Friday 12 November 2010

New Blues lyrics/ Poems collections: coming on Kindle

Promotion actions. Following the release on Amazon Kindle of my Love poem lyrics collections:
Sharing a Small Soft Star and The Secrets Summer keeps; I'm looking for ways to further PR, promote these, raising my profile etc. So I will send some copies out for to review by others. After printed copies srating in 2001, I'm now focussing on a digital - Kindle route- using social media to promote more widely. Blues going dot com- (Jimmy Smith - master of the Hammond Organ - made an album dot com blues)  

Blues poems lyrics anthologies.
This week I did the first drafts of the next two collections: Brand New Highway Stretching on and Blues Hung Up To Dry; both will be ready to release on Amazon Kindle sometime in the next two weeks.

These volumes contain most of the the poems written and posted on the Ernie Ball Musicman forums site - a few of them, about six,  found their way into the love poem collections. The Blues can be happy also! The tears of happiness and emotion; at gaining something longed for, the lucky break etc..

I've been aware of all the past old time blues themes and lyrics. Blues readers expect to come across these conventions; which are part of the essential Blues identity, but I've included new references to modern times and issues, written in my own "voice" as poet/lyricist.

The "eternal universals" of the human condition are still there: faith, religion, love, aspirations, lack, love, joy, sorrow, problems, frustrations, anger, hope etc. You can always get a fresh view and lines on these things: based on your own life and also what you hear, see around you.

The "killer line" is all; stirring the reader/listener into a "what!" reaction or silence. You find these in the works of Leonard Cohen or Bob Dylan - not literal sense perhaps but profoundly touching and feeling completely right.

History is never exactly repeated. Because society/technology, the economy, environment etc; so the blues written now reflects the now. We have one foot on the river bank of history/Classics in the Blues; the other is in the river - flowing and now - creating and moving onwards.

From a philosopy viewpoint we stand on the column of our fore-fathers; acknowledging our existence literally as people and blues artists to those gone before us.  

Work to do... The essential but slightly numbing usual process of sifting to select the best out of all the pieces, then formatting, making a cover with picture etc. Some poems lyrics I have had to re-type again out of the printed books I produced in 2001- 2009, because they were not on the PC.

When is poem a song lyric? (and vice-versa) It can be difficult to know. For songs: I find a times a song of sorts is in my head and in general lyrics are more "rhymey", less complicated in the lines. Verse and chorus is also an aspect, as are repeating lines. Does it matter as long as the end result is worth the reading, engaging the readers feelings and emotions, stirring thoughts, or a point is made/idea or view shared?

Enough for now.. more later
 
   

 

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