Posted by Amanda | Posted in | Posted on 7:32 PM
Four years ago in London a freebird by the name of Shannon Mehner introduced me to the concept of a "comma song," which comes from the following ee cummings poem:
hate blows a bubble of despair into
hugeness world system universe and bang
-fear buries a tomorrow under woe
and up comes yesterday most green and young
pleasure and pain are merely surfaces
(one itself showing,itself hiding one)
life's only and true value neither is
love makes the little thickness of the coin
comes here a man would have from madame death
nevertheless now and without winter spring?
she'll spin that spirit her own fingers with
and give him nothing (if he should not sing)
how much more than enough for both of us
darling. And if i sing you are my voice,
hugeness world system universe and bang
-fear buries a tomorrow under woe
and up comes yesterday most green and young
pleasure and pain are merely surfaces
(one itself showing,itself hiding one)
life's only and true value neither is
love makes the little thickness of the coin
comes here a man would have from madame death
nevertheless now and without winter spring?
she'll spin that spirit her own fingers with
and give him nothing (if he should not sing)
how much more than enough for both of us
darling. And if i sing you are my voice,
See that comma at the end, how this poem hangs on that beautiful mark of punctuation? Did it make you tingle, shiver, or sigh a little bit? I hope so. If not, try to think of another poem or photograph or song or whatever that leaves you with a lingering ache. A comma song is any song that sort of submerses you in sublimity. Sometimes it's the whole song that does this, but sometimes it's just the comma-sized detail--the way Jeff Buckley breathes audibly before even the first pluck of the strings in "Hallelujah," or the amazing intro to Johnny Cash's "Solitary Man." Make sense? This week I would like for all of us to compile sweet, sweet mixes of all of the "comma songs" in our music libraries.
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