Every pop song containing the word “lyric” distilled into one classical epic poem. “Epic Lyric Poem” draws from an SQL database torrent distributed to create pop lyric websites, presumably to make ad money, primarily created by fans. A Python script was used to draw out every line with the string “lyric” in the database. Each of these lines was then standardized to 55 characters—the average length of a line in a pop song. The poem is 55 stanzas long, printing twenty lines per stanza. It follows the conventions of epic poetry (invocation of the muses, armaments for battle, lists, etc), with a special dedication to Alexander Pope. The publication includes an epigraph and the full SQL database from which it was drawn. : : Epic Lyric Poem 167121 Songs, 257.8 MB File Epigraph: What dire Offence from poetical Causes springs, What mighty Contests rise from trivial Things, I sing--This verse to LYRIC, Muse! is due; This, ev'n Database may vouchsafe to view: Slight is the Subject, but not so the Praise, If She inspire, and He approve, my Lays. Say what strange Motive, Goddess! cou'd compel A well-read User t'assault gentle Doggerel? Oh say what stranger Cause, yet unexplor'd, Cou'd make gentle Lyric reject its Lord? In tasks so bold, this little Poem engages, And in soft Prosody, queries what this Age is. : : My murderous lyrics equipped with the spirits before me I mold the lyrics flowing like blood through the artery Lace em with lyrics that's legendary, musical mercenary Lyrically performing labotamy on your biology a prodigy Lyrical attacka, heavyweight lyric never lost a calorie Flow the placka instigate lyrics to backfile another MC Fathering styles lyrically raised from death to infancy Have you experienced spirits in lyrics when you hear em Yr lyrics are loaners return em to they rightful owners Killing the first born daughter of lyrical Yul Brenners One lyrical Schwarzenegger writing words like commander Yo, I'm lyrically gone just letting the spirits live on Throughout all the lyrics that yu hear in all our songs Lyrical arson rush - a million martians committin arson Extraordinarily, I lyricize, see Ye olde lyrics of fire Yo I got one lyric pointed at your head just as a start My state-of-the-art lyrical lasers is (are) razor sharp Cause as soon as I pic up the mic the lyrics just start With the core of these explicit lyrics from the editor, It goes 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-murder-1 lyrics at your door Lyrics are flippin like Dominique Dawes with no drawers Dope ki lyrical cascade height, SWATS type, mic soldier Lyrics jotted on paper cause ya terror like the Creeper Lyrical the kick make me ya mentor an X flex lyric seer Well the lyrics of my peers have changed course here''s [Korn appears here instrumentally only, not lyrically.] Can't come back, lyrically I''m off scale, hype stealer I got these lyrics waking up all their database spirits More lyrical artillery than the armed forces, and mixin And mixing up those lyrical faces - a lyrical lynch mob From thot's bridge to hell's gate, lyrically detonating Lyric utilizer, they remind you of bass I'm everlasting So never twist it up that lyrically we even be thieving Similar to this, what's the repertoire: kick deadly wit Witness this, yo the pissed lyricist, bang like a Crip. KnowhatI''msayin, there's this lyrical high, real quick I can't get enough of it, the rough shit grenade lyrics Allow me to place my own lyrical duchess in your bushes Meetin lyrical wishes like swooshes the lyrical cleanse Lyrical cap pealer, the poetical, lyrical, miracle son. |  Available in Print, PDF, or SQL at Troll Thread (2015).
Draft Version 0.3 for Little Berlin Gallery, Philadelphia Excerpts also performed at Hiding Place (Philadelphia, 2012) and MLA off-site reading (Chicago, 2013). |
