Clive Harvey
I seem to recall being taught that verse really should rhyme to be regarded as poetry. Whilst this is clearly nonsense, I was not to know that at a young age, and so this notion stuck with me. I grew up aspiring to write rhyming verse, no matter how traditional, to project my thoughts in words.
I should explain too, that I have often since found myself, as a song writer and lyricist, being drawn towards rhyming lines if only to make a message more appealing and better suited to a rhythmic beat. Of course, none of this is new.
Even historic ballads have been readily adapted to ‘art songs’; works by Burns, Herrick and Kipling to name but a few. No surprise here, with the word ’lyric’ being derived from the ‘lyre’:- a musical instrument once used to accompany songs. It is from such songs that the lyric first developed.
My attitude persists that no stone should remain unturned to transform our writing creativity into enduring performances. With my music and writing I have tried to recapture at least some of the simple joy of creating something new which I discovered as a youngster.
Clive Harvey
