Exercises in Song

The old British drinking song “Show Me The Way To Go Home” has, over the years, practically achieved the status of folk ballad. But what if it were told in different words; or with a different mood; or from a different perspective?

Exercises in Song re-sings this same unremarkable song one hundred and eleven times. In a direct homage to the French writer and polymath Raymond Queneau, it follows the 99 recipes provided in his seminal 1947 work, Exercices de Style, while also adding a few more ideas of its own.

The e-book of Exercises in Song is available for free under a Creative Commons licence. You can download it in EPUB, MOBI (Kindle) or PDF format.

A limited print version is also available on request.

J-P Stacey has bothered the world with short stories and other intellectual caprices for some years now, although recently he's been spending more time with his wife, cat and garden. He previously self-published three collections in print form: A Pocketful of Lies (2006), Stones and Bones (2007) and Exercises in Song 2008 (2008). The last of these collections was a selection of the variations in this book.

Any queries? You can contact the author at jp.stacey@gmail.com.