bonaparte's retreat (as mentioned in Factotum) (1 Viewer)

[Digney in Burnaby]

I suppose there is a question in the following, but I best put the following down first:

Noticed while rereading Factotum the mention of the song "Bonaparte's Retreat" twice early on:

first, on Wilbur's boat Laura plays the tune on a record player. (page 77 of the Ecco movie tie-in book);

next, in a list of songs Hank and Jan sang. (page 101, same edition).

Looking around for the song "Bonaparte's Retreat" I've come across two variations (he said eruditely).

One is from the Lomax Library of Congress recordings and is echoed in Aaron Copeland's "Hoedown". This might explain Bukowski's distaste for Copeland. There was a little "borrowing" done by Copeland.

But I have yet to find lyrics to this version so the song mentioned in Factotum might be the other version of "Bonaparte's Retreat".

The other is a pop/country song written by Pee Wee King and Redd Stewart, which appears to have originally been recorded in 1948, with a few cover versions including .

I guess the question is which version of the song is it that he's referring to in Factotum? Did anyone manage to ask Bukowski about that particular song, or any others (like Hank's favourite song, "My Heart is a Hobo" (p. 152)) in any interview?

 

[Rekrab]

I don't know if anyone asked Hank. "Bonaparte's Retreat" was a very popular song. I imagine there were many cover versions. I have an unpublished 78 acetate cover of it that was made by a duet who were friends with my parents. It was the first music I ever heard. Bukowski surely heard the popular version, but he also explored classical music in depth so he may have heard the Copeland take on it.