Former Pulp frontman Jarvis Cocker has been announced as a keynote speaker at this year’s In The City music conference in Manchester.
The songwriter will take part in a lecture entitled “Saying The Unsayable”, examining popular songs lyrical function, using his favourite songs as a basis, as well as some of his own.
The talk on October 7 at In The City’s base of The Midland Hotel will use lyrics from Leonard Cohen, Pete Doherty, Hot Chocolate, Amy Winehouse, David Bowie, Lou Reed, Neil Sedaka, Dory Previn, Katerine, Rozalla, Arctic Monkeys and others to analyse whether the words matter at all.
Subjects such as ‘Should Songs Rhyme?’, ‘Are Songs Poetry?’, ‘Is There Anything You Can’t Write Songs About?’, ‘Which Phrases Should be Avoided at All Costs?’ and ‘Great First Lines’ will all be covered.
Jarvis joins other announced keynote speakers including former Rolling Stones manager Andrew Loog Oldham, Sire Records founder Seymour Stein and iconic NME photographer Kevin Cummins.
In The City runs from October 5 to 7.
Full details of all seminars and live gigs happening at In The City 2008 are available here: www.inthecity.co.uk
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Pic credit: Andy Willsher