Sunday, August 11, 2019

#songlyricsunday - Someone Famous - Pictures of Lily [The Who - Spontaneous Generation / about #lilylangtry - #channelislandsheroine]

To the readers of Halfway up Rysy Peak / Geopolitically incorrect:

Welcome again to the second week of August 2019. The theme for #songlyricsunday is "Find a song that has someone famous in it".

It was only after the 4th/5th August 2019 that I found this had rules in it - which I shall try to keep especially when it comes to crediting songwriters [I find this less easy if it was manufactured or in a factory than in a songwriter-singer situation].

#lawfulgood #chaoticneutral #lawfulevil #whatatrajectory #nopromisenoguarantee



This is not about me, I wrote to Yusuf about white women's feminism. 

I continued: This has never been about me. It has never even been about my friends or my sisters.
[and when I first typed this I reversed pronouns as if I were actually talking to the white women feminists who do the things that Yusuf deplores whether through agency passive or active].

Yusuf is the person who writes Indigo Jo Blogs and his blog was about the Suzanne Moore piece in The Guardian. 

Here is the crux of his argument:

Of course, many mass shootings are perpetrated by lone men who have an axe to grind and want to be infamous because they do not have the talent to be famous, but we must distinguish the ones perpetrated by people with a declared ideological motive from these incidents. Often they draw ideological inspiration from mainstream political figures, often those who get regular exposure in the media (the Norwegian mass shooter cited Melanie Phillips, for example, among many others including fringe figures from the right-wing blogosphere of the Iraq war years). Many have a history of violence towards women; others have no prior record of violence at all but have radicalised themselves through a mixture of mainstream and online fringe media and chat forums. The perpetrator of the Dayton massacre last weekend was a known misogynist who was part of a ‘grindcore’ music scene that featured overtly misogynistic band titles and lyrics, but no such thing is known about either the Christchurch or El Paso attackers.

Certainement. That paragraph third from the bottom really touched me.

There will probably be no grindcore around here this morning or this afternoon. Halfway up Rysy Peak does listen to it sometimes.

There was a wonderful film called The Red Sea Diving Resort - about Beta Ethiopia in 1979 and 1980 and when Mossad came up I knew it was time to get serious. Netflix historical films have a way of doing that especially when they visit Ethiopia; Sudan and Israel.

Something else serious happened to me when I was checking the backend of Halfway up Rysy Peak.

It was 9 August 2019 - I saw that in the previous day and so - someone had visited the blog from a link on KiwiFarms.

The link was very clearly to a post I had made on the 9th October 2017 - Three journeys of belonging; identity; maturity.

It should go without saying that KiwiFarms stands against much of what I stand for and have done for much of the past 25 years.

Should go without saying - and so nearly did.

KiwiFarms was not on the standard web. It has not been since about February or March 2019 and more recently [June 2019] I wanted to check up on an unrelated matter as a blogger I read frequently - and who is a big Duran Duran fan [more of later!] was put there in 2016 - I did not read this blogger until December 2017's Christmas holidays.

And yesterday was the saddest day in the Jewish calendar.

I remembered that it could be accessed through Tor and I wanted to check the nature and extent of the material which was used, and how it was handled.

I will point out to the originating poster: Those five paragraphs were the first that I quoted; not the last.

I quoted three separate sections, and you only dealt with the first. And you highlighted two paragraphs which everyone focused on to a greater or lesser degree.

You may or may not agree that Esperanza's work is boring - I am with you in what you said in the Bio section of the original post. [18 July 2019]

18-24 July 2019 was indeed a busy six days for me.

I thought the posts ended on the 26 July 2019.

Also, it is two days before the opportunity to share learnings on Maimonides and The guide for the perplexed ends.

Liberty Fund link for A Guide for the Perplexed by Maimonides

World Heritage Encyclopaedia - I used this while searching for Maimonides on Project Gutenberg - they have a self-published materials section

That accounts for some of my activities though not all.

Another important part of my activities was watching the 1978 miniseries from the London Weekend Television about Lillie - Lillie is Lillie - Emilie Charlotte le Breton Langtry.

The Who, a progressive rock band, made a really great clip and story about how a father and son bond through Pictures of Lillie which was from 1965 - it is under Popular Culture in the Wikipedia. [and, yes, there are Jerriais and Guernnais Wikipedias. Tell that to my 1994-95 self and she would be so impressed].

Why Lillie is so famous: she was an actress and socialite. She lectured in the USA and made theatre her life and was even in one film during the First World War.

The miniseries really focused on her personal life - her family; her friends; the men and women she knew and who knew her - as well as her professional life.

I fell in love with another version which is by Spontaneous Generation. Currently I haven't decided whether to go the picture route or the lyric route.

And David Bowie did one!

[video - Pictures of Lillie
the version I finally picked is from 1967 and uses shots from A DAY IN THE COUNTRY]

I used to wake up in the morning
I used to feel so bad
I got so sick of having sleepless nights
I went and told my dad
He said "son now here's some little something"
And stuck them on my wall
And now my nights seem quite so lonely
In fact I, I don't feel bad at all
I don't feel bad at all

Pictures of Lily
Made my life so wonderful
Pictures of Lily
Helped me sleep at night

Pictures of Lily
Solved my childhood problem
Pictures of Lily
Made me feel alright

Pictures of Lily
Lily, Oh Lily
Lily, Oh Lily
Pictures of Lily

And then one day things weren't quite so fine
I fell in love with Lily
I asked my dad where Lily I could find
He said "son now don't be silly
She looked at me with her pretty bright eyes
Oh how I cried that night
If only I'd been born in Lily's time
This gonna feel alright

Pictures of Lily
Made my life so wonderful
Pictures of Lily
Made me sleep alright
Pictures of Lily
But me and Lily are together in my dreams
Pictures of Lily
We make it on the other sea?

Pictures of Lily!

And Toni Morrison died last week. There was an interview from 1998 with Jana Wendt who for ten years previously had been one of my presenter/journalistic heroes.

That interview was critically examined and exhumed for arrogance and ignorance [and I think I may have invented a new word by mistake - irrogance].

It was a very Allan McAllister type of comment which characterised attitude and approach to racism - and no informed position on anti-racism [which I really started to think about in April 1997 after a prod from Beverley Eley about the Helfgott family who had a great understanding of minority groups and were "avowedly anti-racist" - source: The book of David - HarperCollins 1996 edition]

But I do not think I could begin here without The Power of Love.

Jennifer Rush; Celine Dion; Laura Branigan - all three have their claims and charms on our musical lives.

The Celine Dion version is the one I met first on the 8th April 1995.

The whispers in the morning
Of lovers sleeping tight
Are rolling by like thunder now
As I look in your eyes

I hold on to your whole body
And feel each move you make
Your voice is warm and tender
A love that I could not forsake

'Cause I'm your lady
And you are my man
Whenever you reach for me
I'll do all that I can

Lost is how I'm feeling lying in your arms
When the world outside's too much to take
That all ends when I'm with you

Even though there may be times
It seems I'm far away
Never wonder where I am
'Cause I am always by your side

'Cause I'm your lady
And you are my man
Whenever you reach for me
I'll do all that I can

We're heading for something
Somewhere I've never been
Sometimes I am frightened
But I'm ready to learn
Of the power of love

The sound of your heart beating
Made it clear suddenly
The feeling that I can't go on
Is light years away

'Cause I'm your lady
And you are my man
Whenever you reach for me
I'll do all that I can

We're heading for something
Somewhere I've never been
Sometimes I am frightened
But I'm ready to learn
Of the power of love

The power of love
The power of love

Sometimes I am frightened
But I'm ready to learn
Of the power of love

The power of love
As I look in your eyes
The power of love

And it would take me some time to learn about the ways of covers and why people might do them. I was accustomed to this sort of thing at festivals and musicals.

Some time between the 15th and the 22nd of April 1995 I went to see a PotPourri musical or fairytale about Rapunzel. What a fable that one is.

I was still working on books at that point. I had doubled my material by 30 April 1995.

The new book I titled East meets west and makes friends.

By mid-May 1995 I was thinking trilogy status. And even Schoolgirl Polish and Honours Polish; before deciding in December 1996/January 1997 to take up the suggestion to dramatise and dramaturge.

I finally began on 11 April 1997.

And there was Jaunette and the Remedial School to complete. That finally happened 27 September 1995 after several fits and starts.

After the trilogy there was A Mother Lost; A Chaser Found from May-September 1995. It covered various contemporary issues and future issues. I dreamed, for instance, about a world with no nuclear testing in the Pacific.

It turns out my Lillie-watching was between 26 and 31 July 2019.

Speaking of another cover which affected me from August 1994 to April 1995 - that was the other album I bought - Girlfriend's It's up to you.

 Before this: a quote #textandcontext -

“in fact,” said Jack, thinking it was time he took a hand again, “what you two [Len Maynard, his daughter, and Melanie Lucas, a visitor and the Future Chalet School Girl of the title] are old enough to realise is that you can’t go through life without having some sort of influence on your fellow men. It’s up to you whether that influence is for good or evil”. [my emphasis]
Brent-Dyer - A Future Chalet School Girl [1962: 1995 - HarperCollins]:139

Roughly two pages later [141] Melanie Lucas and Jack Maynard discuss hermit feelings - something of an occupational and moral hazard when you're an only child and have only rarely connected with people your age; much less a big family who seem to spread over Central Europe in a minibus and all over the United Kingdom and its dominions/Commonwealth countries.

Read the chapter - Jack takes it into hand.

And of course Joey Bettany Maynard is world-famous as an author by this point. It is something of which we can but dream.


And there is something about 60 pages later about Polish refugees. This is the context part of Text and Context.

Some three months later I was to come into a crucial piece of information. #tuesdayseatingcarpet


Drawn like a moth to a flame
I've been consumed by the fire
I've only got myself to blame
I shoulda known better
Than givin' into desire
And with an arrow through my heart
I watch your image fall apart
True colors blinding me
I don't like what I see

You know you got a bad attitude
I wanna love you but you're too dumb animal
Raw like a diamond in the rough
I think you're pretty but you're too tough

You see the glass half empty
I see the glass half filled
You try to tell me it's alright
You say you're gonna change your ways
Oh baby I know you never will

You know you got a bad attitude
I wanna love you but you're too dumb animal
Raw like a diamond in the rough
I think you're pretty but you're too tough
I don't need your bad attitude
It's hard to love you when you're too wild animal
Raw like a diamond in the rough
I've had my fill babe enough is enough

And with an arrow through my heart
I watch your image fall apart
True colors blinding me
I'm not impressed with what I see

Get out of here with your bad attitude
I wanna love you but you're too wild animal
Raw you're a diamond in the rough
I've had my fill babe enough is enough

I don't need your bad attitude
It's hard to love you when you when you're too wild animal
Raw you're a diamond in the rough
You could be pretty but you're too tough

I don't need, bad attitude
I wanna love you, I wanna love you

Those of you who are interested - or follow this timeline - will know that it was within ten days give or take of the United Nations Day for Tolerance.

Meanwhile - I used to hurry a lot; I used to worry a lot.

"The Long Run"

I used to hurry a lot, I used to worry a lot
I used to stay out till the break of day
Oh, that didn't get it
It was high time I quit it
I just couldn't carry on that way


Oh, I did some damage, I know it's true
Didn't know I was so lonely, till I found you
You can go the distance
We'll find out in the long run
(In the long run)
We can handle some resistance
If our love is a strong one (is a strong one)


People talkin' about us
They got nothin' else to do
When it all comes down we will
Still come through
In the long run
Ooh, I want to tell you, it's a long run

You know I don't understand why you don't
Treat yourself better
Do the crazy things that you do


'Cause all the debutantes in Houston, baby
Couldn't hold a candle to you

Did you do it for love?
Did you do it for money?
Did you do it for spite?
Did you think you had to, honey?


Who is gonna make it?
We'll find out in the long run
(In the long run)
I know we can take it
If our love is a strong one
(Is a strong one)

Well, we're scared, but we ain't shakin'
Kinda bent, but we ain't breakin'
In the long run
Ooh, I want to tell you, it's a long run
In the long run
In the long run ...

I'll get us back to 2019 I promise! Before that - there were some Eagles songs which meant a whole heap - probably the first seven - New Kid in Town which was the first Eagles song I connected with as an emerging author and Lying Eyes which really meant something. Also I can't tell you why which is a good pair with Love doesn't ask why which Dion sang on The colour of my love.

So Miley Cyrus - Mother's daughter.

There was a young man who makes Kpop lyric videos.

MILEY CYRUS
“Mother’s Daughter”

VERSE 1
Hallelujah
I’m a freak, I’m a freak
Hallelujah
Every day of the week
I’mma do yeah like I want, ah
I’mma Nile Crocodile
A piranha

Oh my gosh
She got the power
Wow, look at her
She got the power

CHORUS
Don’t fuck with my freedom
I came up to get me some
I’m nasty, I’m evil
Must be something in the water
Or that I’m my Mother’s daughter
X2

So
Back up
Back up
Back up
Boy, uuu

VERSE 2
Hallelujah
I’mma witch, I’mma witch
Hallelujah
Swish, swish, I’mma three-point shooter
I blow thru ya
Like a hot wind out in the Bayou, yeah

Oh my god
She got the power
Wow, look at her
She got the power

CHORUS

C-PART
My Mama always told me
That I’d make it
That I’d make it
So I made it

I put back into it, my heart in it
So I did it
Yeah I did it
X2

CHORUS

OUTRO
Don’t fuck with my freedom
OMG, OMG
X4

Swish, swish, motherfucker

So in early 1999 I once wrote a song called Resurrection Power which I may or may not share with you. It is Sunday after all and I wrote it during the Lent/Easter season.

There are two other religious poems/songs/lyrics: Dear God and Prayer of Commitment.

My path was slowly taking me through existentialism and Secular Humanism and I would not appreciate religion again except in a populist, sociological sense.
In my time,
I've done some pretty rotten things,
And got aggro with the King of Kings,
Wouldn't say my prayers,
Got caught unawares,
I was so naive,
Thought they were all out to deceive,
And now I want a reprieve,
Yes, God, give me another chance,
Please don't pull down my pyjama pants,
All I want now is to believe.

In my time,
I've learnt a lot but I never found,
Obviously me and my friends have been fooling around,
Wouldn't show my love,
Gave you the finger in a lacy glove,
I was stupid,
To think you were no cupid,
Without you this life is pretty putrid,
Yes, God, I want your love-but no disgrace,
Please don't punch me in the face,
All I want is what I've been looking for.

In my time,
I've been so full of grime,
And yet I don't understand my crime,
Tried to fight the Prince of Peace,
But now I am released,
I'm full of light and life now,
So many questions-I know not how,
I'll go to you and to you I will bow,
And from the seeds a whole life will sow,
Because now I know what it truly is to grow.

It's gonna be different this time,
What it is to commit to you,
Now the dark times I can get through,
My joys and sorrows you double,
I've been resurrected from the rubble,
I love you with your tell-tale stubble,
And about such things I don't care,
Because what's true is what's inside, and YOU'RE there.

Thank you.
[Prayer of Commitment
Dupont: 18 February 2000] 

I've seen the world,
You made it all,
But then your spin slowed to a crawl,
"Can't bowl, can't throw"-
How did you do it all?
And it makes me feel high,
Even if I don't know why,
We live and die,
My soul consumes it all.

I've heard the music,
You called the tune,
But then you went off the chart,
"Hasn't got the rhythm, ain't that smart"-
How did you do it all?
And it makes me feel high
(Praise you to the sky),
Even if I don't know why,
You're still pretty fly,
My soul raves about it all.

I've felt your smile,
You showed me your love,
Too bad you can't choose your friends,
"You're lost in circles-don't chase dead ends"-
How did you do it all?
And it makes me feel high,
That you're the truth, not a lie,
My soul embraces it all.

Thank you.
 [Dear God
Dupont: 18 February 2000]
 And I just remembered - Best of my love is incredible!

To think I was not yet an author when the Toubon Law came through in August 1994.

Back to 1982 ...

What did you do to be condemned? Will we be forgiven? Do we need permission?


Now: Moving Pictures and their What about me?
Well, there's a little boy waiting at the counter of a corner shop
He's been waiting down there, waiting half the day
They never ever see him from the top
He gets pushed around, knocked to the ground
He gets to his feet and he says
What about me? It isn't fair
I've had enough, now I want my share
Can't you see I wanna live?
But you just take more than you give
Well, there's a pretty girl serving at the counter of the corner shop
She's been waiting back there, waiting for her dreams
Her dreams walk in and out, they never stop
Well, she's not too proud to cry out loud
She runs to the street and she screams
What about me? It isn't fair
I've had enough, now I want my share
Can't you see I wanna live?
But you just take more than you give
So take a step back and see the little people
They may be young but they're the ones
That make the big people big
So listen as they whisper, what about me?
And now I'm standing on the corner, all the world's gone home
Nobody's changed, nobody's been saved
And I'm feeling cold and alone
I guess I'm lucky, I smile a lot
But sometimes I wish for more than I've got
What about me? It isn't fair
I've had enough, now I want my share
Can't you see I wanna live?
But you just take more than you give


By 2004 this song was known just about everywhere, including being regaled at the lake by a young man of my acquaintance. His mother was quite a fan of boy bands - especially New Kids on the Block.

One last 1982 song - Benatar's Shadows of the Night

Shadows of the Night
Pat Benatar
[Chorus]
We're running with the shadows of the night
So baby take my hand, it'll be all right
Surrender all your dreams to me tonight
They'll come true in the end

[Verse 1]
You said, "Oh girl, it's a cold world
When you keep it all to yourself"
I said, "You can't hide on the inside
All the pain you've ever felt"
Ransom my heart, but baby don't look back
Cause we got nobody else"

[Chorus]

[Verse 2]
You know that sometimes, it feels like
It's all moving way too fast
Use every alibi and words you deny
That love ain't meant to last
You can cry tough baby, it's all right
You can let me down easy, but not tonight

[Chorus]

[Bridge]
We're running with the shadows of the night
So baby take my hand, it'll be all right
Surrender all your dreams to me tonight
They'll come true in the end
And now the hands of time are standing still
Midnight angel, won't you say you will

[Outro]
We're running with the shadows of the night
So baby take my hand, it'll be all right
Surrender all your dreams to me tonight
They'll come true in the end
We're running with the shadows of the night
So baby take my hand, it'll be all right
Surrender all your dreams to me tonight
They'll come true in the end
We're running with the shadows of the night
So baby take my hand, it'll be all right
Surrender all your dreams to me tonight
They'll come true in the end

And back to the present/future again.

Sigrid's song is so good and so is Haim's Summer Girl.

The Sigrid tune first:

Don’t Feel Like Crying
Sigrid
[Verse 1]
I know I should be ordering takeout
Sitting on my couch, that's what you do
I know I should be all in my feelings
Staring at the ceiling, but here's the truth

[Pre-Chorus]
That isn't gonna fix it anyway, no whoa

[Chorus]
Ooh, yeah
I dry my eyes 'cause I don't feel like crying
Ooh, yeah
At least tonight, no, I don't feel like crying

[Verse 2]
Hope you don't blame me for what I'm saying
My heart is aching, do you feel it too?
I hope you understand that I'm dealing
It's my way of healing, but here's the truth

[Pre-Chorus]
Wallowing in it would be such a waste
That isn't gonna fix it anyway, no whoa

[Chorus]
Ooh, yeah
I dry my eyes 'cause I don't feel like crying
Ooh, yeah
At least tonight, no, I don't feel like crying

[Post-Chorus]
It hasn't hit me yet (Ooh)
And I know if I go home I'm gonna get upset, yeah
It hasn't hit me yet
And I know if I go home I'm gonna get upset
It hasn't hit me yet (Ooh)
And I know if I go home I'm gonna get upset
At least tonight, no, I don't feel like crying

[Pre-Chorus]
Wallowing in it would be such a waste
That isn't gonna fix it anyway, no, whoa

[Chorus]
Ooh, yeah
I dry my eyes 'cause I don't feel like crying
Ooh, yeah
At least tonight, no, I don't feel like crying

[Post-Chorus]
It hasn't hit me yet (Ooh)
And I know if I go home I'm gonna get upset, yeah
It hasn't hit me yet
And I know if I go home I'm gonna get upset
It hasn't hit me yet (Ooh)
And I know if I go home I'm gonna get upset
At least tonight, no, I don't feel like crying

"Summer Girl"
L.A. on my mind, I can't breathe
You're there when I close my eyes, so hard to reach
Your smiles turn into crying, it's the same release
And you always know, and you always know

I'm your summer girl
I'm your summer girl
I'm your summer girl
I'm your summer girl

Du-du, du-du-du-du
Du-du-du-du, du-du-du-du-du
Du-du, du-du-du-du
Du-du-du-du, du-du-du-du-du
Du-du, du-du-du-du
Du-du-du-du, du-du-du-du-du
Du-du, du-du-du-du
Du-du-du-du, du-du-du-du-du

Lightning in your eyes, you can't speak
Falling from the sky, down to me
I see it in your face, I'm relief
I'm your summer girl

I'm your summer girl
I'm your summer girl
I'm your summer girl
I'm your summer girl
I'm your summer girl
I'm your summer girl

Du-du, du-du-du-du
Du-du-du-du, du-du-du-du-du
Du-du, du-du-du-du
Du-du-du-du, du-du-du-du-du
Du-du, du-du-du-du
Du-du-du-du, du-du-du-du-du
Du-du, du-du-du-du
Du-du-du-du, du-du-du-du-du

Peer around the corner at you
From over my shoulder I need you
I need you to understand
These are the earthquake drills that we ran
Under the freeway overpasses
The tears behind your dark sunglasses
The fears inside your heart as deep as gashes
You walk beside me, not behind me
Feel my unconditional love

Du-du, du-du-du-du
Du-du-du-du, du-du-du-du-du
Du-du, du-du-du-du
Du-du-du-du, du-du-du-du-du
Du-du, du-du-du-du
Du-du-du-du, du-du-du-du-du

And I can see the angels coming down
Like a wave that's crashing on the ground
I can see the angels coming now
Like a wave that's crashing on the ground

And wasn't there a Celine Dion song about LA? Why, yes, I think there was!


There were moments, there were lifetimes, there were days.

And facing it together - the way old friends do.

You and I can share the silence 
Finding comfort together 
The way old friends do 
And after fights and words of violence 
We make up with each other 
The way old friends do 
Times of joy and times of sorrow 
We will always see it through 
Oh I don't care what comes tomorrow 
We can face it together 
The way old friends do 

You and I can share the silence 
Finding comfort together 
The way old friends do 
And after fights and words of violence 
We make up with each other 
The way old friends do 
Times of joy and times of sorrow 
We will always see it through 
Oh I don't care what comes tomorrow 
We can face it together 
The way old friends do 

We can face it together 
The way old friends do

I actually think this is a good ending.

And if you are still wondering When will I be famous?

like the people in SongLyricsSunday ...

Trust me you won't die wondering.


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