A father dozes… his children play close to his thoughts… internal dialogues meet external forces. Where are they going he wonders and how? This metaphorical piece links sound recordings of young children at play (singing, rattling and creaking their toys, shouting or making sound effects for their games) with sounds of human locomotion (a train roaring past, a car starting up, a bus depot filled with noisy students, someone walking in leaves or rocking a squeaky chair) to create a sense of reverie, dislocation, alarm, and shock. The imaginary vehicles of the children are superimposed upon the adults’ world. Play is transport.

The title’s question, which is taken from the nursery rhyme Goosey Goosey Gander, asks a dreamy question about where one might wander. The children’s songs and poems quoted refer to human transport (Row, Row, Row Your Boat, Michael Rowed His Boat Ashore, Goosey Goosey Gander), as do the onomatopoeic sounds of their play. The train, as well the other sounds of vehicular transport, act usually as powerful metaphors for human movement and motion, but in the context of this piece, their movement is neutralized so that only the idea of moving is preserved. Transport has become play.

Source: 2013