WE AIN’T GOT NO $$$ HONEY BUT DAMN WE GOT PLENTY OF _________ (2017)
2 Perc, 2 Piano
Duration ca. 12:30
PROGRAM NOTES
We ain’t got no $$$ honey… is based on the poem of the same name by Charles Bukowski. The poem depicts the depression and violence that grips a poor neighborhood in the midst of a multi-day storm. This composition, however, focuses on the end of Bukowski’s lengthy text, which is at once painfully melancholic and beautifully optimistic. Back in school following the storm, the neighborhood children are asked what kind of games they played in the rain:
almost everybody told a lie.
the truth was just
too awful and
embarrassing to tell.
then the bell rang
and recess was
over.
"thank you," said Mrs.
Sorenson, "that was very
nice.
and tomorrow the grounds
will be dry
and we will put them
to use
again."
most of the boys
cheered
and the little girls
sat very straight and
still,
looking so pretty and
clean and
alert,
their hair beautiful in a sunshine that
the world might never see
again.
and
We ain’t got no $$$ honey… aims to capture the spirit of these word, including the final hanging article - “and.”
Commissioned and premiered by Yarn/Wire. Premiered at Tenri Cultural Institute, New York, NY (April 2018).
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