Sunday, October 6, 2013

Burn It Down: Issa's Sunday Service, #179



Burn It Down by Dexys Midnight Runners on Grooveshark
 In case of wonky widget, click here


I've long had a thing about Dexy's Midnight Runners - the band known solely for "(Come On) Eileen" - whose other work, represented here by "Burn It Down," is at once quirky and wonderful.

 
I could probably talk till I'm blue in the face and convince next to nobody, so I'd rather post pictures of some of the Irish luminaries mentioned in this week's tune.


I've long been looking for an excuse to publish a picture of the incandescent Edna O'Brien.


The  Behan/Gleason coupling is perhaps mighty strange, unless one considers this:




And just how the heck did Gleason make it into two photos of a post that has nothing to do with him?



While we're at it, just what is it we are supposed to be burning down, anyway?


"I'll only ask you once more / you only want to believe"


Arguably the first great modern novel and the master who wrote it conceived of the idea of representing death with a black page. What must have the clergy thought - what's that, he was a clergyman?


"Shut it. You don't understand it."

Burn It Down

I'll only ask you once more
You only want to believe
This man is looking for someone to hold him down
He doesn't quite ever understand the meaning

Never heard about, can't think about
Oscar Wilde and Brendan Behan,
Sean O'Casey, George Bernard Shaw.
Samuel Beckett, Eugene O'Neill, Edna O'Brien and Lawrence Sterne.

I'll only ask you once more
It must be so hard to see.
This man is waiting for someone to hold him down
He doesn't quite fully understand the meaning.

Never heard about, won't think about
Oscar Wilde and Brendan Behan,
Sean O'Casey, George Bernard Shaw.
Samuel Beckett, Eugene O'Neill, Edna O'Brien and Lawrence Sterne.
Sean Kavanaugh and Sean McCann,
Benedict Keilly, Jimmy Hiney
Frank O'Connor and Catherine Rhine.

Shut it. You don't understand it
Shut it. That's not the way I planned it
Shut your fucking mouth 'til you know the truth.



Poor old Johnnie Ray, indeed.

One day, everyone must bow west.
~~~~~~

Photo by Aranya Sen




with one voice
their mouths open wide...
frogs
Issa
translated by David G. Lanoue




best,
Don
Send a single haiku for the Wednesday Haiku feature. Here's how.
Go to the LitRock web site for a list of all 178 songs

6 comments:

Gail White said...

Lovely song!
I'd like to invite the LR to visit www.lightpoetrymagazine.com -- first issue is now on line and submissions are welcome -- please Like and Share!

Mary Frederick Ahearn said...

Wow! amazing, rich posting...I admit I'm still trying to absorb it. Slowly, slowly...
The black page of death, alas poor Yorick is wonderful stuff.
Last of all, Issa and that great photograph. How do you do it, Don?
What do you think about doing something with something from Buffy Saint Marie someday in some way? Just throwing it out there,
Mary

Anonymous said...

Hi Don:

Thanks - very interesting - a wonderful Beckett photo. The only problem I had with the post was that I couldn't get "Eileen" out of my head for two whole days - that's happened before - it's an odd and catchy tune - anyway I finally drove it off with Metallica's "Ride The Lightning"! The YouTube version with all the lightning storm shots in the backround usually works in such cases . . .

Jeffery

Issa's Untidy Hut said...

Gail,

So glad you liked the song. Thanks, too, for the invite, which I'll be accepting presently.

Don

Issa's Untidy Hut said...

The Laurence Sterne book, Tristram Shandy, is as modern as tomorrow. Highly recommended. Thanks, Mary.

Anything Buffy Saint Marie songs you can think of with literary allusions?

Issa's Untidy Hut said...

Jeffrey, you should patent the Metallica "Ride The Lightning" solution for stuck in your head songs. You'd make a fortune, on Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head alone ...