Re: academia -- A Minor Place - The Will Oldham Message Board

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Date Posted: 01:14:06 10/28/02 Mon
Author: dan kahn
Subject: Re: academia
In reply to: betty 's message, "academia" on 09:34:13 10/26/02 Sat

>Hey,
>I'm writing my university dissertation next semester.
>I was thinking about focusing it on Will
>Oldham/Palace/Bonnie Prince Billy. My question to you
>guys is:
> If you were thinking about his music in an
>intellectual and academic way, what would your
>conclusions be? Also, just generally any subject
>matter of his that you think should be focused on
>would be helpful.
> Thank you so much.
I've been spending the past few months holed up on a farm in the north country recording a load of strange music and listening to a solid helping of Oldham's work. Although I've been a fan of his for many years, there is little about him as a person that I could pin down in any kind of concrete or intellectual way. From what I've read in interviews, as well as in the kind of mystery he spins in his work and elusive public existence, I feel that he relishes in the rift between his own persona or ego as an artist and the work itself. His writing exists within its own logical universe, but that logic only extends so far. It is a universe full of spirituality, but one that seems to be very much of the flesh. This is getting obscure. Bear with me. I mean, he gets pretty weird. But I think he goes deeper than the merely bizarre. I've heard that he's a communist. I've heard that he's gay. I've heard that he's a devout catholic. I don't know about any of it. I just think that people try to find something about him that would explain his work. All of these elements can be found, lyrically, but there's something more as well. His art exists on its own terms. Recently I was reading William Blake's Songs of Innocence and Experience and I had the feeling that there was something of this in WIll Oldham's writing. The child like alchemy of irreverence and doom. The old testament language mixed with a vision of a corrupt world. From the very first Palace 7"s Oldham has been re-working traditional folk songs into his own punk kentucky vernacular (e.g. Ohio River Boat Song or Old Billy Reilly). For him the folk tradition reaches as far within the spirit of the present world as it reaches back to the beginning. When I played the Bonnie Billy records for one of my friends, he remarked "it sounds like this song is either 500 years old, or not yet finished." I thought that summed it up well. As far as recommending any academic source material, I have no clue. Search the web, there's some interviews and a couple reviews. Some ass from the Sunday Times said Oldham was the greatest songwriter on the planet, rivalling Dylan and Cohen. This distinction probably means less to Oldham than they do to the critic who dispensed it. Although, his similarity to both writers has often crossed my mind. I'm currently reading Greil Marcus' "The Old Weird America" about Dylan and I find alot of it reminding me about Palace. Anyway, I hope this 4 am rambling was helpful. I'm staying up burning copies of my new cd before I leave tomorrow for New Orleans. I'm travelling south to perform Woody Guthrie songs on the street for gas money. Write if you have any questions. I think you've got a pretty cool topic for a paper. All Right, Dan.

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Replies:

Re: academia -- steve, 15:49:02 10/28/02 Mon