That “Lodger” uses a vocalist, the album’s lyrics and its original music, is nothing new for Glass. His Sixth Symphony is a three-movement setting of Allen Ginsberg’s poem “Plutonian Ode,” for soprano and orchestra. Other composers have set well-known pop lyrics to their own music, most notably (if less successfully) John Corigliano’s song cycle “Mr. Tambourine Man,” which uses Bob Dylan poems. A few years ago, Glass wrote “Three Yoruba Songs” for Kidjo, using texts in her native Swahili.
Source: latimes.com – Los Angeles Times