Poetry in the Music Between 1965-1975 A decade of overlooked poetry in psychedelic and progressive rock

Abstract

This dissertation will analyse many of the most significant lyrics written for music in the time period between 1965 and 1975. More specifically, the genres which will be approached are psychedelic and progressive rock, which, on the one hand embrace songs with a higher poetic value than the average pop song of the late 20th century, but have, on the other hand, have alwas been rather neglected because of their musical form and popular appeal. The first part of the dissertation will give a general comparative overview of the features of lyrics for music and those of the purely poetic kind, underlining the tendencies musical lyrics have shown over the centuries in contrast to the poems which are not meant to be set to music. The second part of the dissertation will provide the reader with a brief history of the genre and of its most significant characteristics, influences and personalities, dealing first with pschedelic rock, then with progressive rock. Man significant lrics will be analysed and compared with acclaimed poems of the past, in order to underline the great poetic value manyy lrics bear. The aim of the dissertation is to shed light into a genre of poetry which is often neglected, and to demonstrate the great poetic value of much too often overlooked lyrics.