I can’t remember ever having written much in the way of poetry, maybe when I was a kid at school but not much since. At our school, which is quite big on paying lip service to things, they have this thing called “Secret Friends” which you can sign up for. What happens is that you…
Finger Pointing Songs: part 5. The Beatles. Or, A Twist (And Shout) Of Lennon.
“I’m really glad that most of our songs were about love, peace and understanding.” Paul McCartney, 1995. Credit where it’s due: when I think about nasty, finger pointing songs, The Beatles aren’t the first band that comes to mind. The earlier stuff was primarily ‘I love you, you love me’ stuff. It wasn’t really until Help!…
Oh! How Strange The Loon. Or, John The Baptist by John & Beverley Martyn.
“Lying and poetry are the arts,” Oscar Wilde, The Decay of Lying. The week before last, something strange happened to my boring website with boring stories about boring things. Last week a lot of people read my post about The Only Living Boy In New York. The reason an unusually large number of people did…
This Sporting Strife. Or, If You Go Down To Haywoods’ Tonight… PGCEs, Exercise and Casually Callous Cruelty.
“By three methods we may learn wisdom: First, by reflection, which is noblest; Second, by imitation, which is easiest; and third by experience, which is the bitterest.” Confucius. “Three things in human life are important: the first is to be kind; the second is to be kind; and the third is to be kind.” Henry…
Finger Pointing Songs: part 4. Indie Sulkers. Or, The Ballad Of The Binned: The Razorcuts, Felt & The Stone Roses.
“I never took much, I never asked for your crutch, Now don’t ask for mine.” Bob Dylan, 4th Time Around lyric. “Know thyself,” Luke 4:23. The Bible, innit? It’s good advice, know thyself. I suppose it’s a bit bleak in a way and I’ve already talked about Goethe’s glib response to it but I suppose…
Finger Pointing Songs: part 3. The Rolling Stones. Or, Wife Beating Man.
The shadow that Bob Dylan cast over the sixties wasn’t only long and broad, it was dark and cold. Once he’d broken through, any number of scruffy young ‘poets’ came out of the woodwork and started telling it like it was. Social justice songs were back on the agenda but that was before his performance…
Finger Pointing Songs: part 2. The Kinks. Or, A Respecter Calls. Or, It’s A Shame About Ray.
“Pity is easy, but it’s difficult to care,” Ray Davies. I like things to make sense and generally, to me at least, they don’t. I look for logic and I look for rationality in everyday life and, when I can’t find much, I can get a bit maudlin. So, what I’m doing here – realistically…
