In October last year, David Pratt reviewed ‘Where Does It Hurt‘, a retrospective compilation album from Katy Rose Bennett (KRB). In his concluding paragraph, he says “…with a collection of songs showcasing the prodigious and varied talents of a singer-songwriter who deserves a much wider audience and recognition. The quality of the title track suggests that such a development might well be on the horizon. Here’s looking to even more wide-open skies.” He wasn’t wrong…
That same month, Katy Rose Bennett undertook a virtual residency in the Vaughan Williams Memorial Library to explore folk music’s depiction and relationship to physical illness and mental health. As a recipient of the prestigious Alan James Creative Bursary from the EDFSS, Katy was in residence to develop material for a new work that will combine music and theatre to tell her own story of being diagnosed with Functional Neurological Disorder.
Delving around in the archive, Katy found a song lyric called ‘Come home, Father’ (published in 1867),
telling the story of a young girl’s pleas to her father to come home from the pub to his son, who is
growing sicker by the hour.
Taking this lyrical framework, Katy wrote ‘Darling, Dear Darling’ detailing her own experiences of being
in hospital for 10 days in February 2017.
Darling, Dear Darling. I wish I were home.
The clock on the tower strikes one
A lady is crying and I cannot sleep
For fear of what is to come…
Watch her accompanying video for the single below which is out this Friday, 12 February 2021.
Equipment used in the creation of this feature video was purchased through a grant from Graeae and The Paul Hamlyn Foundation.
Katy Rose Bennett on ‘Darling, Dear Darling’:
“This song is a really personal one for me. It’s about a very specific time of my life which plays in my mind like a film. Back in February 2017, I experienced several episodes of sudden loss of movement and strength in my legs. I ended up in hospital three times in one week and on the third time, was admitted for ten days, undergoing a barrage of diagnostic tests. ‘Darling, Dear Darling’ tells the story of the first night I spent in hospital, with no idea what was causing this temporary paralysis. I spent that night in a 4-bed bay of a trauma ward with 3 elderly women with dementia, all of us unable to sleep.
I eventually did receive a diagnosis of Functional Neurological Disorder (FND) and one of the reasons I’m releasing this song is to raise awareness of this common but largely misunderstood and stigmatised condition. Before being diagnosed with FND, I’d never heard of it and I hope that by raising a bit of awareness, perhaps some of that stigma might be lessened.
I recorded the song at home in Birmingham in January 2021 and sent it to my friend Jim Cornick in Bristol who mixed and mastered it ready for release. Over the course of the last year, I’ve taught myself how to make and edit videos – something which previously I’d never had any desire to do but which now I love doing! This video is one such creation, filmed and edited at home by me one afternoon last month.”