Wayne Austin Shrope

Personal Reflections on Bob’s Unrecorded Songs
A Selection of Wayne’s Recitations of Bob Nolan's songs as poetry

In 2001, I volunteered my assistance in honoring and preserving the Bob Nolan legacy by utilizing my years of experience as an actor and theatrical director in reading and recording some of his fine song lyrics as poetry. Bob said that in writing a song the idea came first, then the lyrics and then the melody. So, essentially his approach was that of a poet.

Most song lyrics are not very interesting without the music, but Bob Nolan’s poetic lyrics are a significant exception. They are fascinating to read both silently and aloud. It is the depth of feeling in his poetry that ultimately places his above all other writers of Western songs (although all of his songs are not specifically Western). And the more I study his poetry, the more I appreciate it. There is so much depth and so many levels of meaning to be found.

Nolan's movie songs were written for specific assignments. But the songs that he wrote for himself are of special interest in getting to know him and his music. I have always especially appreciated the philosophical base and depth in Bob's writing. And it seems to me that his songs became deeper and more metaphysical in nature through the years. Here are some of the recurring themes: Nature can take on human characteristics and can communicate with us (Wind), God is found in nature (The Touch of God’s Hand), God cares for all things great and small (He Walks with the Wild and the Lonely), and peace can be found in being at one with nature and God (My Mistress, the Desert). Also it seems to me that his idea of the afterlife (heaven) was rather like that found in Asian philosophy—we become one with the universe (nature). There are often suggestions—especially in songs like Wandering—of a belief in reincarnation. There are also suggestions that love and spirit are eternal as in Pali Wind. These themes give his songs some of what I think of as the "Nolan style."

From the body of Bob Nolan's work, I get a picture of someone who has high ideals about love, but finds it difficult to find this ideal. He often seems to be a somewhat lonely man who finds peace (if not happiness) in a close relationship with nature (in which God is found).

The songs and poems of Bob Nolan can have great personal and contemporary significance. I am intrigued with Remember Me which Bob wrote reflecting his thoughts on the loss of lives in WWII. Those lyrics are as timely and moving now as they were then. Shadow on the Wall is also of particular interest at this time, and it is a wonderful song. I'm also very moved by The Wonder of It All.

My program begins with the song, Wandering, in which Bob Nolan wrote of “this wandering heart of mine” and of a desire to know “all the places, warm hearts, and smiling faces” and ends with My Mistress, the Desert, which offers a final consummation. In interpreting the selections, I utilized the actor’s art of projection in an attempt to recreate within myself the feelings and thoughts of the writer. In doing so, I have felt closer to Bob Nolan than ever before—even closer than I have felt in singing his songs. In the readings, I sought to create a verbal portrait of Bob Nolan using his own words about his experiences, feelings, and observations.

I hope that this program of songs and poems will offer the listener another way of understanding, and appreciating this complex, fascinating, and immensely talented man. The program is entitled Wandering—the Songs and Poems of Bob Nolan, and is in the Southern Folklife Collection at the University of North Carolina.

Wayne Austin Shrope was the chair of the speech/communication department at DeAnza College in Cupertino, California for close to 25 years. As a child he loved the movies of the singing cowboys, particularly Bob Nolan and The Sons of the Pioneers, and was himself a performer of western music.

In 2001, he volunteered his assistance in honoring and preserving the Bob Nolan legacy by utilizing his years of experience as an actor and theatrical director in reading and recording some of his fine song lyrics as poetry. Bob said that in writing a song the idea came first, then the lyrics and then the melody. So, essentially his approach was that of a poet.

Wayne passed away May 30, 2008.

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