Songs,
Poems, Satire and Shouts All the Way
Friday 4
May 2012, 7.30 pm
Tritton
Hall, Hut 44 Addison Road Centre
142
Addison Road, Marrickville
About
the Author
Of all
the giant slayers now afoot in the great Australian political,
commercial and media deserts, John Dengate’s sword is the sharpest.
(Adapted from a Gore Vidal statement regarding journalist John
Nicholls.)
John at launch (Chris Woodland photo)
About a
century ago Lord Northcliffe stated: News is something someone
somewhere wants to suppress, all the rest is advertising. Ironically,
I can imagine that that particular Lord Northcliffe could be one
hereditary Lord that John Dengate agrees with, at least in that
utterance. For John abhors deceit, deception, pretence and all those
other antonyms of honesty and sincerity. John sees through the
cleverly manufactured bulldust that the PR people throw at us. John
throws their deceitfulness right back at them; John is fair dinkum.
Now,
fair dinkum is a very important Australian word. The New Zealand-born
Australian philologist Sid Baker – a man for whom I have the utmost
respect, tho’ he’s no longer with us – collected definitions of
what it was to be an Australian. It dates back to the outback when
men had few rights but lots of hardship; it relates to the origins of
the trade union movement when men had to rely on their mate and
others like them for survival. These men were mainly itinerant
workers who were attempting to earn a living to support their wives
and children back home in the town, city, or on the farm.
Sid
Baker had much to say about this Australian character. Here are a few
examples: Australians possess -
- A resentment against authority of all kinds, a dislike of regimentation and a tendency to lawlessness that is rarely violent.
- A strong egalitarianism, primarily based on the loyalties of one man to another rather than of a man to an organisation, [from which developed] this totally unforgiving attitude toward ‘rats’, ‘scabs’ and betrayers in general.
- A bitter dislike for affectations, especially affectations of accent, since the Australian entirely rejects any idea that refinement of speech implies intellectual stature.
- A distrust of extravagant claims by advertisers or political parties.
And
finally:
- A great willingness to take a chance – to gamble.
That is
where John comes from. He is not that other so-called Australian who
uses a flag to conceal his bigotry and general ignorance. He is an
Australian Son in the best sense of the definition and he is
Australian Made. (Australian Son refers to his double CD and
Australian Made refers to a more recent poem– a very moving,
powerful piece of work.)
I don’t
apologise for my earlier – what some people would call –
plagiarism. Arlo Guthrie said of his father - the immortal Woody
Guthrie - that Woody’s habit of borrowing tunes and lines from
traditional songs may now be called plagiarism, but was, in his
father’s day, just a natural part of the folk process. And, of
course, it still is today. It must be, because in 1982 our very own
John Dengate wrote: Purloining tunes and writing parodies are
time-honoured processes, so I refuse to apologise.
I first
met John in 1962. He was, as he is now, a quiet bloke, but when he
stood up to sing or recite his presence was both authoritative and
commanding. From his sharp mind and feeling soul came original works
of someone who had mastered the English, or rather, the Australian
English language, and could use it in its many forms: poignancy,
humour and insight; with a great knowledge of history, and a passion
for simple, natural justice for all. Like many of us here today I was
brought up with these values, but here was a young man who could
articulate them better than anyone else I’d ever heard, or perhaps
will ever hear. His photographic memory ensured that his songs and
poems, and the songs and poems of innumerable others was in a safe
place, and ready for delivery at the drop of a hat, or the offer of a
beer, or more seriously, to drive the nails in the coffin of some
powerful human-imitating monster who had spent their life – nay,
existence - as some despotic, tyrannical, heartless machine.
No doubt
such genius would have surfaced somewhere, at some time; it was
irrepressible. Fortunately it was the Bush Music Club that offered
itself as a sounding board, then as an outlet, for this talented man
who became recognised as a National Living Treasure in the Australian
folk world. The Bush Music Club owes a great debt to Dale Morgan for
directing - perhaps enticing? - her work colleague, later to become
his wife, along to the BMC in the first place.
Early
Days
As
already stated, I was amazed and impressed by this young, quiet man
who not only sang and recited, but wrote poetry, sang rebel songs and
songs of the oppressed, and of satire - very articulate, witty,
well-crafted songs.
Every
week BMC members would arrive at the meeting room in Clarence Street
anticipating another of John’s gems:
Charlie’s
Coming to Timbertop
Ho Chi
Min (Grab your Armalite … A Saigon prostitute is no substitute for
rice)
Later
Little
Harold Went Swimming… Many were still suffering from the
well-conditioned cringe.
The
Timeless Masterpieces
Bare
Legged Kate, Lanes of Woolloomooloo, Song of Childhood
The
Libellous
My Old
Father’s Name
The
Humorous, of which many are very serious indeed!
Train
Trip to Guilford
My
Tongue Goes Bungling Through Georgia
Long Way
to Cunnamulla
Catastrophe
in South London
If I’d
Been Tony Blair’s Mother
ASIO
True
Dinkum Aussie
John’s
Performances of Other Masters
Henry
Lawson
Banjo
Paterson
Duke
Tritton, come to mind.
The
Tunes
Mostly
John cleverly selects tunes with a similar title and/or theme such as
the It’s a Long Way to Tipperary tune was selected for his Long Way
to Cunnamulla.
For his
Ho Chi Min song John chose that very American song Frankie &
Johnny for the tune.
Slim
Dusty’s When the Rain Tumbles Down in July was used for When the
Pope Comes to Town in July.
The Bare
Legged Kate tune came from the Irish, Bare Legged Joe.
The tune
Little Fish, used for Little Harold Went Swimming, was a natural for
a Prime Minister who decided to emulate piscatorial pursuits in a
tempestuous ocean.
In 1965
– the 50th anniversary of the Easter Uprising in Dublin - John
wrote the tribute, The Answer’s Ireland, to Roddy McCorley.
There
will be no prize given this evening for determining which tune was
used for My Tongue Goes Bungling Through Georgia. It is sufficient to
say that the tune, like all the others is very apt.
The Book
The
title, Songs, Poems, Satire and Shouts All the Way just about says it
all.
The
contents include:
- SONGS and SATIRE since 1997
- PARADE of POLITICAL LEADERS since 1960
- POEMS (of which there are nine)
- OLD FAVOURITES (of which there are seven)
The
Cover was painted by John and Dale’s good friend, Kate Scott. The
portrait is life-like and is truly a fine work of art. Many will know
of Kate, who is lead fiddler and co-ordinator of the Canberra-based
Scottish band Strathmannan.
Kate Scott with Dale at the Dengates 40th wedding anniversary, Gulgong 20/08/2004
(Chris Woodland photo)
Dale
Dengate had the onerous task of putting the book together. Dale, as
many may not know, has, for many years, been a tireless worker for
the folk movement and other socially aware bodies. She has been very
active with the Folk Federation and has had her finger in many
National Folk Festival pies. Also, living with the songwriter and
having first-hand knowledge of his work made it that little bit
easier, perhaps less difficult might be the correct term. Thankyou
Dale.
We have
the Bush Music Club to thank for the costs of publishing the book
with profits intended to further the aims of the club. That is, to
spread the knowledge of Australia’s traditional songs, ballads,
dances and the spoken word. All profits from the book will go
towards those aims. We are hopeful that funding can be found to
digitise and put online some of John Meredith’s collection and the
collections of others.
Thankyou
for all attending tonight. If you don’t already have a copy of the
book buy one, you will not be disappointed. If you do have a copy buy
another in case you lose the first one!
I
declare John Dengate’s SONGS, POEMS, SATIRE and SHOUTS ALL the WAY
launched.
Chris, John & Dale, February 2012 (Sandra Nixon photo)
Chris
Woodland 1.5.2012.
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