lyricalwhacks: Recent Episodes
lyricalwhacks
Lyrical Whacks is a multi-platform exploration of lyrics, poetry and literature hosted by Ursula Wake and Jon Atack.
Having met during a global pandemic, Jon and Ursula had an unusually slow start to their relationship, but here they share poems about that first physical contact. This is the sequel to this video: https://youtu.be/XpLJjOgX8qQ
John Keats died 200 years ago this week. Ursula and Jon read some favourite pieces and discuss his life, work, and the not entirely complimentary description of his love, Fanny Brawne, that he sends to his brother in a letter.
Ursula and Jon introduce 4 epic poems from different cultures: The Bhagavad Gita, The Odyssey, Parzifal and The Poetic Edda.
Jon and Ursula read lyrics from the musical movement of the mid-1960s composed of British rock-and-roll groups whose popularity spread rapidly to the United States.
Ursula and Jon read pieces from Joyce's first book, Chamber Music in 1907, up to (but not including) the legendary Finnegans Wake, and talk about his life and work to mark the 80th anniversary of his death on 13 January 1941. Note: Jon means "free" not "blank" verse. link to Anna Livia Plurabelle - Finnegans Wake: https://youtu.be/k1FcSGDgU8Q link to Pomes Penyeach and British Library Joyce articles: https://www.bl.uk/collection-items/pomes-penyeach-by-james-joyce#
Poems and song lyrics about new love. From John Donne to Nick Cave, Robert Graves to Radiohead and Christina Rosetti to Guy Garvey. And be sure to check out this week's bonus episode, animales hambrientos, here: https://anchor.fm/lyricalwhacks/episodes/animales-hambrientos---bonus-episode-for-New-Love-eofnaq
this is the bonus video for 'New Love', which you can listen to here: https://anchor.fm/lyricalwhacks/episodes/New-Love-eofnge
Richard Brautigan's cult hero status in late 20th century America was due to his novels rather than his poems, which he sometimes gave out on the streets for free. He is one of Jon's writing heroes and he and Ursula share some of his poetry here.
How do you start a relationship during a global pandemic? Jon and Ursula had to find out, and they share the second part of their journey here. This is the sequel to this podcast: https://anchor.fm/lyricalwhacks/episodes/love-in-the-time-of-corona-part-one-enqadc
The Christmas carol Silent Night has become so famous worldwide that it has its own website. Here, Ursula reads the original German "Stille Nacht". This is a bonus video to "Festival of Lights", which you can see here: https://anchor.fm/lyricalwhacks/episodes/Festival-of-Lights-enqi0r
Poems and songs about Hanukkah, Christmas and New Year are what we're bringing you this week, as well as other views of light in darkness. And check out the bonus video, "Stille Nacht," here: https://youtu.be/Ug2VvH6-PO8
The pieces this week are:
Winter Nights – Thomas Campian (Seventeenth Century English Poetry, Oxford University Press 1992)
Burning a Light at Night – Kiyoko Nagase (Pioneers of Modern Japanese Poetry, New Japanese Horizons)
The Coming Of Light – Mark Strand (PoemHunter.com)
Season of Skinny Candles – Marge Piercy (PoemHunter.com)
There’s a Certain Slant of Light (320) – Emily Dickinson (poetryfoundation.org)
Enjoy the Light – Adrian Mitchell (Come On Everybody, Bloodaxe 2012)
White Christmas – Irving Berlin (genius.com, first performed 1942 by Bing Crosby)
Dorothy Wordsworth’s Christmas Birthday – Carol Ann Duffy (The Wordsworth Trust, 2014)
Ode to Enchanted Light – Pablo Neruda (silverbirchpress.wordpress.com)
A Prayer to the New Year – Fudwa Turqan (Desert Songs of the Night Saqi Books 2015)
Better Things – Leanne Moden (Liaisons, StewedRhubarb.org, 2015)
Christmas in Hollis – Run DMC (1987)
Elvis Costello first recorded in 1977. Jon and Ursula think he is one of the best lyricists of our times. In this episode, they read some of their favourite Costello lyrics, from his first album My Aim is True through to 2020's Hey Clockface:-
Watching the Detectives (My Aim is True, 1977)
Oliver’s Army (Armed Forces, 1979)
New lace Sleeves (Trust, 1981) Shipbuilding (Punch the Clock, 1983) – with Clive Langer
I’ll Wear It Proudly (King of America, 1986)
Hurry Down Doomsday (Mighty Like A Rose, 1991)
Who Do You Think You Are? (Juliet Letters, with the Brodsky Quartet, 1993)
The Other End of the Telescope (All This Useless Beauty, 1996)
No Wonder (For the Starts, with Sophie von Otter, 2001)
When Did I Stop Dreaming? (North, 2003)
The Crooked Line (Secret Profane and Sugarcane, 2009) No Flag (Hey Clockface, 2020)
The Tao Te Ching – or Dao De Jing - is a series of poems written in the 4th century BCE by a Chinese sage (traditionallly credited as Laozi). Ursula and Jon read the first 6 chapters, taken from Jon’s translation, available here: https://www.amazon.com/Tao-Te-Ching-Lao-Tzu-ebook/dp/B072JL13DR/
Emily Dickinson's poetry has been hugely influential in the development of modern English-language poetry, though she was almost unknown during her lifetime. Her first volume of poetry was published in 1890 – four years after her death – and was an instant success. It is hard to believe that much of her work dates back to the American Civil War in the early 1860s. This is rich, beautiful and insightful poetry that has inspired both Ursula and Jon in their own work.
links: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/emily-dickinson https://www.emilydickinsonmuseum.org/
'Taking off Emily Dickinson's Clothes' by former US poet laureate Billy Collins is read here by Ursula. She couldn't resist having this poem added to the Emily Dickinson episode, as she loves Collins' imaginary portrait of the poet, her times, and - of course - her clothes.
'Les Feuilles Mortes' is a song by Jacques Prevert. The English version 'Autumn Leaves' remains very famous for its versions by Eva Cassidy, Nat King Cole, Frank Sinatra and Edith Piaf. Ursula reads the French version here for the sheer beauty of the words, whether or not you understand them! This is a bonus episode to the podcast, autumn, which you can find here: https://anchor.fm/lyricalwhacks/episodes/autumn-enqcm6
A feast of poems and song lyrics themed around autumn. Pieces read in this episode:
The Waiting Season – Ursula Wake
To Autumn – John Keats (John Keats selected by Andrew Motion, Faber and Faber 2011)
The New Term – Carolyn Oulton (The Tree Line, Worple Press 2017)
The Years – Attilio Bertolucci (The Faber Book of 20th-Century Italian Poems, Faber and Faber 2004)
Little Acorns – The White Stripes (album Elephant, XL 2003)
New Fruit – Ann Drysdale (Ten Poems About Gardens, Candlestick Press 2018)
Mushrooms – Sylvia Plath (Colossus, Faber and Faber 2008)
The Bare Tree – Samuel Menashe (jacobkempfert.wordpress.com)
Allhallows – Jacob Polley (The Brink, Picador 2016)
Fall, Leaves, Fall – Emily Bronte (poetryfoundation.org)
Out in the Garden – Katharine Mansfield (Ten Poems About Gardens, Candlestick Press 2018)
Summer green burnishes to gold – Jon Atack
And be sure to check out our bonus episode, here: https://anchor.fm/lyricalwhacks/episodes/bonus-video-les-feuilles-mortes-enqc8a
How do you start a relationship during a global pandemic? Jon and Ursula had to find out, and they share the first part of their journey here.