NOW YOU TELL ME

now you tell me

Being brought up in the thirties and forties the music of our leisure
was 'swing' and the big bands ( five sax, five brass, piano
bass drums rhythm section, and vocalist) our delight. Although we
enjoyed the songs we perhaps didn't value the quality of the
lyrics of Hart, Gershwin, Cole Porter et al. It is only now that I can
appreciate the skill of these writers, poets of their time. I was attracted
by one phrase enough to use it as the basis of a poem although in fact
it is in common use. 'It was just one of those things' a song which says
more than the plain phrase. I used it to attempt my own version in ;-

NOW YOU TELL ME
by
Frank Bryce

It was just one of those things,
Hiding the lie behind the song
Do you expect me to sing along?
To smile and say,
Well that's OK,
Hoping our friends will join in the chorus
and be happy for us.

Don't you remember?

We were Beethoven's fifth, Torvill and Dean
Satchmo and Ella, chocolate ice-cream,
Walks in wet woodlands, kicking leaves,
Rembrandt's self portraits, toasted cheese.
Lying on warm grass, staying in bed,
Watching rain, the smell of new bread,

Once I thought that we were a pair
Like Frankie and Johnny, Rogers, Astaire.
Now, from behind the words of the song
You tell me it's over, good-bye, so long.

When did our music lose that swing
And just become, one of those things

this is just to say W.C.WILLIAMS

Having been brought up in the thirties I find the Lancashire dialect
natural although I don't often use it. but of course I still have
the accent in spite of my travels. I thought it would be interesting
to 'translate' a poem into dialect and one easy target was a short poem
by William Carlos Williams, a renowned American poet as well as
being a practicing doctor. Here is the original;

THIS IS JUST TO SAY
by
William Carlos Williams

 I have eaten
the plums
that were in
the icebox

and which
you were probably
saving
for breakfast

Forgive me
they were delicious
so sweet
and so cold

And as it may have been articulated by a Boltonian joiner (like mi dad) in 1936

Note that the word ‘the’ is often written as t’ and is pronounced as
such by those unfamiliar to the dialect which grates on my ear.
In practice it is hardly articulated at all and is more of an unpronounced hesitation.


FORBIDDEN FRUIT
by
Frank Bryce

Ah’d better tell thi
ah’ve etten them plums
that were in‘ fridge

You sed they were
fer temorrer

But ah’ve et um
They were aw reet
a bit sweet







Having been brought up in the thirties I find the Lancashire dialect
natural although I don't often use it. but of course I still have
the accent in spite of my travels. I thought it would be interesting
to 'translate' a poem into dialect and one easy target was a short poem
by William Carlos Williams, a renowned American poet as well as
being a practicing doctor. Here is the original;

THIS IS JUST TO SAY
by
William Carlos Williams

 I have eaten
the plums
that were in
the icebox

and which
you were probably
saving
for breakfast

Forgive me
they were delicious
so sweet
and so cold

And as it may have been articulated by a Boltonian joiner (like mi dad) in 1936

Note that the word ‘the’ is often written as t’ and is pronounced as
such by those unfamiliar to the dialect which grates on my ear.
In practice it is hardly articulated at all and is more of an unpronounced hesitation.


FORBIDDEN FRUIT
by
Frank Bryce

Ah’d better tell thi
ah’ve etten them plums
that were in‘ fridge

You sed they were
fer temorrer

But ah’ve et um
They were aw reet
a bit sweet