Declan Burke: Squeeze Over In The Bed – There’s Always Room For One More Version Of Hallelujah

“Declan Burke is his own genre. The Lammisters dazzles, beguiles and transcends. Virtuoso from start to finish.” – Eoin McNamee “This bourbon-smooth riot of jazz-age excess, high satire and Wodehouse flamboyance is a pitch-perfect bullseye of comic brilliance.” – Irish Independent Books of the Year 2019 “This rapid-fire novel deserves a place on any bookshelf that grants asylum to PG Wodehouse, Flann O’Brien or Kyril Bonfiglioli.” – Eoin Colfer, Guardian Best Books of the Year 2019 “The funniest book of the year.” – Sunday Independent “Declan Burke is one funny bastard. The Lammisters ... conducts a forensic analysis on the anatomy of a story.” – Liz Nugent “Burke’s exuberant prose takes centre stage … He plays with language like a jazz soloist stretching the boundaries of musical theory.” – Totally Dublin “A mega-meta smorgasbord of inventive language ... linguistic verve not just on every page but every line.” – Irish Times “Above all, The Lammisters gives the impression of a writer enjoying himself. And so, dear reader, should you.” – Sunday Times “A triumph of absurdity, which burlesques the literary canon from Shakespeare, Pope and Austen to Flann O’Brien … The Lammisters is very clever indeed.” – The Guardian

Saturday, August 15, 2009

Squeeze Over In The Bed – There’s Always Room For One More Version Of Hallelujah

Off with yours truly to the Flat Lake Festival today, for fun and rain-drenched frolics, if the view from the window is anything to by. I’ll be doing a crime fiction panel tomorrow with Declan Hughes and Brian McGilloway, hosted by Eoin McNamee, but my highlight of the weekend will very probably be the Jack L (right) gig, tonight at ten bells. If anyone’s around and fancies a scoop, I’ll be the one lurking down the back hollering requests for Jacky (“And if some day I should become / A singer with a Spanish bum …” etc.). If you’ve never heard of Jack L, incidentally, he’s possessed of the finest set of Irish pipes since Count John McCormack, and his album of Jacques Brel covers is on a par with Scott Walker’s. For a taster, the vid below is Jack L doing Commander Cohen’s Hallelujah, without some version of which a day is never fully right. Roll it there, Collette …

2 comments:

seana graham said...: Thanks for that, Declan. I hadn't heard of Jack L before. Keep him in mind for the soundtrack when someone has the sense to make The Big O into a movie.; August 16, 2009 at 5:12 AM
Fiona said...: He's fab, is Jack L. As Dec says, Jack came to notice singing covers of Jacques Brel during the late 90s/early noughties. Incredible voice.; August 17, 2009 at 6:59 PM