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Syndic Literary Journal

Chanted Word: “Buddy” & “What The Good Soldier Was Told” by Stephen Mead

 

POET STEPHEN MEAD

POET STEPHEN MEAD

Buddy & What The Good Soldier Was Told

by Stephen Mead

Stephen Mead explains . . .

I began doing the spoken word pretty much as an experiment, eventually adding music, sound effects or my own humming as background to create thematic CDs and short collage-films.

Considering how many of my poems were narratives I often heard them in my head as librettos and I began to sing them. This seemed a natural progression to me: the spoken word as the sung word,  not such a radical step considering how poems had been sung in operas, madrigals, etc. for at least a couple of hundred years.

Oddly, the reaction to me doing this in this day and age has been one mainly of bafflement:  these are poems why not just speak them?  if they are sung  why not make them into accessible songs, something for American Idol?!

I let the muse take me where it wanted to go never expecting to make any money either as a poet or a lyricist.

“Buddy” and “What the good soldier was told not to recall”  are a cappella versions of pieces I have been working on.  Without sound effects, echo, reverb or music, I wonder if the words are actually stronger?

PLAY > “BUDDY” BY STEPHEN MEAD

PLAY > “WHAT THE GOOD SOLDIER” BY STEPHEN MEAD

READ > “BUDDY” & “GOOD SOLDIER” BY STEPHEN MEAD

 

 

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