Going for comfort

Finishing up a night here at the writing factory, putting some of the grace back into a piece that has now been re-touched by probably six different subject matter experts. Humming along with Joni Mitchell's Amelia in a way that you can't do when working on a first draft. And I suddenly remember Daniel J. Levitin in his book The World in Six Songs, where he says:

While researching this book, Sting and I discussed the relationship between poetry and lyrics. Both of us being Joni Mitchell fans, we discussed her song "Amelia" as an example of a lyric we admire:

I was driving across the burning desert

When I spotted six jet planes

Leaving six white vapor trails

Across the bleak terrain

It was the hexagram of the heavens

It was the strings of my guitar

Oh Amelia, it was just a false alarm

Note the repetition of the long i sound in I and driving in the first line; the repetition of the d sound in driving and desert in that same line; the repetition of the s sound in spotted and six in the second line. Of course there is also the alliteration in hexagram of the heavens. The song features a prominent guitar, connecting the music to the lyric. I love that she mentions her six-string guitar in the sixth line of the song, just one subtle element among many that create an internal consistency in this lyric. There is the symantic connection between a desert and a plain, both flat expanses of terrain, a connection implied by her choice of the homonym planes in the second line.  

Professor Levitin goes on to say that Joni probably wasn't aware of all this when she was writing the song. Funny, he seems unaware that he has singled out this song with all the "sixes" in it to introduce his idea that there are six songs that have created human nature. By the way, he's talking about songs of friendship, joy, comfort, knowledge, religion and love. I think our corporate writing works best when we nudge some of those themes. I was going for comfort in the piece I was working on tonight.