Song poems are

song A song is a musical composition intended to be performed by the human voice. This is often done at distinct and fixed pitches (melodies) using patterns of sound and silence. Songs contain various forms, such as those including the repetitio ...

s with

lyrics Lyrics are words that make up a song, usually consisting of verses and choruses. The writer of lyrics is a lyricist. The words to an extended musical composition such as an opera are, however, usually known as a "libretto" and their writer, a ...

by usually non-professional writers that have been set to

music Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspect ...

by commercial companies for a fee. This practice, which has long been disparaged in the established music industry, was also known as ''song sharking'' and was conducted by several businesses throughout the 20th century in

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Production and promotion

From the early 20th century, the business of recording song poems was promoted through small display ads in popular

magazine A magazine is a periodical publication, generally published on a regular schedule (often weekly or monthly), containing a variety of content. They are generally financed by advertising, purchase price, prepaid subscriptions, or by a combinatio ...

comic book A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are of ...

s, tabloids, men's adventure journals and similar publications with a headline reading (essentially) ''Send in Your Poems -

Songwriter A songwriter is a musician who professionally composes musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music gen ...

s Make Thousands of Dollars - Free Evaluation.'' The term ''lyrics'' was avoided because it was assumed potential customers would not understand what the term meant. Those who sent their

poetry Poetry (derived from the Greek ''poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meanings i ...

to one of the production companies usually received notice by

mail The mail or post is a system for physically transporting postcards, letter (message), letters, and parcel (package), parcels. A postal service can be private or public, though many governments place restrictions on private systems. Since the mid ...

that their work was worthy of

recording A record, recording or records may refer to: An item or collection of data Computing * Record (computer science), a data structure ** Record, or row (database), a set of fields in a database related to one entity ** Boot sector or boot record, ...

by professional

musician A musician is a person who composes, conducts, or performs music. According to the United States Employment Service, "musician" is a general term used to designate one who follows music as a profession. Musicians include songwriters who wri ...

s, along with a proposal to do so in exchange for a fee. The early 20th century versions of this business involved setting the words to music and printing up

sheet music Sheet music is a handwritten or printed form of musical notation that uses List of musical symbols, musical symbols to indicate the pitches, rhythms, or chord (music), chords of a song or instrumental Musical composition, musical piece. Like ...

from inexpensively engraved plates. In producing the recordings, musicians often recorded dozens of songs per recording session using minimal resources, often in one take. Some of the companies recorded new vocals over pre-recorded music backing tracks, using the same music tracks hundreds of times. The recordings were then duplicated on 45 RPM vinyl singles or on individual cassette tapes, or they were released on compilation LPs with dozens of other songs by amateur lyric writers. Copies were sent to the customer. Promises that they would also be sent to

radio Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmit ...

stations or music industry executives were rarely if ever kept, partly because the recordings would not have been taken seriously by professionals. Many of the lyrics involve subject matter relating to the passing fads of the day, and thus provide a window into a past pop culture.

Examples

Noted examples of those who have used the song poem approach include: * Rodd Keith (born Rodney Keith Eskelin, 1937–1974), who has been described as the "

Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 17565 December 1791), baptised as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his ra ...

" of the song poem genre. Several compilations of his made-for-hire song poem recordings have been released on CD with comments by his son, avant-garde saxophonist

Ellery Eskelin Ellery Eskelin (born August 16, 1959) is an American tenor saxophonist raised in Baltimore, Maryland and residing in New York City. His parents, Rodd Keith and Bobbie Lee, were both professional musicians. Rodd Keith died in 1974 in Los Angeles, ...

. Eskelin never really knew his father, but was often told that his father was some kind of musical genius. *Caglar Juan Singletary, (born 1972) who featured in the 2003 documentary ''Off The Charts: The Song-Poem Story''. His most famous composition is "Annie Oakley", music written by artist David Fox. * Norridge Mayhams (1903–1988), also known as Norris the Troubadour, who issued a succession of records between the 1930s and 1980s, many produced by song-poem professionals. Phil Milstein, "Mayhams / Mayhams Collegiate", ''American Song-Poem Music Archives''
Retrieved 17 May 2019 *Thomas J. Guygax Sr. (1921–1999), of

Springfield, Missouri Springfield is the third largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and the county seat of Greene County. The city's population was 169,176 at the 2020 census. It is the principal city of the Springfield metropolitan area, which had an estimat ...

, a lyricist noted for his unconventional approach to word order and

syntax In linguistics, syntax () is the study of how words and morphemes combine to form larger units such as phrases and sentences. Central concerns of syntax include word order, grammatical relations, hierarchical sentence structure ( constituency) ...

. *John Trubee (born 1957), whose song "Peace & Love (Blind Man's Penis)", recorded by

country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. For example, the country of Japan is an independent, sovereign state, while the ...

singer Ramsey Kearney, has been described as "the most famous song-poem recording of all time".

In media

In 2003, a documentary about the industry, ''Off The Charts: The Song-Poem Story'', was aired on the

Public Broadcasting Service The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educati ...

in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

Gene Merlino Mario Gino Merlino (born April 5, 1928) is a retired singer and musician, known for providing the singing voice of Lancelot in the musical film ''Camelot'', and for being part of the Grammy Award winning quartet, The Anita Kerr Singers. Early ...

, who claims to have sung on more than 10,000 song poems, was featured in the documentary. It has since been released on

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kin ...

, and the soundtrack was released on CD. The 2007

Craig Zobel Roger Craig Zobel is an American filmmaker and actor whose work includes music videos, film, and television. He has directed the films ''Compliance (film), Compliance'' (2012), ''Z for Zachariah (film), Z for Zachariah'' (2015), and ''The Hunt (2 ...

drama ''

Great World of Sound ''Great World of Sound'' is a 2007 comedy film directed by Craig Zobel. Zobel won Breakthrough Director at the Gotham Awards and the film also won the Grand Jury Award at the Atlanta Film Festival. Plot Martin, an introverted new transplant to C ...

'' depicts a modern-day version of "song sharking," and featured scenes where real unsigned musicians audition for the actors portraying the ersatz music producers; these artists ultimately had their songs properly licensed and featured in the finished film.

Tom Ardolino Thomas Robert Ardolino (January 12, 1955 – January 6, 2012) was an American rock drummer best known as a member of NRBQ (New Rhythm and Blues Quartet). Biography Tom Ardolino was born and raised in Springfield, Massachusetts. A fan of the b ...

, former drummer for the band

NRBQ NRBQ is an American rock band founded by Terry Adams (piano), Steve Ferguson (guitar) and Joey Spampinato (bass). Originally the "New Rhythm and Blues Quintet", the group was formed around 1965. Adams disbanded it for a time, and the group re-f ...

, curated an LP and several compilation CDs of the material taken from his personal collection (''The Beat of The Traps'', ''The Makers of Smooth Music'', ''The Human Breakdown of Absurdity'', & ''I'm Just The Other Woman''). His work, along with the efforts of others such as Phil Milstein, musicologist

Irwin Chusid Irwin Chusid (born April 22, 1951 in Newark, New Jersey) is a journalist, music historian, radio personality, record producer, and self-described "landmark preservationist". His stated mission has been to "find things on the scrapheap of history tha ...

of WFMU radio,

Mark Mothersbaugh Mark Allen Mothersbaugh (; born May 18, 1950) is an American composer, singer, and multi-instrumentalist. He came to prominence in the late 1970s as co-founder, lead singer and keyboardist of the new wave band Devo, whose " Whip It" was a top 2 ...

Devo Devo (, originally ) is an American rock band from Akron, Ohio, formed in 1973. Their classic line-up consisted of two sets of brothers, the Mothersbaughs (Mark and Bob) and the Casales (Gerald and Bob), along with Alan Myers. The band had a ...

, Bob Purse, James Lindbloom, and magician

Penn Jillette Penn Fraser Jillette (born March 5, 1955) is an American magician, actor, musician, inventor, television presenter, and author, best known for his work with fellow magician Teller as half of the team Penn & Teller. The duo has been featured ...

has allowed these scraps to reach a level of notoriety unthinkable in their own time.NERDIST Podcast Episode 130: Penn & Teller
Penn discusses his involvement along with Tom Ardolino & Mark Mothersbaugh with collecting song poems (starting at 05:53 in the podcast).

Discography

*''Hollywood Gold'', various artists (Rainbow Records) (one single, one cassette, 22 LP

*MSR Madness series: **''The Beat of The Traps'', Various artists (Carnage Press)(LP only) **''The Makers of Smooth Music'', Various artists (Carnage Press) **''The Human Breakdown of Absurdity'', Various artists (Carnage Press) **''I'm Just The Other Woman'', Various artists (Carnage Press) *''The American Song Poem Anthology: Do You Know The Difference Between Big Wood and Brush?'', Various artists (Bar/None) *''The American Song Poem Christmas: Daddy, Is Santa Really Six Foot Four?'', Various artists (Bar/None) *''I Died Today'', Rodd Keith (Tzadik) *''Ecstacy To Frenzy'', Rodd Keith (Tzadik) *''Saucers in the Sky'', Rodd Keith (Roaratorio) *''My Pipe-Yellow Dream'', Rodd Keith (Roaratorio) *''Black Phoenix Blues'', Rodd Keith (Roaratorio) *''Off The Charts: The Song Poem Story'', Various artists (Red Rock Records - film soundtrack) *''Song Poem Hits of 2007'', David Dubowski One Man Band (Crazy Dave Records) *''Song Poem Hits of 2007 Vol. 2'', David Dubowski One Man Band (Crazy Dave Records) *''Song Poem Hits of 2009'', David Dubowski One Man Band (Crazy Dave Records)

Documentary

References

{{Reflist

External links

song poem musicWFMU-FM Radio StationShirley & Spinoza Internet RadioExtraordinary Song-Poem Service Surreal O'Rama Song Poem Contest- Winners have their words set to music and recorded FREE Over 20 song-poems on YouTube by The Original Crazy DaveEpisode of This American Life featuring an interview with Ellery Eskelin's on his father's music
Song forms