Tim Carbone of the popular American “new grass” band Railroad Earth discusses Waywords and Meansigns with Jambands.com.
“the language and the diction and the way it’s written becomes percussive, and it has it’s own groove. And so you start to realize that this book is really good to be read out loud—it probably needs to be read out loud. And you see, once I get halfway through it, I get right into the groove of it. I’ve listened to it like three times all the way through, and it gets better every time every time I listen to it. The words are largely made-up, or they’re puns, like inside jokes that refer to mythology and refer to current affairs that were going on in the UK in the ‘30s, referring to his own life. And I know that if I read the whole book and tried to grasp it, I would get what the hell he was on about, but I realized—and what really made me continue and finish the project—that there’s an absolute beauty to the cadence of the language as you read it. And it becomes mesmerizing. It all of a sudden lulls you into this hypnotic thing. I’ve played sections of it for various people, and everyone turns to me and goes, ‘Holy shit dude, I can’t believe you did that.’ So really, one of the most difficult things I’ve ever done in my life.”
Check out the full interview.