Episode 944: Working Class Person Who Is Working

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Irish actor and musician Glen Hansard died in a motorcycle crash outside Dublin on July 29th, which probably should have resulted in a discussion of his most famous work, the movie Once. Instead, Mark convinced Peter Fenzel and Matt Wrather to watch The Commitments, in which Hansard only has a small part. Something you should know about Mark: when he was in college, he started a classic soul cover band. Some things you should know about The Commitments: it’s a movie about an Irish classic soul cover band, and also one of Mark’s favorite movies of all time.

The panelists start by paying tribute to Hansard and how his busking career lent him ample artistic credibility as a working musician who fostered authentic connection with his audience. From there, they fully commit to the movie discussion, starting with the class / racial identity themes on display and why an Irishman saying “I’m Black and I’m proud” is not as ridiculous or offensive as it may seem in the abstract. 

The panel then turns to a less memorable line from the movie as a jumping off point for analyzing the role of music and the band in the characters’ journeys. An unnamed character cleaning candle wax at a church says, “A lot of work. If you didn’t do it for God, who would you do it for?” In this case, if the “it” is “starting a classic soul band under adverse circumstances with band members often at odds with each other,” the reasons turn out to be multitude and complex: sometimes it’s saving souls, other times it’s saving soul (music), but at the end it’s just good old fashioned self-actualization.

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• The Commitments (film) (Wikipedia)
• Mounted Unit — The History of Horse Patrols in Modern Irish Policing (Seán Daly, Medium)
• Procol Harum, “A Whiter Shade of Pale” (Genius)
• Glen Hansard, “The Parting Glass” (live, 2012) (Stage On Sixth, YouTube)
• Glen Hansard (Wikipedia)
• Roger Ebert’s 1991 review of The Commitments (RogerEbert.com)