Ninth Wave, Thomas Dolby

[jw@BOURBAKI.MIT.EDU]

Stop me if someone has said this before, but in James Joyce's
_Ulysses_, in Chapter 3 (Proteus), the following sentences appear (we
are in the mind of Stephen Dedalus, who is watching a dog on the beach
south of Dublin):

   ``At the lacefringe of the tide he halted with stiff forehoofs,
     seawardpointed ears. His snout lifted barked at the wavenoise,
     herds of seamorse. They serpented towards his feet, curling,
     unfurling many crests, every ninth, breakingaa, plashing, from
     far, from farther out, waves and waves.''

Don Gifford, in his excellent _Notes_for_Joyce_, provides the following
gloss:

   ``_every_ninth_ -- i.e., wave, after the belief that every
                      ninth wave is larger than the other 
                      waves of a sequence.''

Kate had obviously heard this piece of (Irish?) folklore, but might
she also have had this particular passage in mind? Does anyone know
of any other Joycean references in Kate's work?

	[ There is a definite Joycean reference in the lyrics to
	  Kate's song "My Lagan Love".  It is based on a story by
          James Joyce.  Kate didn't write the lyrics to the song,
	  however.  Her brother John did.  Kate says that she got the
	  title to *The Ninth Wave* by looking through a quote
	  dictionary for something appropriate and found the quoted
	  passage by Tennyson.  I don't know whether she knew of the
	  Joyce's passage.  -- |>oug ]

__________________

Dr. Megabyte asks whether any other L-Hs are also Thomas Dolby fans.

Well, of course.

In fact, I wouldn't mind encouraging a moderate flaming session on 
T. Dolby, with apologies to IED who understandably wishes to concentrate
on matters of more spiritual importance.

Who will start?

O, okay, I will. What I want to know is how someone so musically
brilliant, and a synth and techno wunderkind in the synth and techno
wunderla:nd of the early eighties could drop out of sight. He had two
stunning albums to his credit (plus an EP), was beginning to develop a
following in North America with _Blinded_by_Science_ and
_Hyperactive_, and even mounted a fairly credible tour, considering
that he basically had to put his studio on stage and tour THAT.  His
videos, as Megabyte says, were a cut above; not only _Hyperactive_ but
_BBS_ and _Dissidents_ come to mind. Then (from my point of view) he
disappeared, resurfaced funkedout with the not very satisfying Dolby's
Cube, and disappeared again. Anyone want to give me the facts as they
are, dispute this, or tell me where he is now?

I would also like to hear some textual criticism, particularly of
those songs which sound (to me) to be selfevidently proEuropean (and
why don't we hear some from other quarters? Kate?): I am thinking of
_Europa_and_the_Pirate_Twins_ and _Windpower_. Back in 1983 (when I
was young and happy) I looked out for received wisdom from Thas.
Dolby, but interviews were hard to find.

This is a subject worthy of Love-Hounds. Long flames (like say if
anyone has an interview or two online, or archived...) can also be
sent direct to me.

                                  Julian West    (jw@math.mit.edu)
                                  maThEmAtiKs 
                                  M    I    T