by: Michelle Healy (page 6D)
Natalie Merchant of 10,000 Maniacs has some advice for students trying their hands at song lyrics or other forms of creative writing: Choose issues that catch your imagination or make you wonder why; research your topic; and rewrite, rewrite and rewrite again to make your point as simple and clear as possible.
Most important, says the lead singer and songwriter for the popular folk-rock group, is to "write from your own experience. It's the most honest and pure writing." Merchant is sharing those tips with sixth- through 12th-graders across the country through a songwriting lesson plan sponsored by Scholastic, Inc., and Elektra Entertainment. The two companies are also sponsoring a lyric-writing contest for students. The grand prize: a school visit and concert by 10,000 Maniacs. Merchant, who's written or co-written all of the songs on the group's five albums - their current is Our Time in Eden - will select the contest's top winner.
Using six of the band's most topical songs - including Candy Everybody Wants (about commercialism and the TV culture) and Tolerance (about racism and fear) - the lyric-writing lesson plan is designed to help teachers "connect popular culture to their classrooms in a meaningful and teachable way," says Lee Kravitz, editorial director, Scholastic, Inc. "Music happens to be the idiom that many young people feel most comfortable with and conversant in." 10,000 Maniacs was ideal for this project, he adds, because it is a "serious, literate group writing music about issues people care about." It also takes care with its written work, having editors proofread the lyrics printed in each recording to make sure "I don't infuse them with bad grammar," says Merchant, 29.
One of the attractions to participating in the lyric-writing project, Merchant says, is the opportunity to show people who aren't familiar with her work that not all pop music is "mindless, offensive or promotes debauchery.
"My sister's a teacher and some of her (colleagues) were reluctant to use the lesson plan because of the group's name," she says. (10,000 Maniacs took its moniker from the 'B' horror movie 2,000 Maniacs.) The key attraction, however, is showing students "that I do a lot of writing in a line of work that most kids probably think is a breeze," says Merchant, who once hoped to be a teacher. "Many of them think writing lyrics to pop songs is easy: You write about boys and girls falling in and out love, and that's it. I tell them that I go to the library to research my songs; that I write and rewrite; that the greatest satisfaction is knowing I worked really hard and tried to do the best I could; and that what you learn in school has validity and usefulness outside of school."
Included in the Write Lyrics lesson plan are Natalie Merchant's lyrics for Dust Bowl, one of her favorites. In part:
I should know to leave them home.
They follow me through the store with these toys I can't afford.
"Kids, take them back, you know better than that."
Dolls that talk, astronauts, TV games, airplanes,
they don't understand and how can I explain?
I try and try but I can't save.
Pennies, nickels, dollars slip away.
I've tried and tried but I can't save.
My youngest girl has bad fever, sure.
All night with alcohol to cool and rub her down.
Ruby, I'm tired, try and get some sleep.
I'm adding doctor's fees to remedies
with the cost of three days' work lost.
I try and try but I can't save.
Pennies, nickels, dollars slip away.
I've tried and tried but I can't save.
The hole in my pocketbook is growing.