UK News: John Kirkpatrick

Subject: UK News: John Kirkpatrick
From: AndyG
Date: 17 May 00 - 08:51 AM

I saw John Kirkpatrick at the club last night. He's released (finally) a songbook containing 46 of his songs written over the last 30 years.

I just wanted to get down this brief quote from his introduction which strongly echoes my feelings.

...songs need clarity, and on the whole my rule of thumb would be to phrase the words with the same emphasis and rhythm as when they are spoken. This means you are constantly re-inventing the tune, bending the notes to accomodate the sense of the words with each successive verse. This process can be mildly terrifying, but it's actually also great fun, and infinitely more rewarding tham performing like some ethnically enhanced robot...

I thought I'd offer this in a new thread rather than posting it to one of the many threads on singing and performance values.

Details:
What Do You Do In The Day
The John Kirkpatrick Songbook
ISBN 0-9537914-0-8
Quarry House Publishing

Probably available directly from John at:
Squeezer
P.O. Box 531
Craven Arms
Shropshire
SY9 5WB

AndyG

Subject: RE: UK News: John Kirkpatrick
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 17 May 00 - 10:09 AM

"You are constantly re-inventing the tune, bending the notes to accomodate the sense of the words with each successive verse."

John's as good at getting the ideas right as he is at getting the notes right. The idea that a song has a single straightforward tune that should somehow be carried on unchanging from verse to verse is an absurdity dreamed up I imagine by lazy song-collectors. It still exercises an extraordinary tyranny over many (most?) singers and musicians.

Subject: RE: UK News: John Kirkpatrick
From: GUEST,KingBrilliant
Date: 18 May 00 - 09:11 AM

Absolutely agree. There is nothing worse than a set of words which aren't natural to the tune & vice versa. When it doesn't fit it jarrs. I totally agree that the emphasis & rhythm should be similar to how the phrase would/could be spoken - I also think that the rise & fall of the notes should echo the rise & fall of the spoken intonation. Kris

Subject: RE: UK News: John Kirkpatrick
From: Helen
Date: 20 May 00 - 07:34 PM

I have a couple of tunes from a fiddle tune book which are by John Kirkpatrick: Puddleglum's Misery, and Jump at the Sun. They are two of the best, most interesting tunes I have ever heard. What else did he write and are there words to go with these two tunes?

Helen

Subject: RE: UK News: John Kirkpatrick
From: roopoo
Date: 21 May 00 - 02:44 AM

As far as I know they are just tunes in their own right. A good tune book to try and get hold of is one called, I think, "Hocus Pocus". It's fairly old and contains a lot of his earlier material. I'd tell you more but I can't find my copy at the moment. I know it's fairly easily available. Some of the tunes are from his "Three of a Kind" album, such as "Broken Rifle".

By the way, I went to see him a few weeks ago with Brass Monkey. It was an excellent night.

mouldy

Subject: RE: UK News: John Kirkpatrick
From: Helen
Date: 21 May 00 - 04:53 AM

Thanks mouldy,

The only thing I know about JK is the tunes in that book, but I am really impressed with the songs in the book. I'll have to check out some of his recordings and his song book

Helen

Subject: RE: UK News: John Kirkpatrick
From: roopoo
Date: 21 May 00 - 05:36 AM

The book's actually called "Opus Pocus". (Should never try and use my brain before the first coffee of the day!)

mouldy

ps - you can't mistake it, it has an orange and red cover, and fools you by having the front on the back as well.