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Detroit music lyrically honored in ‘Respect: The Poetry of Detroit Music’

New collection features Eminem, Jack White, Nikki Giovanni & more

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Detroit’s musical landscape is not only stacked with iconic names, it’s also littered with pioneers of many genres. Motown revolutionized soul music, The Stooges birthed punk and The Belleville Three’s contributions to electronic music will never fade.

While countless books and stories have been written about Detroit’s music and its endless list of musicians, never has a book approached the subject so adoringly as “Respect: The Poetry of Detroit Music.” Published earlier this year via Michigan State University Press, this collection of poems and lyrics from 140 contributors fills 362 pages and showcases not only why people love this music, but also the global impact the scene continues to have.

This varied anthology comprises works from Eminem, June Jordan, Fred “Sonic” Smith of the MC5, Rita Dove, Fats Domino, Jack White, Robbie Robertson (of The Band), Paul Simon, Philip Levine, Sasha Frere-Jones, Patricia Smith, Billy Bragg, Andrei Codrescu, Toi Derricotte, and Cornelius Eady—to only name a few.

“Each stanza’s beats, rhythms, and grooves evoke the sounds of the city’s clubs, streets, and scenes with passion and pleasure,” said former CREEM Magazine writer Roberta Cruger. “The inspiring selection of voices reveals the mystery of The D’s musical spirit.”

While Nikki Giovanni contributed the beautifully honest “Poem for Aretha,” Brian Gilmore kicks off “living for the city,” his ode to Steve Wonder, with a nod to his Lansing connection.

"At the Lansing School for the Blind
the boarded up buildings do the talking
people here living just enough like a boy
named Steven from Saginaw who arrived
here half famous. mouth organ to his fingertips …"

Brian Gilmore

But it’s not all about our state’s big names. This hefty paperback touches on all of it: jazz, blues, doo-wop, rap, classic rock, and everything in between. Edited and compiled over the course of two years by Jim Daniels and M. L. Liebler, the pages are filled with gushing and honest thoughts on the Motor City from Grammy winners, Pulitzer Prize winners, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees, and poet laureates.

Steve Wynn, guitarist for The Dream Syndicate, called it “An incredible book. Comprehensive. Panoramic. And makes a case for Detroit being the greatest music city in the United States.”

Meanwhile, musician Stewart Francke’s inputs the lyrics to his Motown-infused track, “Motor City Serenade.” You can read the words in this book, but listening to the track, you’ll hear a heartfelt ballad backed by the Funk Brothers (the Motown house band). No matter how you digest it, his words conjure up a profound image of cruising the city.

"Well the riverside is alive tonight,
a sliver of light keeps the buildings bright.
Cars rumble down Woodward, on to Circus Park
Mitch Ryder on the radio after dark."

Stewart Francke

As for the editors of “Respect,” Daniels (a Detroit native) is the author of six fiction collections, 17 poetry collections, four produced screenplays, and he’s edited five anthologies, including “Challenges to the Dream: The Best of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Day Writing Awards.”

Liebler, who the Metro Times called “the poobah of Detroit poetry,” is the author of fifteen books and has been on faculty in the English department at Wayne State University for 40 years. He is an internationally known and widely published poet and arts organizer, but also is known for his literary arts activism.

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