I played two shows with Ed Burch and an ad-hoc band of local luminaries at the Hideout this past weekend. The repertoire was culled exclusively from the sometimes charming, sometimes bizarre world of the song poem.

Song poems are the artistic byproduct of a collision between amateur dreamers and commercial hucksters. The premise is simple: aspiring songwriters respond to ads in the back of popular magazines soliciting songs. They submit their work for consideration. They get a response telling them that their opus is a potential hit, worthy of a recording with real live professional musicians. And please send money to cover recording costs.

Song poem music is ephemeral to the extreme — the composer would get a record or a tape of the finished product, but the records weren’t released commercially. The musicians who performed on the records cranked out dozens of songs per day. The performances were often apathetic, the material subpar. But every once in a while something oddly compelling would emerge.

The American Song Poem Music Archive has put out some good reissues of song poem music, including works by Rodd Keith, the best-known performer of song poems. Their site has a wonderful section on the shadow world of song poems. Check it out.

P.S.: Most of the MP3s are offline. What few there are on the site are here: http://www.songpoemmusic.com/mp3/