Tuesday, April 21, 2009

On "Private Eyes," poetry scores and gay marriage


Hall & Oates turned up tonight on a rerun of the TV show Will & Grace. They were hired to play an acoustic set at a courtesy immigration wedding between Will's new Canadian boyfriend and his best friend Grace. I was on the edge of my seat on the couch until they played a snatch of "Private Eyes," and sure enough they finally did.

Why would I care? Because through my buddy Lij, I know a nice man in Nashville named Warren Pash who has a songwriting credit on the song, which is credited to the four-headed monster of "Daryl Hall/Warren Pash/Sara Allen/Joanna Allen".

As one often hears in music industry towns, always with envy, Lij has said that on a good month "Private Eyes" pays a goodly bite of Warren's mortgage. Warren is a courtly and talented man who has only been generous to me and to Poetry Scores, so I am happy any time I hear this song played in a media setting where royalties are paid out. That is the sound of a nice guy's mortgage getting paid.

I first got to know Warren when Lij recruited him to play bass on the comeback record Lij and I produced for the great Rosco Gordon, No Dark in America. This was a transformative experience for Warren, to play alongside a living legend like Rosco, and giving him that opportunity earned Lij and me a friend for life.

When we were wrapping up the poetry score to Blind Cat Black (by Ece Ayhan, translated from the Turkish by Murat Nemet-Nejat), and were looking for another voice to add to the mix, Lij thought of Warren, who lives right down the street from him in Nashville. A quick call, and here Warren came down the block, ready to read some Turkish poetry for us.

He read a fragment of the poem titled "The horse with two wheel". I had already set aside a musical bed performed by St. Louis musician Tom Hall, performed with flair on his National steel guitar. It worked!

Free mp3

"The horse with two wheels"
(Ece Ayhan, Tom Hall, Murat Nemet-Nejat)
Tom Hall and Warren Pash
From Blind Cat Black

* p.s. *

The previous episode of Will & Grace, which I overheard from the kitchen last night, is one that will never be forgotten in our little family.

On that episode, apparently Will kissed his boyfriend. I started paying attention when our 6 year old said, "That means they're gay."

"What do you know about gay?" her mother asked.

Without missing a beat, Leyla responded, "They kissed, that means they love each other and they want to get married. They're gay."

That gave me some hope for the future.

For the life of me, I can't figure out why gay couples don't deserve the same rights and protections (and legally binding hassles) as straight couples. And, no, it's not like you're thinking, despite those rampant '80s rumors and some ambiguous makeup jobs, this post-script is not intended to comment back on Hall & Oates.

*

Image from what seems to be a Hall & Oates forum.

No comments: