I'd like to think he lives among the muggles now and started his own building demolition business, putting to use his particular proclivity for pyrotechnics.
This episode was a ton of fun, and the culmination of a TON of work on both the General Mayhem and Deathmetal, almost all done on a variety of shows and youtube channels.
Dirthead Dave was a great host to them at the beginning of the episode and hopefully we get to see him in the Roadkill side of the universe more often.
As always great to have Tony on the show, he brings great energy no matter who he's paired up with.
The General Mayhem was great and its performance really is a testament to Freiburger's holistic project planning and the realization of his vision for the car.
The Deathmetal Charger was, less great, but still great! Always living up to its name, it was a sketchy ride the entire show.
I read that James, and to a lesser extent Nora Barnacle, wondered why people kept on speaking about Ulysses while he was working on, and publishing chapters /episodes of FW.
Do any of you think that that's true, that FW is better than Ulysses?
I am going through my yearly post-xmas Sunday drinking (long story but it is a family tradition with my cousins).
I am pouring one for a lost comrade. For the shitposter in chief. For Finnegan.
Discussion and Prompts
....one 'Ductor' [conductor/doctor/leader] Hitchcock raises his fez hat (not unlike a chalice) for silence--silence, presumably, for the singer of the coming ballad as well as for the imminent thunderword of the Loud Fellow whom we might presume to be God. And there at the turnpike [the one where Earwicker got his name, recall] the song was sung.
The pages of verses made their rounds like the Scapegoat Wren of old [see the Skeleton Key footnotes]. And Hosty spoke: "Some may call him such-and such or this-and that, but I call him Persse O'Reilly, or else nothing at all" [we are reminded of the song "I'll Name the Boy Dennis, Or No Name At All"]. Leave it do Hosty to construct fitting rhymes for a verse. Now here we go: It's coming! Glass crashes. The voice of God booms out the third thunderword: a cacophonous mish-mash of words for bad, shit, and applause (crappy and clappy, we might say). The ballad begins.
- We are showed the sheet music for "The Ballad of Persse O'Reilly" at the bottom of this page, but we will not cover the lyrics therein yet--since this verse is repeated on the next page, we will analyze the lyrics in the next discussion thread. For the moment, a question for the musically minded: What do you think of the sheet music itself, lyrics aside?
- Why a thunderword on this page? What's the reasoning, do you think, for its crashing through the page?
- What's the symbolism of the wren?
Resources
Page 44 on finnegansweb- certainly check out the hyperlink for the thunderword on this page for a useful breakdown
Thunderword #3 pronunciation tutorial and discussion by Adam Harvey. He discusses the song for a bit, but, again, we'll delve into the lyrics (as well as covers of the song!) in the next discussion thread.
A Skeleton Key to Finnegans Wake - in a couple of footnotes, Campbell enlightens the reader re: 'rann':
"* A rann is an ancient Celtic verse form. There are many stories of Irish poets who revenged themselves against ungenerous or brutal kings by composing satires against them; and frequently (o
... keep reading on reddit ➡Discussion and Prompts
[And now we examine the contents of the oft referenced ballad, herein named "The Ballad of Persse O'Reilly". It seems that this ballad consists of 14 stanzas and 3 brief "intermissions", we might say. Where a line begins with a "[", that appears to indicate that that line should be treated as a run-on of the preceding line.]
[p. 45] Stanza 1: Asks the chorus if they've heard of one Humpty Dumpty (a stand-in for HCE) and how he/his reputation fell in Phoenix Park (at the butt of the Magazine Wall). One should recall Earwicker's interaction with the cad earlier in this chapter.
Stanza 2: HCE was one time the King of the Castle, i.e., highly regarded, but now he's old and rotten and sentenced by the court to the Mountjoy prison.
Stanza 3: HCE was the stuttering gather/grandfather of all schemes to annoy the people, painting him as a sort of common enemy. Such schemes included slow coaches/trains, condoms for the people, prohibition of alcohol, and religious reform.
Stanza 4: Why couldn't HCE make these schemes come to fruition? I'm certain/afraid to say that this cow's butter is in his horns/that is, the cow produces no milk--that is, there is no explanation?
Intermission 1: An interjection from the chorus, make of it what you will. However, the "Balbaccio, balbuccio!" may reference the Latin word "balbus", or stuttering, hence the stuttering in the very next line.
Stanza 5: We had all these goods (good and bad) provided for us by HCE's store, though he cheated us on the prices, in his store found down Bargainway, Lower.
[p. 46] Stanza 6: So comfortably HCE slept in his hotel, but soon we'll set fire to all his trash and Sheriff Clancy will wind up to the door of HCE's shop to arrest him.
Stanza 7: The waves washes ashore to Ireland the ship of that Viking [HCE]; God's curse on that day when he arrived in Dublin Bay.
Stanza 8: "Where do you come from?" challenges the Poolbeg Lighthouse of this arriving foreigner. "Copenhagen," responds the Viking. "Give me escape for me, my wife, and my family. My name old Norwegian name is Fingal Mac Oscar Onesine Bargearse Boniface." The Viking also seems to indicate that these are the names of Old Norwegian gods.
Intermission 2: Here the chorus seems to demand that Hosty lifts his voice.
Stanza 9: A look at what HCE is guilty of. Differing accounts is key here. It happened either during a graden pumping (a garden party? or a masturbation session is Pho
... keep reading on reddit ➡
Discussion and Prompts
Page 43 continues with a description of the sections and cross-sections of the crowd gathered to hear the ballad begun on the previous page, with images of church-going ladies, clergymen, a Belgian and his spouse and dog, scholars, poplin manufacturers, teetotalers, and perhaps even the dream family themselves (at least, most likely Issy, Shaun, and Shem). The ballad, in a cross-cut meter preferred by one Taiocebo in his 'Casudas de Poulichinello Artahut' (The Fall of Punchinello's Bier?), stamped onto sheet of paper which is headed by the image of a ship, soon spread its "secret" (the rumor first spread by the cad in the park, we must presume, and the subject of this ballad) far and wide. To the sounds of the flute, which one Mr Delaney pulled from his hat...
- Page 42 featured an appearance of Browne (an avatar of Giordano Bruno), and page 43 continues with a description of a crowd full of contradictions (see: Bruno's coincidentia oppositorum). What oppositions, contraries, and disagreements can you spot within the crowd? Any thoughts on this recurring theme of coincidentia oppositorum?
Resources
Corrections of Misprints - on line 15 from top, insert comma after "who"; on line 33 from top, delete the full stops after "Mr."
Spotify playlist - several new songs or song parodies appear on this page, including "Molly Brannigan" and "A Nation Once Again"
