STACK #181 Nov 2019

MUSIC

FEATURE

THE SONG THAT NEVER WAS The poem Kelly attempted

listener] to a poet they didn’t know, and off they go on their own voyage of discovery.” The title of Kelly’s upcoming book of poems – not written by him, but selected from his favourites by writers including William Blake, Bertold Brecht, Judith Wright, Izumi Shikibu, John Keats, Walt Whitman, Sylvia Plath, Gwen Harwood and many more – is Love Is Strong As Death . It’s a phrase from the Song Of Solomon, a book from the Bible which is “unlike any other book in the Bible”, says Kelly. “It’s a very forthright – you might almost say explicit – love poem, between King Solomon and Rose of Sharon,” he explains. “It’s always been a little bit hard for religious people to explain away, when you read it, because it’s full on. It’s quite ecstatic. When it was written, it may have been sung. I'm sure people have set parts of it to music, too... I don’t know. I must do some googling.”

R o b e r t F r o s t

to adapt to song six years ago (but was rejected by the writer's estate) was Robert Frost's famous 1922 work Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening .

Whose woods these are I think I know. His house is in the village though; He will not see me stopping here To watch his woods fill up with snow. My little horse must think it queer To stop without a farmhouse near Between the woods and frozen lake The darkest evening of the year. He gives his harness bells a shake To ask if there is some mistake. The only other sound’s the sweep Of easy wind and downy flake. The woods are lovely, dark and deep, But I have promises to keep, And miles to go before I sleep, And miles to go before I sleep.

often the case, the estate guards the flame more fiercely than perhaps the author in the first place. I found out the hard way!” But he sees the arguments both for and against the practise of adapting prose to music. “It’s probably in the ear of the listener whether it works or not,” he says. “It’s like when someone reads a novel and then they go see the film, and the novel is so strong in their mind that the film somehow fails the novel. Or, in certain cases… the [film] sheds light on the novel in a new way. But I’m not worried about ruining the poem – it’s just my go, just my version of it.” At the very least, he says, “it just might alert [the

Songs From The South:

Hits 1985 - 2019 by Paul Kelly is out now via EMI.

THE COLOURS OF AUSTRALIA CELEBRATE AUSTRALIAN MUSIC IN NOVEMBER WITH THESE NEW COLOURED VINYL TITLES AVAILABLE FROM

SUNNYBOYS SUNNYBOYS

THE VERONICAS THE SECRET LIFE OF

THE VERONICAS HOOK ME UP

REGURGITATOR QUARTER POUNDER: 25 YEARS OF BEING CONSUMED A dazzling, cohesive slice of power punk on sky blue vinyl . Features the singles Happy Man and Alone With You .

ARIA Award-winning debut album on fluorescent green vinyl . Features 4Ever , Everything I’m Not and When It All Falls Apart .

A hot pink vinyl pressing featuring number one single Hook Me Up , Untouched and Take Me On The Floor .

CHOIRBOYS THIS IS PARADISE: GREATEST HITS

RONNIE BURNS THIS IS RONNIE BURNS

New compilation on silver vinyl includes Kung Foo Sing , Polyester Girl , Black Bugs and ! (The Song Formerly Known As) .

New hits collection on red vinyl includes Boys In The Band , Run To Paradise and Boys Will Be Boys .

New compilation on ocean blue vinyl mastered from original tapes and featuring Coalman , Age Of Consent and Smiley .

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