Ain't paralysed yet: songs inspired by the art of John Will. In 2001, thanks to a friend of ours who works at the Mendel Art Gallery, Andrew and I were hired to write a suite of songs in response to the retrospective there on the work of John Will. We performed the songs in the main gallery of the Mendel on two non-consecutive Sundays in December, 2001.
I guess it went over pretty well. Hardly anyone showed up to watch us, except a few friends, but the folks at the Mendel claimed to be impressed with our songs. We were told they were sending a copy of the songs to John Will, but if they ever did, we never found out what he thought about them.
Maybe it's better that we don't know. I wasn't in love with John Will's paintings, to be honest - especially his modern stuff, which mostly consisted of silly slogans scrawled across paint-splotched canvases. All the little images on this page were taken (without permission) from a much more interesting picture he made way back in 1973 - when he was still drawing, sort of, and putting some effort into designing aesthetically pleasing images.
We made a recording of the six songs, but the technology we used was pretty primitive, so I doubt we're ever going to bother putting the songs online. Anyway, below you'll find the lyrics, with a few words of explanation as to what the hell I was thinking when I wrote them.
You can also view images from our December, 2001 appearance on Global News.
The meaning of modern art
Abel's poem
My most wonderfull song
Ain't paralysed yet
I should note that you have to wildly mispronounce "Manet" in order to make the first verse rhyme.
These lyrics were adapted from the text of a painting, also called "Abel's Poem". The original text ran as follows:
"Dear prowler, look at me without one knowing you are there
Dear robber, take the money but don't hurt me please
Dear rapist, you will find the vaseline on the bedside table
Dear killer, please kill me in my sleep I all do thank you"
The sandwich (It'll smell but it'll be okay)
The inspiration for this song came from two sources: John Will's painting "It'll Smell But It'll Be Okay", and the children's book "The Sandwich", by Ian Wallace. The book concerns a little Italian-Canadian kid named Vincenzo who is mocked in the lunchroom one day for bringing a mortadella-and-provolone sandwich to school, instead of the customary peanut-butter-and-jam. I'd like to thank my friends Stu and Jenn for directing my attention to the book.
"My most wonderfull painting" was the title of one of the works in the exhibition, one representative of John Will's recent output - scribbles and splotches. I had a difficult time being inspired by paintings like this, as the song makes clear. The line about the "tiny people crowding Flatbush Avenue" refers to some figures in the foreground of my favourite piece in the exhibition, a vibrant, detailed lithograph from the early '70s called "Flatbush Avenue".
White man from Indian Head
I have to admit, this song has nothing whatsoever to do with art. I have a friend who has a friend surnamed Whiteman, who's from Indian Head, Saskatchewan. I've never met the guy.
I think that of all the lyrics I've ever written, this one is the most dishonest. I don't come right out and say it, but I seem to be advancing the argument that aesthetic judgement is equivalent to mental paralysis - in other words, that if you dismiss John Will's paintings just because they're ugly, it means you're a dummy. That may be true, but if it is - well, I'm a bit of a dummy too. But we were getting paid by the Mendel, and I guess I thought a song entitled "Some of these paintings kinda suck" wouldn't go over too well. So young, to be selling out already!
