James Joyce as a rocker

Press, 30 August 1989, Page 24

James Joyce as a rocker

Sharon Liveten

If you took James Joyce, added the musical sensibilities of, say, a Bruce Springsteen or John Cougar Mellencamp, and sprinkled in a touch of deft humour, who would you have? If you answered Van Morrison, you’d be close. But if you pointed to Irishman Pierce Turner, you’d be dead on.

Turner’s second RCA album, “The Sky and the Ground,” is filled with the kind of literary allusions and dense characterisations that would do his legendary countryman, Joyce, proud. And his music ... well, it sounds a bit like Springsteen’s, or Cougar’s, or that of any other talented mainstream American rocker. Turner doesn’t talk much about his melodies, which employ the standard drums, guitar and bass. But he does see similarities between his lyrics and the prose of Joyce. Strange, he says, because he dropped out of school when he was 14. “I’m not very well read,” Turner admits. “Which is kind of funny because ... there is a literary connection (between Joyce’s works) and my songwriting. I agree that there is a comparison.”

Despite his literary shortcomings, Turner admits he’s read Joyce’s collection of short stories, "Dubliners.” In fact, he attributes a good part of his songwriting skills to the book, the only Joyce work he’s read.

“That book had a big impression on me,” he says. “In that one book, I absorbed enough to understand what it was that made him special. And that was his descriptive power. He had the ability to make you feel like you were sitting on the street in Dublin, looking at that particular street light, or smelling a particular room. To me, as a songwriter, that is also what I have to do. I have to be really adept at describing what I’m see-

“The way I write songs is by carrying a book around with me everywhere. I write down everything, and eventually I finger through the book and start messing around until I find a set of lyrics that make me feel like singing something. Then I tape it, and go back and edit out the rubbish.”

Another part of Turner’s musical knack can be traced to his heritage. Turner’s mother was not only a musician but could spin quite an entertaining yarn.

“Since I haven’t read a lot of books,” Turner says, "my ability to write this way must come from her, as well as the Irish tradition of storytelling. Storytelling is still very strong over there. Storytelling'is killer over there, in fact. You walk into a bar and conversation is the whole thing. People will come up to you and say, ‘I just had the greatest, most amazing talk with so-and-so.’ People really converse in Ireland. And more importantly, they listen, which for a songwriter is great.” That kind of literary tradition is considered an integral part of Ireland, so how come the quirky tenor lives in New York? “When I came to New York 10 years ago, nothing was really happening in Ireland musically. Particularly since if you weren’t from Dublin, you were looked down on. "But it has gotten to the point with me now, that I can’t write when I’m back in Ireland. I sit at the piano in my family home and I can’t write at all. I do most of my songwriting in New York. I love to write in coffee shops in the mornings. “In New York, it is the tension of the people that does it for me. I get so much out of looking in people’s faces. All songwriters, at least the kind who do this kind of song, are people watchers. And New York has some fcFeat people to watch. It’s

a huge influence on what I do.” Turner weaves beautiful, multi-layered lyrics into his tunes, but his music is a far cry from Ireland’s gloom-and-angst crowd. Yet it is not pop patter, either. His songs fit neatly into a niche all their own.

“It has to be something that is instantly attractive, but not instantly memorable,” Turner says of his songwriting process. “That’s what makes the song stand the test of time. I’ve written songs that I’m sick of in two plays. I know I can’t go any further with it. Some people don’t really care if they think it’s going to be a hit — they’ll go instantly mad over it. “I’m sure I’ve buried some hits, but we’re all better off. It’s like a book. It should stand the test of time. Ultimately that’s what great work is. It may be hard to get it across at first, but it’s worth it. At least to me.”

The real question is whether Turner’s difficult ideas will appeal to the public. The artist is currently touring with Graham Parker, a man also known for attracting an audience with a somewhat intellectual bent. These fans seem ideal for Turner as well. But Turner isn’t really concerned about knocking Madonna off the charts.

“It’s difficult, hurtful in fact, to know that some people just don’t get my music at all,” he says. “But eventually you realise that it’s OK if some people hate my guts. I mean, it’s hard, because everybody wants to be liked. But I realise now that ... it’s impossible (to be) completely liked by everybody. My music is totally reflective of me as a person and not everybody is going to like me.

“When I was 12, some guy who was 20 beat me up just because I had freckles. People are like Angeles Tin&s