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Six Weaknesses - 3. From One Lamp​-​Post to Another

from Speech Songs by Haworth Hodgkinson

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about

The second piece made in 2007 based on my own poetry was "Seaside Elephant". Whereas in "This Story" I had applied transformations to short fragments of the source, this time the transformations are applied uniformly to the whole poem. In 2010 I made five more pieces based on my own poems, in each case again applying the principle that all transformations were to be applied to the whole of the source recording. I arranged the pieces in order such that the voice becomes more distorted as the sequence progresses. In the first piece the text is fairly clearly audible, by the middle of the sequence the voice is still identifiable though the words may not be, and by the end the sound is hardly even recognisable as a human voice. This sequence results in the original 2007 piece appearing at the end.

lyrics

From One Lamp-Post to Another

Along Buchanan Gardens
evenly spaced sentinels
hang their glowing heads,
observing all within eyelight
and noting every passer-by.

The girl stands against a lamp-post
as if to save her companion
from indiscreet collision.

The eye unmovingly stares.
Last night, she was with someone else
and he was alone.

Two dogs sing passionately to one another across the town.

He makes for the next lamp-post,
but stops and turns half way.
She catches up
and they collide.

The eye rocks gently,
chattering in the wind.

In the courtyard
she makes her farewell
and he watches her window,
waiting to see the light go out again.

A spluttering car crawls past and disappears towards the horizon.

An hour later
he is caught by the night warden
in the rose bed.

There is screeching and hooting from the woods by the mill pond.

Next morning at breakfast
she offers him
the casual truth:
I fell asleep with the light on.

In a quiet corner
a street lamp stands
unlit.

© Haworth Hodgkinson
from A Weakness for Mermaids (Koo Press, 2007)

credits

from Speech Songs, released October 25, 2015
Music composed, performed and recorded by Haworth Hodgkinson, 2007/2010.

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Haworth Hodgkinson image

Haworth Hodgkinson Scotland, UK

Composer, improviser and sound artist based in Aberdeenshire and inspired by the landscapes of the North of Scotland. Solo performances often combine poetry with live music. Has worked on many collaborations with writers, dancers, actors, musicians and visual artists. ... more

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