Two writers venture into a new territory and the result is a dark, hypnotic success

Dave Madeloni

NORTHAMPTON--The Intersection of Poetry Place and Song Street is usually kept pretty clear.

A smart pop song can come along but is rarely allowed into the poet's side of town. Occasionally, a vehicle from the likes of Tom Waits, Leonard Cohen or Patti Smith gets through. Late at night one might catch a glimpse of the ghost of Woody Guthrie or Townes Van Zandt wandering about. But it is an exclusive neighborhood where mainstream songwriters are for the most part banned.

Jewel may have published a book of poems, but she is ultimately just another singing celebrity with a book to hawk.

And there are even fewer fiction writers who can rock. Stephen King and his friends gave it a try then went back to doing what they do best.

Then, along comes an anomaly called 40 Words for Fear, a CD created by poet Wyn Cooper and novelist Madison Smartt Bell, that moves freely back and forth through the intersection.

The longtime pals met in 1980 in the graduate writing program at Hollins College in Virginia and share a passion for, and history in, music. A touch of serendipity allowed Cooper's poem titled "Fun" to become the foundation for Sheryl Crow's 1994 breakthrough hit, "All I Wanna Do." Bell's 13th book of fiction, last year's Anything Goes, incisively examines the misfortunes of a struggling rock band.

It was inspired by a dream involving the late Kurt Cobain teaching the self-described "fifth-rate guitarist" Bell to play Nirvana's "Lithium."

Bell and Cooper wisely enlisted the aid of top-shelf producer Don Dixon (REM, Marshall Crenshaw, The Smithereens) along with a collection of first-rate musicians to help concoct 40 Words for Fear.

They successfully fused poetry and pop, utilizing Cooper compositions--some written explicitly for inclusion in Anything Goes--put to Bell's music. Their genre-bending recording is an ultimately complex, elusive and hypnotic blend of stark spoken word, dreamy blues and haunting groove.

Wyn Cooper understands that the adventurous album runs through some unfamiliar back roads. "I think people are tired of the same old thing and are ready to expand their musical horizon and to let a little poetry into the mix, even if it has to come in the back door," explained the resident of Halifax. "We were not trying to write hit songs, we were trying to write good songs that worked on a deep emotional level. The songs are fairly dark, but this is a dark time."

The studio team, which included ace percussionist/producer Jim Brock and renowned engineer Mitch Easter, embraced the mood by refusing to play when there was even a hint of sunlight.

Bell, who possesses rudimentary guitar skills and an unpolished-but-effective vocal approach that harkens to the drone of Lou Reed and the grit of James McMurtry (son of novelist Larry), discussed the origins of the collaboration on his Web site: "A touch of the arbitrary is a stimulating thing for any kind of writer, like the proverbial grain of sand is inspirational to the oyster. How it all started was with me lobbing a scratchy little projectile of the arbitrary over the net between Wyn's craft universe and mine. He hit it back, and we got a pretty good rally going, and this book and these songs are what came of it."

Bell continued the sports mataphor when he described the teaming of musical neophytes like he and Cooper with seasoned professionals for the recording of 40 Words for Fear as akin to going from tossing a football around the backyard to playing in the NFL.

The duo really raised their game in the studio--they had to. But the pros also benefitted, according to Cooper. "One of the great synergies in making the CD was the way two writers became recording artists while all the musicians sort of became poets, or at least poetry lovers--Don Dixon reads a section of an old poem of mine as the intro to one of the songs, and both Don and Jim Brock insisted I read two poems that they then created songs around."

The participants continually fed off of each other's creative energy. Brock was inspired to pound out rhythms on metal stairs and to add some radio static to the proceedings, contributing to the surreal vibe.

The resulting song/poems transcend categorization and defy adequate description--and therein lies their allure.

Bell and Cooper's fascination with the "underbelly of American society, the losers, the outcasts, the rebels" is evident throughout 40 Words.

The record opens with the ingriguing "On Eight Mile," which chronicles the reunion of lovers, one of whom is now an exotic dancer. "The Here Below"--featuring Dixon's chilling turn of spoken word--combines the bite of Charles Bukowski with the twisted soulfulness of Beck. The alcohol drenched "Blue Nun"

I stumbled in to the Stumble Inn

Looking for beer and billiards and grins

All I found was a blind bartender

Forty-some drunks and a Pontiac fender

may have been informed by Cooper's stint as a Bennington bartender and is as catchy as this challenging collection gets.

When I asked Cooper to explain the metaphor of the intoxicating and restless "Horses Run Fast," he demurred. "I write largely from my unconscious, using what Keats called Negative Capability, 'the ability to be in doubt or confusion without any irritable reaching after fact or meaning.' I let the words come, listening mostly to their sound and know that meaning will follow."

Bell, who is quite reluctant to take any credit for his musicianship, added via e-mail, "My talent is limited, but the time I've put in has improved my ear. ... I write mainly for the ear, not the eye."

The inspired 40 Words for Fear is much more than the sum of its disparate parts. Bell, Cooper and their All-Star teammates found a way to pull from the arbitrary and the unconscious to fashion a feast for the ear and a maze for the mind.

Forty Words for Fear is available in Brattleboro at Turn It Up and The Book Cellar, in Wilmington at Bartleby's Books, at the Bennington College Bookstore and also at www.gaffmusic.com.

Dave Madeloni writes a weekly music column for the Arts & Entertainment section. He can be reached at madeloni@aol.com.

This column by Dave Madeloni was first published in our local newspaper, Vermont's Brattleboro Reformer, on Thursday, July 10, 2003.