On the Origin of Darwin
On the Origin of Darwin
by Kirk Wood Bromley
Embedded Files
In 2004, I was asked to join Kirk Bromley's Inverse Theater Company as Musical Director and composer for On the Origin of Darwin.
After the Tony Award winning composer Mark Hollmann (Urinetown) was slated to write the group numbers* (the "sea shantees" sung by the sailors of the HMS Beagle) I was tasked with writing the songs sung by the wise and wiley sailor, Syms, who's commentary on events – and Darwin himself – offers a deeper glimpse into the mind of the man, and the moment, as they tell the story of the young naturalist's experiences on the Voyage of the Beagle that fostered the greatest scientific theory ever discovered.
These are the first songs I ever wrote for Kirk and are the origin of a long and fruitful evolution that continues to flourish, and nourish me, to this day.
*A version of "O' England" written by Mark Hollmann was sung by the sailors of the HMS Beagle in the original production. I wrote this version for myself because the lyrics were so irresistibly beautiful and inspiring.
From 1831 to 1836, the HMS Beagle, a three mast, 10-gun bark with a crew of 74, circled the globe on a commercial and cultural mission.
Leaving from Davenport, England, the ship sailed across the Atlantic, moved slowly around South America, traversed the Pacific, shot swiftly about the Horn, and home, all the while stopping to chart, collect, and civilize.
Aboard the Beagle was a young English naturalist by the name of Charles Darwin. During the voyage Darwin experienced a diversity of events that were formulated into his theory of evolution.
Who acts like a beast
To be an honest man?
Darwin, Darwin.
Who sees fornication
In the puritan?
Darwin, Darwin.
Who walks on two feet
So his hands are free to fight?
Darwin, Darwin.
Who looks into time
To prove it's outta sight?
Darwin, Darwin.
But who can say
What we owe today?
Not him, not him.
How cuz the blah go boom?
What stir the boom to soup?
How heat the soup to fume?
Why jump the fume thru hopey hoop?
What set the blob athrob?
When my head wags its dreams
(Or do dreams wag my head?)
Then I think on these themes
(Or do they think me instead?)
How walk the was to is?
What sift the is to will?
How stuff the will with wish?
Why still the wish tween feast and fill?
Who give the why the lie?
My beat-me's outnumber my got-it's,
My gumption is gobbed in my glottis,
I make that our maker's forgot us!
Can that which started us stop us?
Putnam Smith, Steven Rattazzi, T. Ryder Smith
T. Ryder Smith, Brian Linden, Timothy Reynolds, Hank Wagner, Alok Tewari, Bob Laine
Rub-a-dub-dub
Three sticks in the mud,
The painter, the preacher, and Philos.
Who shall survive
This voyage alive
And who to the sea will get tosst?
I, says the painter,
For beauty’s my bride!
I, says the preacher,
For God is my guide!
I, says Philos,
For truth tugs the tide!
Yet which of us can really say
Which of us will make it today
When nothing’s for sure but disarray?
Rub-a-dub-dub
Three drunks in a pub,
Art, ethics, and thought.
Who shall downglut
The mostest rotgut
And die of sweet victory’s shot?
In this game of pit and fall,
The rule-faker takes it all.
God is gone, art's alone,
And only Darwin makes it home.
Those who come but come to go,
For all must perish as they thrive;
What must be will not be so,
Yet Darwin ever will survive.
For only Darwin made us see
I'm the you in lil' ol' me.
Bob Laine, Alok Tewari, Hank Wagner, Brian Linden, Putnam Smith, Timothy Reynolds
O when you see
Your lovely England
Upon the yon
Begin to rise,
O then you cheer
For lovely England
And the swells
Are in your eyes.
O England!
O England!
When you hold me
I am free
And when I'm far
From you, my England,
You are where
I long to be.
O take me home
To lovely England!
N'more to roam
The distant main,
But ever stay
In lovely England
Until the sea
Me craves again.
Page updated
Google Sites
Report abuse