Readers’ Club Activity: “The Songbook: Discography as Literature & Public Discourse”

The first Readers’ Club activity of the session entitled “The Songbook: Discography as Literature & Public Discourse”, was organised by the students of the Dept. of English Literature & Language on 26th August. The participants discussed the songs of popular artists such as Taylor Swift, Harry Styles, Beyoncé and others who are today being taught in literature courses, business schools, and in fields like sociology and psychology, in universities around the world including UCLA Berkeley, University of Texas, NYU, and Cambridge. The idea was to look at their “discography” by listening to the songs, to understand their literary merit, psychological underpinnings, sociological perspective, philosophical relevance and exceptional story telling!

The session opened with Nobel Laureate Bob Dylan’s song “Blowing in the Wind” followed by “Love Story”, one of Taylor Swift’s best-known songs about teenage love and hope. Also discussed were “August”, “Cardigan” and “Betty” which too are about the same themes. Next was “Somewhere Only We Know”, a song by English alternative rock band, Keane.  The song recalls to mind, Matthew Arnold’s “The Buried Life”, “Birches” by Robert frost and Wordsworth’s “Preface to Lyrical Ballads” in each of which there is a desire to escape the harsh realities of life and a want to retreat to childhood. From the Indian sub-continent, poet-lyricists such as Sahir Ludhianvi and Majrooh Sultanpuri were talked about, whose literary genius came through in powerful lyrics that could fire the imagination of the people and sway the masses. The session closed with an understanding that good writing is good writing, regardless of the medium or genre. Be it novels, ad films, short films or poetry turning into songs, all are writing opportunities that provoke serious thought!