Disquiet Junto 0535 Jigsaw Disjunction

The Disquiet Junto prompt this week gave me an idea to use the cut-up technique on the national anthem.

Since Marc has started scheduling the project details to appear online ahead of the email, I've spent more time pondering how to respond to the Junto activity.

Last night, when I read the Disquiet post, I started reworking a popular Queen song and then thought better of it.

In previous Juntos I've referenced the Cut-up technique and re-written the Australian national anthem, so it interested me to combine the two.

(Also, it provided a process I could represent in the video visually -- although I've another idea to process 'Happy Birthday' that I might try over the weekend.)

My oldest sings in the choir at school, so I knew he'd provide the material.

My partner joked that I might get arrested for butchering the national anthem and it's a contentious song for me anyway, since the second verse has been at odds with Australia's offshore detention policies this century.

I think it was William S. Burroughs who thought the Cut-up technique revealed hidden meanings in text, and it seems to me the Australian national anthem has language which seems to infer the white Australia policies of earlier eras.

The result is unmusical and I tried singing the new arrangement to the existing melody, which improved it but seemed at odds with the Junto directions this week.