Four Great Poems Set to Music

Hikmet, Pynchon, Treece, Transtromer: Rate a Record Version

Photo by Erol Ahmed on Unsplash

There’s a story that

when Debussy asked for permission to set Mallarmé’s poem ‘L’après-midi d’un faune’ to music, the poet replied, ‘But I thought I had already done that!’ (Source)

Here are four great poems (later) set to music. Please evaluate according to the usual Rate A Record standards (35–98), either as songs per se or as settings (or both).

I Come and Stand at Every Door

Pete Seeger (from what I can tell) first set Nazim Hikmet’s poem about nuclear apocalypse to music; the Byrds followed up on their 5 D album, and This Mortal Coil posted an updated version. Please rate any or all of these.

Pete Seeger:

Byrds: