AT MOST Bob Dylan shows, the last song is All Along The Watchtower, the last line of which is (Dylan repeats the first verse) "none of them along the line know what any of it is worth". This is supposed to be proof positive that Dylan possesses what Keats referred to as "negative capability", the idea that the artist is an empty vessel who uses intentional open- mindedness as an artistic end in itself.
The notion of negative capability is usually wheeled out whenever that tedious "Keats vs Dylan" argument gets another unwelcome airing.
It was all playwright David Hare's fault. Back in 1972, he had the temerity to suggest that Dylan was, if not a better poet, then at least the equal of Keats. This was picked up by Dylan freak Christopher Ricks, then Professor of English at Cambridge (like that means he knows what he's talking about), who continues to bore everyone senseless with this ridiculous literary parlour game.
Place a Dylan lyric beside something by Hopkins or, even more recently, Larkin, and the difference is glaring. But then it should be. At the risk of stating the bleedin' obvious, Dylan is a songwriter; Hopkins and Larkin are poets. This in no way undercuts the by now irrefutable fact that Dylan is the most influential and esteemed lyricist in popular music.
Over the last few years we've had Seamus Heaney bigging up (so to speak) the lyrical prowess of Eminem, and various Oxbridge dons passing favourable comment on the work of Mike Skinner and Alex Turner. Which is all very well, but where were these people when John Cooper Clarke was doing the rounds? Beasley Street - what a lyric.
The debate continues as those literary titans at the VH1 pop music channel have announced the results of their search for the favourite lyric of all time. Because it was VH1 viewers being polled, you sort of expected a lot of wimpy doggerel to feature. And Robbie Williams to be the overall winner.
It didn't turn out as bad as expected, though, with the predicted Benetton ad-style lyrics not getting a look in. In fact, the top three "favourite ever lyrics" feature the themes of divorce, crippling social anxiety and general self-loathing.
U2 were at No 1 with One. It's no secret that Bono wrote these lyrics about the break-up of The Edge's first marriage. However, the line selected from the song (and you couldn't vote for the entire lyric, just your favourite snippet) is the all-purpose "One life, with each other, sisters, brothers".
Morrissey ran U2 a very close second with How Soon Is Now? The lines voted for here were the ever-charming "So you go, and you stand on your own, and you leave on your own, and you go home, and you cry, and you want to die".
In third place was Kurt Cobain with "I feel stupid and contagious, here we are now, entertain us". Unlike Morrissey's lyrics above, these words don't work on the page but really soar when coupled with that declamatory Fender Jaguar guitar riff.
Things start to go a bit wobbly after the top three. Also in the top 10 is Chris Martin's "Look at the stars, look how they shine for you". Good god, how hard was that, Chris? The "yellow" here, you'll be delighted to know, refers to the Yellow Pages (it was in Martin's eye-line when he was stuck on the lyrics for the song). The other top 10 placings were Bob Marley (Redemption Song), Eminem (Lose Yourself), Robbie Williams (go on, guess), Radiohead (Creep) and Marvin Gaye (What's Going On?).
Personally, I've taken huge umbrage at the fact that that unspeakable man who used to front The Police slimed his way into the Top 20 with Every Breath You Take. For chrissakes, the rhyme goes: take/make/break, and there's even the hoary old "say/stay" later in the song. The most borderline IQ boyband could do better than that.
It's all the more galling for the fact that there was no room for the profoundly Zen Buddhist, or should that be acid trip, lyrics of Jimmy Webb's ever-fascinating MacArthur Park.
