Our local theme park acquired a karaoke booth in the early 90s, in which punters were given the chance to make a tape of their warblings, which would be simultaneously broadcast across the park. Our idea was obviously to recite Lou Reed’s “Street Hassle” (“hey that bitch won’t ever fuck again” etc. We were 18, what can you say?) over the top of some popular hit of the day, probably by that shitebag Bryan Adams. As you can guess we chickened out, put off by the monster tape-making fee. That sprang to mind when reading this fascinating account of the making of “Blind Man’s Penis”, by John Trubee, a fine record and a shining example of how miracles can happen for those individuals who do not chicken out.
More to the point, this link is just part of a whole site about the American Song-Poem, and it’s one of the most intriguing music sites I’ve been to for ages, much more interesting than most fingersniffing explorations of ‘outsider music’. My thanks to Scrubbles (again!).