Discussion:Kris Delmhorst

Interesting, Sara -- I'll have to give a listen when it's daytime (the house is quiet right now; not a creature stirring, all that).

I've got a Gavin Friday/Man Seezer album called "Each Man Kills the Thing He Loves" -- the lyrics of the title track are from Oscar Wilde's The Ballad of Reading Gaol. I like it quite a bit. I've heard there's also a musical rendition of Richard Cory out there somewhere too.

(Gavin Friday was the lead singer for The Virgin Prunes, and later collaborated with other groups such as The Fall.)

Hey, many of the great jazz singers (and other genres) forged brilliant artistic careers interpreting other writers' songs. Laurie Anderson had William S. Burroughs recite over her music; so did Bill Laswell (Material's Seven Souls album is absolutely brilliant).

So, there are precedents for weaving poetry and music as art. To answer your question: I'm not sure. I'll have to have a listen.

This is just to say . . .

She has eaten
their words
that were in
the archives

and which
they were probably
saving
for eternity

Forgive her
they were delicious
so sweet
and so cold

She merely breathed
new life
into them
I’m ok with that

Sometimes, when I write poetry, I am tempted to "steal a word or a phrase" from something I am reading, usually some philisophical book that most people will never read. And, I feel guilty for wanting to do that. So, I take the concept and tweak it into my own words or give the concept my own perspective and though someone else's thoughts triggered my thought, I didn't take theirs. If someone interprets or transforms something of someone else's such that it can be demonstrated that that occured, I have a problem with that rendition. However, if at least some reference is made to what inspired the new work, that, at least in some way, gives respect to the originator of the work. As artists', regardless of the medium, I believe that should be part of the working code.

I used to be somewhat strict about the privileges of the imagination, but then I heard what DJ Danger Mouse did with the Beatles White Album and Jay-Z's Black Album. I'm not a big hip-hop fan but this was something that went well beyond hip-hop or psychedelia. It was, simply put, transcendent.

As such, I now find myself in the questionable position of being a proponent of the Creative Commons movement: let's let people re-visit and re-mix our work. Some of what comes from the effort will likely be derivative and disappointing, but it will be worth it when someone uses our work in ways we could never have imagined. And while they will not necessarily have improved it-- I won't argue that DJ Danger Mouse improved the White Album, because he didn't-- they will have used it in ways that we simply couldn't have envisioned at the time of its authoring, and that re-use will/could have significant cultural and historical impact.

I think in this case at least, she's paying homage. I can't imagine an author objecting to someone reviving their century-old (or more) work and thus reaching a new audience with it. As long as proper credit is given. She doesn't appear to be completely exploiting the work.
I was a little put off by when she said she changed the words to some, but it seems as though she took the piece and used it as a theme, rather than just actually revising the poem.
She does have a pleasant voice and seems to treat the work respectfully.

Adding Kris's Myspace page, which has a few selections from her very recently released CD on her media player. http://www.myspace.com/krisdelmhorst

See her live if ever you get the chance - she's brilliant, engaging & memorable.