View of scoring a poem from Gladesville Road Bridge

I am seizing the opportunity to give Joe Freeman of The Pat Sajak Assassins a primer on scoring poems, in preparation for a collaboration, to construct something of an online tutorial in the form.

I started with a how-to post, outlining the basic principles and rules, with an example drawn from our score to Go South for Animal Index. Then I posted a posted a longer example drawn from our score to Blind Cat Black.

Now for an even longer example drawn from our score to The Sydney Highrise Variations, a work in progress we plan to release with an Art Invitational in early November.

Les Murray composed The Sydney Highrise Variations in five sections. Fairly early in the effort to score the poem, it began to look like the first section, "Fuel Stoppage on Gladesville Road Bridge in the Year 1980," was yielding some of the more memorable rock songs. So we made an effort to focus on scoring that first section as a sort of Three Fried Men e.p.

Here it is. First, the section of the poem, as organized by Les. I have made each stretch of the poem that we grouped together as a song lyric link to a recorded sketch of the song.

The poetry is followed by the six songs to the little e.p.-within-a-poetry-score, with the titles more easily recognizable links to the song sketches and the parts of the poem each song scores reproduced as the text is sung, complete with the reptitions I came up with to create hooks or flesh out song structure.

*

THE SYDNEY HIGHRISE VARIATIONS
By Les Murray

1. Fuel Stoppage on Gladesville Road Bridge in the Year 1980

So we're sitting over our sick beloved engine
atop a great building of the double century
on the summit that exhilarates cars, the concrete vault on its thousands
of tonnes of height, far above the tidal turnaround.

Gigantic pure form, all exterior, superbly uninhabited
or peopled only by transients at speed, the bridge
is massive outline.

It was inked in by scaffolding and workers.
Seen from itself, the arch
is an abstract hill, a roadway up-and-over without country,
from below, a ponderous grotto, all entrance and vast shade
framing blues and levels.
From a distance, the flyover on its vaulting drum
is a sketched stupendous ground-burst, a bubble raising surface
or a rising heatless sun with inset horizons.

Also, it's a space-probe,
a trajectory of strange fixed dusts, that were milled,
boxed with steel rod mesh and fired, in stages,
from sandstone point to point. They docked at apogee.
It feels good. It feels right.
The joy of sitting high is in our judgement.
The marvellous brute-force effects of our century work.
They answer something in us. Anything in us.

*

THE SYDNEY HIGHRISE VARIATIONS

Fuel Stoppage on Gladesville Road Bridge in the Year 1980

1. “Far above the tidal turnaround”
(Chris King, Lij, Les Murray)
Three Fried Men

So we're sitting
Over our sick beloved engine
Atop a great building of the double century
On the summit that exhilarates cars
The concrete vault on its thousands
Of tonnes of height
Far above the tidal turnaround

So we're sitting over our sick beloved engine
Atop a great building of the double century
Far above the tidal turnaround
Far above the tidal turnaround
Far above the tidal turnaround

2. “Transients at speed”
(Chris King, Lij, Les Murray)
Three Fried Men

Gigantic
Pure form
All exterior
Superbly uninhabited
And peopled only by
Transients at speed
Transients at speed
Transients at speed,
Transients at speed

Gigantic pure form
All exterior
Superbly uninhabited
And peopled only by
Transients at speed
Transients at speed
Transients at speed
Transients at speed

The bridge is massive outline

[I see I sang the word "and" where Les write "or". Should be able to overdub and fix that.]

3. “Inked in by scaffolding and workers”
(Matt Fuller, Chris King, Les Murray)
Three Fried Men

It was inked in by scaffolding and workers
It was inked in by scaffolding and workers
It was inked in by scaffolding and workers
It was inked in by scaffolding and workers

Seen from itself, the arch is an abstract hill
A roadway up-and-over without country
Inked in by scaffolding and workers.
It was inked in by scaffolding and workers
It was inked in by scaffolding and workers
It was inked in by scaffolding and workers

From below, a ponderous grotto
All entrance and vast shade
Framing blues and levels
Framing blues and levels
Framing blues and levels
Framing blues and levels
Framing blues and levels
Framing blues and levels

4. “On its vaulting drum”
(Matt Fuller, Chris King, Les Murray)
Three Fried Men

From a distance, the flyover
On its vaulting drum
On its vaulting drum

Sketched stupendous ground-burst
A bubble raising surface
Or a rising heatless sun
A rising heatless sun
Or a rising heatless sun
A rising heatless sun
With inset horizons

A rising heatless sun
Or a rising heatless sun
With inset horizons

[I see I dropped the words "is a" before the phrase "sketched stupendous ground-burst"; also fixable.]

5. "Also, it's a space probe"
(Matt Fuller, Chris King, Les Murray)
Three Fried Men

Also, it's a space-probe
A trajectory
Of strange fixed dusts
That were milled
Boxed with steel
Rod mesh and fired
In stages
From sandstone
Point to point

Also, it's a space-probe
A trajectory
Of strange fixed dusts
A trajectory
Of strange fixed dusts
It's a space-probe

6. "They docked at apogee”
(Matt Fuller, Chris King, Les Murray)
Three Fried Men

They docked at apogee
They docked at apogee
It feels good
It feels right
The joy of sitting high
Is in our judgement
It feels good
It feels right

They docked at apogee
They docked at apogee
The marvellous brute-force
Effects of our century work
They answer something in us
Anything in us

*

The painting "From Gladesville Bridge" is by Michael Zaiter.