Creation and obsession
in a fatal lifelong quest
"The Perfect Song" by Damon
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For one nightmarish moment, Poul wondered if Mendel did exist. Or
was he, Poul, one of the century’s most adroit personalities
who had thought he had been following a composer genius,
but all the while writing the songs himself? Or maybe all this was a dream in some laudanum-laden
Coleridge creation. Or
maybe, as in Poe’s poem, he was trapped in a dream within
a dream, unable to ascertain if he were dreaming his life,
living a dream, or dreaming a dream about live which is
itself a dream…the vision passed.
--from “The
Perfect Song”, by Damon
The
arts have a power to define their epoch, to change the world
and the people in it. Music
is especially magical and mysterious, drawing the mind and
emotions into something abstract, a shared experience that
is highly personal. So
when we read a story (another cultural marker) about a person’s
quest for a perfect song and the torments that rip several
individuals and toss an entire society into a maelstrom,
it may seem fantastic but we get the feeling that it could
really happen.
The
idea of a “perfect song” is not new. There
is a melody that boasts that title by
the now-obscure composer Joseph Carl Breil. It was the accompaniment to D.W. Griffith’s
silent movie “The Birth of a Nation”, and later the theme
song for the “Amos and Andy” radio series. Our
own National Public Radio polled listeners and professional
musicians about their nominee
for perfect song, and came up with selections from all
over the charts. It
may come down to a matter of taste and psychology, but the
notion of a perfect song does seem to stick.
In
a new novel entitled “The
Perfect Song”, a composer named Mendel is creating overwhelmingly
beautiful music, but tossing his composition sheets to the
wind to be discovered by an obsessive drifter named Poul
(like Mendel, known throughout the book by one name). Poul brings the compositions to the attention
of music publisher J.W. Beasely and soon the mysterious Mendel
comes to dominate the musical culture, though in his wandering
he may be the only one who doesn’t know it. Poul
and Beasely grow rich, as pro- and anti-Mendel factions clash
over whether Mendel’s hypnotic songs are the work of the
Devil. Legions of
fans embark on a quest to find the real Mendel while the
man himself seeks to write the perfect song.
Author
of “The Perfect Song” is Damon – the nom de plume of Dennis R. Miller. It is his first novel, but he has also been
a farm hand, musician, tobacconist and freelance writer. His day job is director of public relations
and publications at Mansfield
University of Pennsylvania. With
all his interests it may not be surprising that it took him
twenty-five years to write “The Perfect Song”. Or
maybe Damon has been emulating Mendel and Poul, seeking,
writing, discarding, finding, all part of the exhausting
and exhilarating work of creativity.
 Listen to the program
now
in RealAudio© format
(requires free RealAudio© player)
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