Lit Riffs: Writers “Cover” Songs They Love
If the artists whose music provides the foundation for the book were asked to comment on the results, “That’s not what I meant at all” would probably come up a lot. But does it matter? It’s hard to imagine a higher compliment a listener can pay a musician than giving his work a vigorous dose of imaginative close attention. Rock lyrics are famously vague, but what if that vagueness is actually just the outline and it’s listeners who need to finish the picture? In poetic theory, it’s not uncommon to find writers who believe a poem isn’t complete until the reader does her part fleshing out the suggestions and connecting the dots of allusions, something no two readers can possibly do the same way, nor should. There can actually be some damned good reasons for songwriters to play coy when grilled on what it’s all about, man.
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Many of the pieces in Lit Riffs–which also includes contributions from Jonathan Lethem, Aimee Bender, and J.T. LeRoy, among others–are downright depressing, salvaging meaning from emotional disaster, as when Tucker’s damaged heroine forges a surprising relationship with a wary vet. But for all the writers’ graceful dancing in the ruins the project is a bit of a guilty pleasure, though I can’t quite figure out why. Why is riffing on a song somehow more suspect than any other jumping-off point, be it a headline or a snatch of memory or a face in the crowd?
