Few would dispute that Bono knows how to write a song, but can the U2 frontman pen a poem?
This morning, he offered his skills up for public scrutiny by unveiling an ode to Elvis Presley on Radio 4.
In his familiar gravelly voice, the 49-year-old rock icon delivered a fast-paced, 14-minute tribute to The King.
Recorded two years ago, but written in 1994, the poem, entitled “American David,” contained an array of strange and risqué rhymes set to a musical backing track made up of Elvis tunes and other pop culture recordings from the last 50 years.
A warning about the poem’s language preceded the airing, as a series of offensive words including “nigger” and “spastic” were employed.
While Bono considers himself a “super fan” of Elvis, he didn’t shy away from his famous flaws. One rhyming triplet played on the singer’s long weight battle: “Elvis the bumper stickers/ Elvis the white knickers/ Elvis the white nigger ate at Burger King and just kept getting bigger.”
Another took aim at his iconic dance move: “Elvis the ecstatic/ Elvis the plastic/ Elvis the elastic with a spastic dance that could explain the energy of America.”
But other lines told of the U2 singer’s admiration, as he called the late pin-up “pharoah-like,” a “genius” and a “psalmist,”
© The Times, 2009.