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Am Bratach No. 112
Bookends “One Light Burning (CD)”, Dave Whyte & Donny O’Rourke, 2008; “Blame Yesterday”, Donny O’Rourke, 2009. Both from Bonny Day Books. Two years ago, I reviewed poet Donny O’Rourke’s and artist Harry Magee’s collaboration on “One Light Burning”. I wrote that the poems could be put to music. O’Rourke had the same idea, and asked Dave Whyte to write the music. The result of their collaboration is this excellent CD, which follows the same running order as the book. Whyte’s folk-tinged evocative melodies, gentle guitar and wistful voice provide the perfect backing for O’Rourke’s thoughtful and reflective poetry. There is a long tradition of poets and composers working together, from Auden writing librettos for Britten, to Liverpool poet Roger McGough topping the pop charts with Scaffod to Liz Lochhead touring with pianist, singer and composer Michael Marra. When such collaborations work, the power and depth of both words and music are enhanced. O’Rourke’s and Whyte’s collaboration works beautifully. This is hardly surprising: O’Rourke’s poetry has always had a rhythmic musicality that calls for melody, he has a fine singing voice on the rare occasions he can be persuaded to use it and he has a love and deep knowledge of various genres of music. In particular, he has developed a love for the Broadway-type musical, and its great songwriting practitioners such as Cole Porter, Oscar Hammerstein and Stephen Sondheim. It is out of this that his latest collection has developed. “Blame Yesterday” — a collection of poetry written in the style of Broadway musicals — is a homage to these great lyricists. However, these lyrics are not mere imitations, but give the genre new twists, sometimes gently satirising Broadway, sometimes bringing a Scottish perspective to what is essentially an American form. “Blame Yesterday” tells the story of a performer past his best, and looking back at his career, sometimes with regret, sometimes with what may be rose tinted spectacles. The key song, which opens Act One and is reprised in Act Two, is “Once or Twice”, in which a clearly tired and depressed narrator affects cynicism: “Once or twice I did it/ I wish it had been more/ Talent? Oh I hid it/ Success is such a bore” and then towards the end: “Go out on a high/ Take the bartender’s advice/ Fame passed me by/ But I did it/ Once or twice.” It is possible to imagine the reprise of the song being accompanied by a bottle of Bourbon and some pills, before an ironic performance of the final song “Good Night (Exit Music)”. Or perhaps a less melodramatic and more open ended finale would work just as well. Interspersed within all this is a love story. The narrator’s love life seems to be no more successful than his career, perhaps for the same reason — his apparent inability to commit himself. So, early on in Act One, we come across: “I’m not your Moon ‘n’ Junist/ More an opportunist/ Where there’s a liberty to take/ I’m a Restoration Rake!/ Unlike in some happy, sappy ballad/ My days were never salad/ Instead of wedding bells/ Too busy bedding belles.” Then towards the end of Act Two we come across profound regret partly masked by its cynicism: “Beyond the stage door/ I’m lonely once more/ Still Broadway’s the best way to grieve”. Throughout O’Rourke deploys his considerable skills. His confident use of rhyme is majestic as in the example “wedding bells/ bedding belles” Sometimes, the rhymes can be funny, as in these examples from “The Gods Pay No Heed”: “Thor’s thunder ain’t applaudin’/ Wilbur, Nash, Wodehouse or Auden -/ Bravo wits?/ No it’s/ The Supreme Being being ratty/ With the local literati.” Sometimes, as in “Once or Twice” or as in “What the Saxophone knows” the rhymes highlight the sadness. Equally impressive is his use of alliteration, for example “There’s neither tincture nor tonic” and “I’m grimly going grey”. His confidence with metre is such that he is capable of disrupting the rhythm without losing any musicality. He is also capable of making interesting connections, as in: “Hats even look good when taken off/ To snarl you dirty rat/ Cagney had to have a hat”. The poems in this collection are not only crying out for music to accompany them, but a script that tells the story. Perhaps in the near future, the musical “Blame Yesterday” will be touring Scotland.
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