May - title song poetry challenge L

12 May - letters L

May is dedicated to song title poetry. Our little online music festival. Letter L today. The musician I’ve chosen today became a known name to me when Nirvana’s Kurt Cobain covered “Where did you sleep last night?” Lead Belly’s first known single was released in 1936, almost 90 years ago. Hope you’re having fun so far and that you read and comment posts from others. Hit the subscribe button while you’re here. Yes, this challenge and the majority of my Substack is free. Paid subscribers get my podcast Writer Pilgrim Sounds too which has poetry, travel and interviews plus loads more. You’re welcome to upgrade to a paid subscription which is about the cost of a coffee per month if you pick the yearly option. Hit the subscribe button and upgrade and thank you for the kind and generous subscribers who help keep this space free! Tomorrow’s post is published to web only to give space for Prompt Station.

Good morning blues

There is a man going around taking names
Alabama bound
There is a man going around taking names

Where did you sleep last night?
Black Betty
Where did you sleep last night?

Take this hammer
Black girl
Pick a ball of cotton

Cotton fields
In New Orleans
When I was a cowboy

We're in the same boat, brother
The bourgeois blues
We're in the same boat, brother

Grasshoppers in my pillow
Where did you sleep last night?
Baby don't you love me no more?

by Leadbelly

We write poems with the help of our favourite artists using their song titles only. My understanding is we can use song titles, don’t change them in anyway and don’t talk badly about the band/song if you wish to stay out of trouble.

Each day in May will have a letter assigned. So, in alphabetical order, we started with a band or singer with A and now it’s letter L.

Photo by henry perks on Unsplash

This song title poetry festival started at the back of NaPoWriMo (national poetry writing month) last year. There was a prompt with the word Cardigan. It appeared in a song by a famous singer songwriter. I took the word and instead remembered The Cardigans, fronted by the lovely Nina Persson.

I took a bunch of their song titles and wrote a poem starting with the song that came to my mind first. You can read that song title poem and some of the comments here on my publication.

It isn’t a copyright issue as the lines are all quotes from song titles and you cannot copyright those. However, some titles may be extremely unique and other countries may have trademark laws that restrict use. We are celebrating music and our love for the artists and these songs. Don’t use the titles without letting us know who the artists are and one way to do this is by adding a short sentence at the bottom of your song title poem.

One artist by letter. So if it’s A, only use Abba, or Aerosmith or Anastasia, don’t mix artists. (For mixing artists and all that join us on First Friday of the month June to April). You can post more than one poem if you feel you want to do two poems about two different artists. Stay for the whole of May or pop in as and when you can.

My Favourite Game 

Erase and Rewind
My Favourite Game
In the round
A Lovefool
Hold me
For what it’s worth

And then you kissed me
After all
Losers. Been it.
Your new cuckoo
Communication
For what it's worth

This “poem” consists of titles from The Cardigans. 

Your reward is the community in here and making new friends and getting readers to your own stack eventually. I hear some friendships have grown out of the May festival of last year.

Rules: Be kind! Read others’ song title poems and comment. You can use the same title over again and you can write stanzas, sonnets you name it. Title can be the artist name or a song title. The archive is open for all previous song title posts from May onwards.

Please note that some of the emails will come to your inbox and others will be posted to web only as it can add a sense of overwhelm to get 31 song title poems in your inbox.

You’re invited to join and if you can become a paid subscriber to support this publication.