Musician Kris is turning readers’ poems into songs ‘just for a laugh’
AN amateur musician has turned poems published in local newspapers into song – including a number from the Derby Telegraph and our own internet sensation Susan Booth.
Kris Ball sings the words of the rhymes in an amusing way over lamenting piano music for his and others’ amusement.
The 33-year-old says his favourite is Chip Butty by Mickleover’s Anne Thompson, which we put into print last year.
But it is prolific poem writer Susan, of Kilburn, who inspired him to begin recording.
Kris said: “I was on furlough last year and was bored and was glancing at the poems which make their way on to the Facebook page of Angry People in Local Newspapers.
“Susan Booth features heavily there so I bought a microphone, downloaded some royalty-free piano music and read the words out over it just for a laugh really.
“I call the compilation ‘Chip Butty and other c**p poems recited over
sad piano music’ but I don’t mean to offend anyone, it’s all light-hearted and not to be taken seriously.”
Five of the 10 songs on Kris’s internet page are poems which have been published in the Derby Telegraph.
They include On Line by Susan, who is fast becoming an internet sensation in her own right with her often dystopian look at life gaining a cult following on the Angry People in Local Newspapers Facebook page.
Other local poets he has turned into song include Sandra Bond, of Wilmorton, Jeremy Taylor, of Derby and Keith Furnival, of Wirksworth.
Kris, a Lancastrian who now lives in Dunstable, Bedfordshire, said: “It is a total coincidence that half the songs have appeared in your newspaper.
“I actually thought Kilburn was in North London and I didn’t know Mickleoever or Wilmorton were parts of Derby.”
Kris said Anne’s poem ‘Chip Butty’ is head and shoulders his favourite of the songs he has recorded.
He said: “My fiancee is a reception class teacher and Chip Butty starts with the line ‘yummy yum yum in my tummy tum tum’ which sounds like it could have been written by one of the kids in her class. “And I mean that with all due respect to the author of the poem. “It just really makes me laugh and I don’t mean any disrespect at all.” After being told about her poem being made into a song by Kris, Susan said: I’m not sure whether I’m flattered this time being classed as a ‘c**p poet’ or whether I could be described as a song.
“Give me Axl Rose any day but there you go, I have laughed it off.”
Kris said he is now back working in customer service after his stint on furlough but he may carry on with the project in the future if the right kind of poems come his way.
To listen to Kris’s versions of the poems visit kriswhomakesmusic.bandcamp.com
I don’t mean to offend anyone, it’s all lighthearted and not to be taken seriously.
Kris Ball