Third Rail: The Poetry of Rock and Roll - Softcover

Wells, Jonathan

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1416524894 ISBN 13: 9781416524892

Publisher: MTV Books, 2007

Synopsis

"The poets who fill these pages have come to testify, to bear witness to the mysterious power of Rock and Roll. -- from the Foreword by Bono

"The thread or the theme That holds this tune Together is the same One that rips it open...." -- from Gimme Shelter by Bill Knott

"Chunky on the shag rug, I'm looking for my anthem, I'm looking for my headphones, I'm looking for the bare spot on the rug to wallow, side-stepped on the chair-stopped door. I blast my ears out." -- from The Prophet's Song by Daniel Nester

"Drums, Whatta lotta Noise you want a Revolution? Wanna Apocalypse? Blow up in Dynamite Sound?" -- from Punk Rock You're My Big Crybaby by Allen Ginsberg

As revolutionary as the music it celebrates, the poetry in this electrifying anthology -- by poets such as Billy Collins, Rita Dove, Yusef Komunyakaa, Paul Muldoon and Philip Larkin -- turns rock upside down with indelible images and powerful expressions of the music that changed our lives.

About this title

About the Author:

Jonathan Wells was the Director of Rolling Stone Press, the book publishing division of Rolling Stone magazine. He is a widely published poet and was recently nominated for a Pushcart Prize.

From Booklist:

Time was, a collection of "the poetry of rock and roll" would be all song lyrics, but not now. Former Rolling Stone Press director Wells presents real poems by real poets (quibble-provoking exception: "From Me to You," a Beatles lyrics collage by youngest contributor Robyn Fialkow, a college sophomore). With few exceptions, especially the most famous poem in the book, Philip Larkin's gloriously mordant "Annus Mirabilis" (which opens, "Sexual intercourse began / In nineteen sixty-three"), they are nostalgic to a fault. Plenty of titles warn what one is getting into here: "The Sun Sessions," "Days of 1968," "Listening to Jefferson Airplane," "An Elegy for Bob Marley," "Disco Elegy," and so forth. There are multiple misty tributes to Jimi and to Janis (no maundering about Jim Morrison, though) and lots of personal flashbacks. To their credit, many are upper-if-not-top-drawer poems, especially Derek Mahon's, Lynda Hull's, and Charles Simic's (though the last's "Bed Music," which cites old jazz records, seems an odd inclusion). But man, is this book wet, and for over-40s only. Ray Olson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

About this edition

• Publisher: MTV Books
• Publication date: 2007
• ISBN 10: 1416524894
• ISBN 13: 9781416524892
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 224