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The Invention of Performance Poetry

from Croydon Tourist Office Are Electric by Croydon Tourist Office

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Bryce had an idea for a piano part around 2006 and assembled the track in the break room over lunch. The idea sat around for many years until Robert realised that his poem, one of the first one Bryce ever saw Robert perform, was a perfect fit.

lyrics

Notwithstanding
Several attempts by many in the
Californian community to
Attribute the invention of
Performance poetry to their particular
Clique
Or the claims of those within the British poetic movement
To assign invention of this genre to
Those who are of different and divergent
Backgrounds

There remains a theory within the English departments of
Some major university establishments that the
Invention of performance poetry
Can be traced to the moment in June
1953
When Professor Zazzo Thiim
Accidentally sat on a harpsichord
While reciting the works
Of Lord Byron

Indeed
it was seen as the most whimsical and amusing moment of the
Basingstoke literary season
Mainly on account of the audience reaction
Sheer disbelief mixed with a
Fair amount of loathing
And the apparent embarrassment
Not only of Thiim himself but
Also the Mayor
And Arthur Miller
To whom the harpsichord belonged
There were immediate appeals for
A repetition of Thiim's ground-breaking
And harpsichord-breaking
Work
Indeed he was asked
To perform it on the radio
To general acclaim
And before the United States Ambassador
Who later turned out just to be
A man in a hat who happened to be passing
Performance poetry was born.

Thiim
Was astounded at the fact that
He had invented an entire new genre
He began writing his own verse
Which he would perform either
Sitting on a harpsichord
Astride a harpsichord
While playing a harpsichord
While lying on a harpsichord
And finally
While lying underneath a harpsichord
This lasted for
Six years
Until a colleague is said to have inquired of him
What is it with
You and all these bloody harpsichords anyway
He turned up at the next poetry event
With a mouth organ

Throughout this time not only did
Thiim write poems to
Fit in with his harpsichord-smashing regime
But he also began to dissemble
And play around
With the poetic form
Working in unison
With the University of Brixham
He began to look at poems in more detail
Than any other literary practitioner
Until he acquired a reputation
As a poetic experimenter
Poems were shot from cannons
Poems were jumped up and down on
One poem
Was whispered to the Queen
Who was asked to pass it on
She didn't
One poem
Entitled twenty three and a half seconds of silence
Was performed
As twenty three and a half seconds
Of silence

credits

from Croydon Tourist Office Are Electric, released January 16, 2023
Robert Garnham: Vocals
Bryce Dumong: Piano, Mellotron & Drum loops

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Croydon Tourist Office England, UK

Croydon Tourist Office came together from a series of music writing and production workshops at Epicentre Book Cafe in Paignton, England.

The line up varies based on who is at the session or the gig, but the core members are Robert Garnham, Bryce Dumont, John Samuel, and Max Coulson. ... more

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