A spot of Suzanne Vega the other day, song: Calypso, started me thinking about what sort of music might be appropriate whilst travelling through Ulysses. I know this is a personal thing, I certainly don't like songs with lyrics on in the background while I'm reading, some might not want any music. But I did think, I might like to have some relevant tunes on the rest of the time, to set a mood, to percolate in my subconscious. Moreover, I'm curious as to what the rest of you might fancy.I'm sorry if I'm too obvious in my selections, which are very Oirish (hey there's no Dexy's at least, although "Dance Stance" lists many Irish writers other than Joyce, and no Cranberries, I think the Good Friday Agreement mandated that "Zombie" and "Linger" be taken out of print, besides they sing about Yeats, not Joyce).
A. Instrumentals
1. Chieftains, "Bonaparte's Retreat" -- This is the first of their albums I bought, and perhaps due to that, my favourite. It's particularly apt for the title track which is a suite of Napoleonic era folk songs. The Martello tower that Buck Mulligan lives in, and shaves atop at the start of the book was built as part of the military defences during that time.
2. Afro-Celt Sound System "Release" -- OK, at worst, there are times when this group sound like the techno-switched-on-classics version of Irish folk. But who am I to judge, you get occasional traditionally keening vocals from S. O'Connor, bless her little suede head.
3. Sharon Shannon "Out of the Gap" -- energetic, unabashed use of an accordion.
B. Songs
1. The Pogues, "If I Should Fall With Grace With God" -- somehow I missed out on their first two albums, but started with this one, Joyce is on the cover, with the band parroting his pose. Rollicking good fun. "Fairytale of New York" is the Christmas classic with the lines "you scumbag, you maggot, you cheap lousy faggot, merry Christmas your arse, I pray god it's our last." Was 1987's Christmas no. 1 in Ireland, and no. 2 in the UK. I love that, you probably couldn't get it air play in the US. Here, it's on most contemporary Christmas compilation albums.
2. The Dubliners, "The Dubliner's Dublin" -- the wit and wisdom of traditional Irish folk, from the lot that helped revive the form. Includes Finnegan's Wake and Zoological Gardens, which feature in Joyce's last work, and "Seven Drunken Nights" the prototypical Irish folk joke song.
3. Kate Bush, "The Sensual World" -- Title track quotes and paraphrases Molly Bloom's monologue that closes Ulysses. Not her best album, twee and precious at times, but, kettle/black springs to mind. Could be worse, on her latest she sings Pi to 137 decimal places (highly recommended anyway).
4. Sinéad O'Connor "Sean-Nós Nua" -- Sinéad goes trad, and as she used to busk and do the folkie thing, it's a return to her roots. 'S'OK if you like that sort of thing.
5. Eliza Carthy -- just about anything, she's English folk, but knows how to be contemporary and traditional in the right measures at the right times.
C. Miscellaneous
Firesign Theater "How Can You Be In Two Places At Once, When You're Not Anywhere At All" -- The comedy troupe that often dabble in surreal asides and Joycean puns and references, end one of their most phantasmagorical sketches with Molly Bloom's monologue (oh, that thing again, maybe you should avoid these 'til after the book, don't want to give anything away). Yeh, and that's Nick Danger on the flip-side.
Well, that's enough to be getting on with, at any rate. Now what else should I pack onto that MP3 CD?.....
4 comments:
I'm a fan of the Battlefield Band and the House Band. Oh, and Solas. I need more albums from each of those bands.
Obvious and Celtic, but whaddya expect? I'm still in the Foreward!
I enjoy listening to music while I read, but I've never tried to fit music to the theme of what I am reading. And I would be the one reading "Ulysses" while listening to Midnight Oil, and then someone comes along and tells me they are Australian.
Yeah, I could stand to have more house Band than the one CD I do (Rockall).
Another from my list, although this is probably feckin' tough for anyone except maybe Brian to track down, is a band called Craobh Rua (yes, it's Gaelic; dunno what it means). I saw them a couple of times at the Philly Folk Fest, and bought a disc each time. Traditional jigs and reels and such, a little amped as though performed in a well-tippled pub.
I need to get more Chieftans, too. And, somewhat amazingly, I have no Pogues (although I do have some isolated Pogues cuts scattered around on dusty old mix tapes Brian did in the '80s)...
Craobh Rua apparently means Red Branch, after the Red Branch Knights of Ulster (yes, I know how to Google, the only gaelic I know, apart from Sláinte and bodhran, is my wife's name which means "fair shoulders"). Ah the dusty old mix tapes of years gone by, when it took you three times as long to make it as it would to listen to, now you can burn a mix CD in less time than it takes to listen to a single track. One of the things I despised about Elizabethtown was that there was absolutely no way that Kirsten Dunst had time to select and make Cameron Crowe's wet dream of a continuous multi cd mix (along with maps and guides) to take Orlando Bloom from Kentucky to Oklahoma. Erm, sorry, I've spun way off topic. Will check these folkies out.
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