Produced by Blue Trumpet for Radio 2RRR, Jove’s Pearls is a collection of verse 'chiefly in the Australian vernacular' by Jovial Mark ... painter, poet, dilettante, and ratbag, hailing from the deep south of South Australia...
The poem...
There’s something about schizophrenia
That really makes me mad
There’s something ‘bout depression
Leaves me feeling sad
There’s something ‘bout paranoia
Which makes me ill at ease
There’s something about the noises
I hear amongst the trees
There’s something about great evil
Which makes me feel no good
There’s something about bad movies
‘Minds me of Hollywood
There’s something about indecision
Which leaves me in two minds
There’s something about a sneak attack
Which gets me from behind
There’s something about a circus
Makes me feel just like a clown
There’s a feeling you get with loneliness
Like there’s no one else around
There’s a smell comes from cadavers
Makes life seem corrupt
There’s a pain you get from heart attack
Which just seems so abrupt
So as I walk through this here life
I always look around
For if I fall in an open grave
I know I’m six foot down!
Music...
Music featured in the poem comes from 'Personality', a 1959 hit by Lloyd Price.
Also featured, excerpts from the 'Mavis Bramston Show', 1964.
Credits...
Produced by Blue Trumpet for Radio 2RRR
Original verse by Jovial Mark
Adapted for radio by James Benn
With special thanks to Johnny Boxer
Poems interpreted by…
- Johnny Boxer
- James Benn
Introductions and credits by Amie Maguire