Tag: Kate Nash

Poetry in Music: Part 2

Music

Bon Iver

The Wolves (Act I and II)

“And the story’s all over you
In the morning i’ll call you
Can’t you find a clue when your eyes are all painted Sinatra blue”

Skinny Love

“And I told you to be patient
And I told you to be fine
And I told you to be balanced
And I told you to be kind
And now all your love is wasted?
And then who the hell was I?
And now I’m breaking at the britches
And at the end of all your lines”

Frightened Rabbit

Keep Yourself Warm

“Oh, you won’t find love in a,
Won’t find love in a hole.
It takes more than fucking someone to keep yourself warm.”

Quiet Company

How Many Times do you Want to be in Love? (no video but here’s the full lyrics)

“Your heartstrings all came undone
When she left you out in the sun

Well, what did you think it would feel like to be in love?

And your heartaches have served you well
And if you’re anxious, I just can’t tell

Well, how many times did you want to be in love?”

Laura Marling

My Manic and I

“I can’t control you, I don’t know you well
These are the reasons I think that you’re ill
And since last that we parted
Last that I saw him down by a river
Silent and hardened
Morning was mocking us, blood hit the sky
I was just happy, my manic and I
He couldn’t see me, the sun was in his eyes
And birds were singing to calm us down”

Jeff Buckley

Morning Theft

“I had to send it away to bring us back again.
Morning theft. Unpretender left, ungraceful.
True Self is what brought you here, to me.”

Damien Rice

Coconut Skins

“You can sit on chimneys
With some fire up your ass
No need to know what you’re doing or waiting for
But if ever anyone should ask

Tell them, I’ve been licking coconut skins,
And we’ve been hanging out.
Tell them, God just dropped by to forgive our sins,
And relieve us our doubt.”

Daughter

Medicine

“You could still be,
What you want to,
What you said you were
When I met you.
You’ve got a warm heart,
You’ve got a beautiful brain”

Kate Nash

Merry Happy

“I can be alone, yeah
I can watch a sunset on my own
I can be alone, yeah
I can watch a sunset on my own
I can be alone
I can watch a sunset on my own”

Regina Spektor

How

“I guess you know by now
That we will meet again somehow”

Words & Music

Poetry Gigs

Had a busy week! Tuesday I went out with my friend Laura and my ex-housemate Kirstie (who is travelling around India as of today!) Me and Laura had Nando’s (standard) before meeting Kirstie to go to the Camden Barfly for a gig.  For only a fiver we got to see Supercute and the inspiring Miss Kate Nash in her side project The Receeders.  It was definitely worth seeing and an interesting path for Kate Nash.  Also spotted her boyf Ryan Jarman at the bar.

Last night, after a really stressful day trying to work out PDFs, trying to deal with too many DM boot bids on Ebay and a shift at Sainsbury’s (oh, and after walking in the wrong direction to the venue – typical) I found myself a haven at The Gallery Cafe for The Word House poetry event.  I saw a friendly face in Captain of the Rant, (check out his event, there’s one this Friday I plan to go along to!) and after a quick chat and a rather unimportant embarrassing incident I found myself in, Christian Watson took to the stage.  He was incredible!  I don’t really know what else to say.  It started on a high and that high just did not stop.

The open mic included the likes of Emma Jones who performed her winning set from this year’s Glam Slam (and myself, performing my winning poem from the ‘Loss’ category).  John Berkavitch continued the features and was also amazing, and played with the audiences emotions with a poem that began with a cliché, went forward with comedy and ended with words to send shivers across your skin.  He then told us to read The Empty Space, which is so cheap on Amazon I may have to add it to my huge pile of books to read.  I’m currently reading Doris Lessing’s The Golden Notebook.  It’s massive.

Last up before a dash for the tube (both him and me) was Inua Ellams.  I have said before how lovely he comes across and he is so genuine.  Not only that, but he has an amazing way with words, and also an amazing Graphic Artist. Jealous much.  All in all, a wonderful evening, raising money for Oxfam, yay!  And I even made it home for a late-night viewing of X-factor.

I’ve been working as usual, doing lots of useful and interesting MA stuff (including a gruelling day about accounting) and spent a couple of days with my boyfriend in Norwich, forcing him to come with me to a Feminist Society discussion group, and coming back to his only to watch a rom-com.  Sorry love.  Oh yeah!  And we did Yoga.  About 2 hours of it!  It was really hardcore, seriously, my legs hurt a couple of days later and everything.  Oh yeah, he’s starting up this Sketch Club – if you’re creative in any way, get involved!  I also saw my Gran for dinner with my parents which was a welcome return from the coach journey from Norwich.

Matt made me these cool timetables that you can draw and wipe off.  It’s really good because it gets your mind focused and you feel good ticking things off.  I’ve missed a few things off but I think I’m doing pretty well!  I wonder if I can count my Sainsbury’s work as exercise since it’s manual? Hmmm!

Adios!

xxx

 

Tooting is the Epicentre of the Universe

Inspiration

The other day I went to an event held by the poetry collective Dirty Hands, in Tooting of all places! I grew up in Tooting… well, slap bang in the middle of Tooting and Earlsfield.  I walked down my old street (Garratt Lane) for a trip down memory lane.  There was a new place called Mel’s Cafe Bar which said something about “vintage beats” and looked quite cool!

Although it was a bit strange to see Amy Acre and Keith Jarrett performing in the middle of Tooting market, it was lovely, and is a really positive thing.  Much as I love East London, as I don’t live there (who actually does?!) it can be annoying having to trek there for anything creative and unique.  Tooting is moving up in the world.  And I want this badge really bad, because it says “Tooting is the Epicentre of the Universe’ and it reminds me of my childhood home.  It’s nice to have that because my parents moved the year before I went to uni, and then I went to living in two places (i.e. my Norwich house) and I can’t complain, but it’s just not the same as your childhood home.

I was with my friend Chi-Chi, and we then went to Wimbledon because Tooting isn’t posh enough to have Waterstones or The Body Shop and I needed to buy my mum’s birthday present.  I got her the cocoa butter she loves, and they gave a discount so even got an extra thing free and the whole lot was cheaper.  I also got her some clear nail varnish and a book token.

I got the NME for the first time in aaaaaaaaages!  I haven’t bought magazines in years.  I’ve been quite excited that it came out so recently and on Tuesday there’s a playlist of a few new songs… I am so out of touch!  I flicked through and saw a bad review for Sound of Rum, which I found really upsetting.

I haven’t heard it but it’s pretty ignorant of Noel Gardner to comment about her lyrics and ‘poetry slams’ when I’m pretty sure he hasn’t got a clue.  Calling her accent ‘mockney’ is taking the piss, because that’s just her fucking accent! 

Some people don’t seem to understand that there is no such thing as just one “Londonaccent” – the beauty of the city is the different sounds you hear, the diversity of accents that creates such a range of accents that stand for the city.  It brings me back to Charlie Dupree’s poem from a couple of weeks ago that was just so fucking spot on!  It’s something that pisses me off, because I don’t fit into a rigid category of what non-London people think of as a typical London accent, I don’t know, people can’t work it out?  In Peterborough I spoke to a perfectly nice man, but it annoyed me that he said ‘you’ve lost your accent then!’ as though I had developed a Norwich accent in three years of living there!  It’s quite insulting as I have grown up in London all my life (with a brief stint in Reading, perhaps before I could talk), I’ve loved living here and am proud of where I come from. 

My accent is a product of growing up to a Northern working class mum who constantly tells me to put the T’s on the end of my words, and a middle class Londoner dad, who himself makes fun of my Gran’s loud, enthusiastic and “posh” voice.  It is a product of having grown up in South London, going to local state schools, making friends with people from a great mix of backgrounds and cultures.  It is a product of listening to the Spice Girls, and watching American imported TV (I say ‘like’ waaay too much) and having my dad play bands like Blur, Coldplay and The Beatles.  It is a product of being shy and building the confidence to project and accentuate my words.  And sometimes, it’s the product of drinking too much and getting a bit lary and slurry.  And I hate to bang on about it but it riles me up!  As I’ve stated before, a frex off mine from the “cockney” band The Ruskins makes fun of me being a ‘posh git’, yet another guy I know from the amazing band Grenouille has referred to me as ‘cockney’.  The point is – I am neither of these things… my accent is just pretty normal and not strong in either direction, so there’s no need to put me in a box!

Matt, from Grenouille also said something about a mix of strength and vulnerability.  I really liked that, cause that’s what I’m about really, and that’s why I was saying earlier about my version of feminism.  To be a feminist, you shouldn’t feel the pressure to be this perfect emblem of strength and womanhood – it’s about being yourself, whoever that may be, and finding the strength to show the world who you are, and having the support of your sisters (and feminist brothers) to grow in confidence and love for humankind.  It’s why I’m inspired by the rawness and honesty and passion of people like Brody Dalle, Courtney Love, Alanis Morissette, Kathleen Hanna… and bringing me on to my next point… Kate Nash.

I already knew most of what the NME interview told me but I thought I’d mention it.  Ironically, it was the frex I mentioned earlier that was really into Kate Nash, here’s a pic of us at her gig. 

  

I think I’m actually a bigger fan of her than him!  I loved her last album and, whilst the old one reminds me of when I went out with my friend, this second one has more positive associations for me as I can feel like it’s just for me, and I love the way she takes something negative and turns it into a message of hope… epitomized in the lyrics ‘take my life… to a higher plane’.  Anyway, I think it’s really positive what she’s doing for young girls and I wish I had someone like that when I was younger.  I’m a bit wary of writing too much about her, because I know she knows a lot of poets and if I ever bumped into her it’d be a bit cringe to come across as some major fangirl!  But, I do have a lot of respect and admiration for her.

To end this post, a sad note.  I’m listening to TV on the Radio atm.  The bassist died of cancer last Wednesday.  My dad had emailed me their new video whilst I was in Norwich so it was really shocking and I had no idea. RIP.

xxx