“Who built Thebes….and The Great Wall of China?”…
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
SYDNEY MORNING HERALD
SENT WED 25/3/09
Editor,
Remember the poem “Who Built Thebes…. and The Great Wall of China”? Watching the worthy tributes to Jorn Utson on ABC television today, (25/3/09), I could not help but notice there was no acknowledgement for the thousands of Builders Laborers who built the difficult structure, one of whom is celebrated in verse by the late Denis Kevans, Australia’s under-celebrated “poet lorikeet”.
I submit the poem to your readers for them to decide whether a separate memorial event should be organized for “Paddy” ? Maybe Paul Robeson, the very first Opera singer at the Opera House (1960?) could get the gig instead of Neil Finn and Our Kate ?
The Ghost of Sydney Opera House
There’s a ghost in Sydney Opera House,
Who sings in all the shows,
The glittering tiaras sometimes
Tumble on their toes,
The ghost he was a rigger,
And he’d sing up in the shell,
And we sank a fleet of schooners
In the First and Last Hotel.
Chorus:
And we’ll sing, Paddy, sing,
A song to rouse ‘em all,
You’re the ghost of Sydney’s Opera House
Now take a curtain call,
When in Madame Butterfly,
Joan reaches for High C
We’ll whisper – “Rest your tonsils, love,
And leave this one to me.”
When we built the Opera House,
The ‘gingerbeers’d moan,
How can we make this jigsaw fit,
Gigantic blocks of stone?
Says Paddy – “Dig, we’ll jury-rig,
I learnt it when a tar”,
He turned and drew the harness
In the circles on the bar.
We hoisted up those pieces,
And the jigsaw fitted well,
But Paddy took a header
High up in that Opera Shell,
We tried to drown our sorrows
In a waggon-load of beer,
The more we drank, the more we knew,
That Paddy was still here.
Paddy was a rigger,
Now he’s in the Opera game,
He got the nod in Tosca,
You shoulda seen his pantaloons
When he pranced straight through the door
Playen’ the local hero
In Luccia di Lammamoor.
Now, his voice it carries sweetly
Through the grandeur of the dome – “Since I helped to build the place,
I’ll take it for my home”,
His voice it carries sweetly
Through the beauty of the shell – “Mine’ll be a schooner
In the First and Last Hotel.”
This classic poem from Denis Kevans should be inscribed on the wall of the Opera House in memory of “Paddy” and the other workers who died during construction. A request to this effect has been forwarded to the Lady Mayoress and others in authority in this city. I have checked today with former President of the NSW Builders Laborers at the time, Mr Jack Mundey, who recalls that one or two of his members did indeed die on site during the Opera House construction.
Jefferson Lee
Editor, “Lorikeet’s Whisper”
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Note…Jack Mundey will speak and address this issue at “The Inaugeral Denis Kevans Memorial Anzac Eve Peace Concert – A Benefit for ‘Friends of Maliana’ ” on Friday 24th April from 6pm at Leichhardt Town Hall , tickets at door with Bob and Margaret Fagan, Enda Kenny, Denis Rice, Yota Krili, Jenni Nixon, The Lurkers, more….tickets at door….with Mundey speaking at 7pm.
Tags
The Ghost of Sydney Opera House, denis kevans, Poems
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