to kill even those he loves. It includes lyrics like "It keeps calling me its master, but I feel like its slave." The last part of the song is from the point of view of the sword, who confirms that it is in control of Elric: "My master is my slave."
If you want a more recent example, Money Game, Part 2 by Ren recycles the she sells sea shells nursery rhyme as a model for capitalism: https://youtu.be/0ivQwwgW4OY?si=74XfAPP_359qWHUB. In a kind of duet between two of his personalities, Ren’s alter ego mocks Earnest Ren’s MG song by quoting it back to him: https://youtu.be/s_nc1IVoMxc?si=td72jSx4m_CDmK2Z. I tend to like music where there is more talent or creativity than taste, so consider yourself warned.
Dylan’s “Hard Rain” appears to have at least two voices: the opening refrain question that begins each verse addressed to “you” and then the question’s first-person answers. And the refrain lines that end each verse (“And it’s a hard,” etc.) could be thought of as being in third person.
In English, “you” can be pretty ambiguous: it can refer to the reader/listener, or to someone the speaker/singer is talking to in the poem/song, or the speaker/singer themself, or even as a less-affected substitute for “one.”
So in this song the “you” could be Dylan addressing himself (he has blue eyes, a detail he added to the “Lord Randall” questions used in the song) and then answering himself. Usually context makes it clear what “you” means, but maybe not in this case.
https://www.bobdylan.com/songs/hard-rains-gonna-fall/
This article sound in my ears, original subject 🎶