31 July 2023

By Greg Denieffe

I was reflecting on the George Yeoman Pocock quote that begins: It’s a Great Art, is rowing. It’s the finest art there is, and whilst I and most HTBS types would agree with that sentiment, I found it difficult to get a short definition that encompasses the gallimaufry of things that I consider to be art. Art is usually sectioned into creative, visual, performance etc. I had it in my mind that you could define art as ‘Life is art’ and I was pleased to find that I wasn’t alone, as this quote from actress, Helena Bonham Carter, demonstrates:

I think everything in life is art. What you do. How you dress. The way you love someone, and how you talk. Your smile and your personality. What you believe in, and all your dreams. The way you drink your tea. How you decorate your home. Or party. Your grocery list. The food you make. How your writing looks. And the way you feel. Life is art.

By way of showing how art forms, other than painting, can present rowing, often to an unsuspecting audience, I have selected some examples and offer them by way of a quiz. The answers are easily found on the internet. However, if you treat it as a ‘do you know’ exercise, you may enjoy the reveal tomorrow a little more.

I.  Television Drama.

Which British playwright wrote the Cold War drama Blade on the Feather?

II. Modern Classical Music.

Name the composer of The Boat Race, a classical composition for voice, recorders, chimes, and percussion.

It tells the story of a typical Boat Race Day on the banks of the River Thames, including commentary on the race.

III. Progressive Rock Music.

In 2014, this poster was included in a 20th Anniversary re-release of a 1994 album.

Name the album and the band.

IV. Punk Rock Music.

Name the band and their iconic album that inspired this print.

V. Opera.

Name the opera that includes the following lyrics:

I got a blister on my sittin’ down place.
I got a blister in my hand
But I`m gonna row this little boat, trust me Gawd
Till I anchor in the Promised land.
It take a long pull to get there, huh!
It take a long pull to get there, huh!
It take a long pull to get there
But I`ll anchor in the Promised land.
In the Promised land.

VI. Broadway Musicals.

Name the musicals that include the following lyrics:

(i)

I want to row on the crew, Mama,
That’s the thing I want to do, Mama.
To be known throughout Yale as I walk about it,
Get a boil on my tail and then talk about it.
I’d like to be a big bloke, Mama,
And learn the new Argentine stroke, Mama.
You’ll see your slim son
Putting crimps in the Crimson,
When I row on the Varsity Crew.

(ii)

Let’s all stroke together
Like the Princeton crew.
When you’re strokin’ Mama
Mama’s strokin’ you.

VII. Poetry.

Name the poet who wrote this short poem:

I heard their young hearts crying
Loveward above the glancing oar
And heard the prairie grasses sighing:
No more, return no more!

O hearts, O sighing grasses,
Vainly your loveblown bannerets mourn!
No more will the wild wind that passes
Return, no more return.

VIII. Graffiti.

A familiar image to HTBS readers is the 1858 Punch cartoon, The “Silent Highway” – Man. Name the graffiti artist responsible for this 2003 interpretation which goes under the name of The Grim Reaper.

IX. (The Coxswain Question) – Song Lyrics (from Beyond the Grave).

Name the artist and the song, released after his death, containing these lyrics:

Blades go skimming through the water.
I hear the coxon shouting his instructions about.
With this crew oh it could be a tall order.
Have we time to sort all of these things out.

X. (The Coach Question) – Photography.

Not quite a Kodachrome, more a late 19th Century glass slide, name the rowing coach juggling with his mega-megaphone on the Hudson River.

Answers tomorrow with some related anecdotes.