PETITE CHANSON DE DÉMENCE
—from Rattle #85, Fall 2024
Tribute to Musicians
__________
Richard Newman: “After mowing lawns, my first job was playing upright bass for our civic theater orchestra. My first show was a Cole Porter review, a great way to learn how to stitch words and music together. Around that same time, my own band was playing in bars. I was 16, and we were paid the door, a pizza, and as much beer as we could drink. I’ve been a professional musician and songwriter since then, playing in orchestras and bands, though the last decade I’ve travelled the world and rarely play with others. The last songs I’ve written were for my young son, and my last ASCAP royalties deposit barely paid for an iced latte in 2017 when I was in the Marshall Islands. Nonetheless, I’m still drawn to song forms in poetry, especially sonnets (little songs), villanelles (country peasant songs), and triolets (clover leaf songs). Even when I don’t take on a traditional form, I often work in meter. Rarely do I mix the writing process in poetry and songwriting. One can get away with lines in a song that look banal on the naked page, but it works the other way, too. Lines of poetry often sound ridiculous sung out loud. I’m equally drawn to story and song. Even a triolet for me contains a narrative impulse. Singing our stories is the best of both worlds.”
