ABPA - Australian Bush Poets Association

Just got back from the Maldon Folk Festival...


All These Musicians

© Stephen Whiteside 06.11.2012

All these musicians who don't drive a car,
Who hitch all their hopes to a tremulous star,
Who travel in taxis and buses and trains,
And scramble for cover whenever it rains;
Who walk the mean streets with guitars on their backs,
And spend seven days in the same pair of daks,
Who eat out of tins with a greasy old spoon,
Who sleep in the sunshine and howl at the moon;

All these musicians who drift off on dope,
Who reckon without it they never could cope,
Who smoke skinny rollies and guzzle on grog,
And snuggle to sleep by a half starving dog;
Who stay up all night in a roughly hewn ring,
And banter and jiggle and giggle and sing,
Who jam until dawn "for the festival's sake",
And keep weary poets (like this one...) awake;

All these musicians who whinge the next day
That they're bleary and weary and struggling to play,
While poets (like this one...) are already done
With their turn in the limelight (and wasn't it fun?);
Who tear down their tents and then softly creep off
With a sniff and a sneeze and a wheeze and a cough,
With a jumble of litter strewn wide in their wake,
Bohemians, all, "for the festival's sake";

Life is a series of awkward positions;
Where would we be without "all these musicians"...?

Very good

Bereft of allegro, concerto, cantata,
glissando, progression, recital, sonata;
deprived of the madrigal, fugue and falsetto,
the minuet, pastoral, clef and libretto;
without the piano, guitar and melodica,
accordion, trombone, bassoon and harmonica;
and missing the timpani, trumpet and cello…
the poor old conductor is one lonely fellow!

Yes, well, hopefully he still has his dog.

Oh you two are both so good very clever and lighthearted poem Stephen - sounds like you had fun, and David your response added a touch of class to the weekend proceedings. Didn't know they had such proficient musicians and such a range as that. Must have been a really good value for money weekend.

I smiled at both of these and wish I'd been there - sounds like there was a full orchestra and opera to boot, as well as the rabble.

David, you are leading these women astray!

Egad! Forsooth! My days of leading women astray are long gone. I wasn't at Maldon, Maureen and Marion...merely responding to Stephen's question: Where would we be without "all these musicians"?

Stephen has graphically depicted a scenario very far removed from my weekend of quiet nights tucked up in a nice warm bed, and lulled to sleep by the gentle sound of waves rolling in from Bass Strait.

And now it might be time for my afternoon nap!

David

I had a music teacher years ago, a highly acclaimed professional from the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. I'm afraid he was very contemptuous of conductors. One of his favourite jibes was " the orchestra can do the concert without the conductor, but the conductor can't do the concert without the orchestra "

They howl at the moon Stephen? Very funny both of you.

Heather