tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9987513.post4541670144355654564..comments2024-03-17T11:05:22.464+00:00Comments on The Life And Opinions of Andrew Rilstone: Chris Wood / Martin CarthyUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9987513.post-55334361547710468862013-05-28T10:36:51.862+01:002013-05-28T10:36:51.862+01:00'Henrietta' makes me cry every time I hear...'Henrietta' makes me cry every time I hear it. Who cares whether it's a pure folk song? Or how good the rhymes are? 'Feeling' and 'technique' are always in opposition in any art -- and most blokes are scared of raw emotion, which is why they often ennoble 'technique'. But I agree with Margaret Atwood that there is such a thing as an 'accurate emotion'. And Chris Wood isn't afraid to go hunting for it, yay!Happydancingfeetnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9987513.post-41423639836435737932011-05-05T13:39:33.406+01:002011-05-05T13:39:33.406+01:00P.S I should also note that the line is "Henr...P.S I should also note that the line is "Henrietta as just had the good sense / To write them a letter in which their advised..." Which is nowhere near as trite as "Henrietta is a writing a letter" would have been. I prefer him in slow-burn miserablist mood, as http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2TQDRD6mzeY. (Stay for the last line, but you will probably get there before he does.)Andrew Rilstonehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16934052271846235431noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9987513.post-73919910798648395082011-04-30T09:51:57.679+01:002011-04-30T09:51:57.679+01:00BTW: If we are looking for chinks in Wood's ly...BTW: If we are looking for chinks in Wood's lyrical armour (and this is from the point of view, you understand, of one who thinks the question isn't so much "is he as good as Dylan" but "is he as good as Chaucer") I don't think we ought to be foccussing on rhymes. His main flaws are trite sentimentality, particularly to round of songs, and an odd liking for opening them with "tags" and "jingles". (Honey Tongued Sonnet: "All the kings horses and all the kings men / I'm sorry but they haven't a clue" Turtle Soup: "Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum, such a small ship neath the tropical sun" Hollow Point: "Awake arise, you drousy sleeper, awake arise it's almost day...")Andrew Rilstonehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16934052271846235431noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9987513.post-38706551981872934792011-04-29T22:56:59.559+01:002011-04-29T22:56:59.559+01:00"But I really do think my irritation came fir...<i>"But I really do think my irritation came first and the criticisms attached themselves to it."</i><br /><br />I know what you mean...Gavin Burrowshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16347163260510316959noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9987513.post-51137740695832116442011-04-29T16:55:05.412+01:002011-04-29T16:55:05.412+01:00But then I think of bad rhymes like I do bad jokes...<i>But then I think of bad rhymes like I do bad jokes, they're a kind of artform in and of themselves...</i><br /><br />It's a good point. Perhaps after seeing R A Lafferty rhyme "roses" with "apotheosis" and hearing C J Cherryh find a rhyme for "alien gestalt" I'm just not easily impressed.<br /><br />But I really do think my irritation came first and the criticisms attached themselves to it.Sam Dodsworthhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01534273379447820097noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9987513.post-84499737312898787572011-04-29T16:05:34.473+01:002011-04-29T16:05:34.473+01:00I'm not sure I'd say that Carthy does part...I'm not sure I'd say that Carthy does particularly have charisma onstage. With film or tapes of Dylan onstage in his early Greenwich Village days, he affects a kind of unassuming nonchalence but is actually already quite skilled at holding the audience. Carthy, conversely, genuinely <i>is</i> unassuming and nonchalent. I think he really <i>does</i> just think about the songs.<br /><br />Only ever saw Chris Wood once, and thought he was good. But then I think of bad rhymes like I do bad jokes, they're a kind of artform in and of themselves...Gavin Burrowshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16347163260510316959noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9987513.post-14775758719975076552011-04-29T09:27:01.250+01:002011-04-29T09:27:01.250+01:00Fair enough - at the time, I said I found the &quo...Fair enough - at the time, I said I found the "Henrietta/letter" rhyme grated so I thought you were talking about that. I don't doubt his sincerity - I just didn't like the results. <br /><br />I've not looked for more Chris Wood - I'm busy trying to decide if I like ritualz's last album - but I do agree that three songs at a gig isn't enough to form a proper impression. Still, I think Martin Carthy is higher up my list of people to try the next time I want some English folk. <br /><br />(Incidentally, I've been reading a book of cartoons from the NME. They're quite rock-ist, with various digs at the "acoustical guitar", but Martin Carthy gets an approving name-check.)Sam Dodsworthhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01534273379447820097noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9987513.post-45240602206765505222011-04-29T02:00:18.575+01:002011-04-29T02:00:18.575+01:00No, I am pretty sure that it's about his wife,...No, I am pretty sure that it's about his wife, Henrietta, deciding to go semi-retired and spend more time on the allottment. Otherwise it wouldn't be a love-song, and he always introduces it as a love-song for miserable old gits, as opposed to young things who think they invented love, and can't say any more than "Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!"<br /><br />Have you heard any of his more overtly political material -- Spitfires, the Grand Correction? <br /><br />Carthy could certainly be said to have "charisma", but I think the point is that he "inhabits" the songs, tells each one as if its being told for the first time, as he says, believes in them.Andrew Rilstonehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05786623930392936889noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9987513.post-59653369377690914912011-04-28T23:56:59.262+01:002011-04-28T23:56:59.262+01:00He really is married to a lady called Henrietta --...<i>He really is married to a lady called Henrietta -- at any rate his second album is dedicated to someone of that name. She wasn't just brought in for the sake of a rhyme.</i><br /><br />I daresay... but in the song, "Henrietta" is the one who "writes the letter" - not the wife who's downsized. <br /><br />With hindsight, I've found something to dislike in all three Chris Wood's songs that evening... but I've slowly come to the conclusion that I just found him personally irritating. You should probably ignore any specific criticisms I may have voiced.<br /><br />Martin Carthy has charisma when he plays, I think, but that may just be another way of saying "invisible magic sparks".Sam Dodsworthhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01534273379447820097noreply@blogger.com