euphemisms in our time

         In 1992 when the secret love affair between Sarah Ferguson, wife of Prince Andrew, and an American man named John Bryan slipped into the popular media and tabloids, one news story said that Sarah was "cavorting topless in the south of France."

There's a phrase.

        "John Bryan was described as Fergie's financal advisor," stated one commentator.  With a droll hint of a smile playing about his lips, he added, "Now, I've heard some euphemisms in my time, but - financial advisor, that was a new one."

Dickie Arbiter, journalist and commentator on the British Royal Family, says the photographs from the south of France sojourn and the public reaction effectively pushed Andrew and Sarah to divorce.  

        He went on:  "I don't think anybody was particularly sorry when she went, but she didn't go quietly, and she hasn't been quiet ever since!" - with a slight twitch as his face wants to smile.

        This is typical of the idiosyncratic relationship these "royal experts" or "royal commentators" seem to have with the royal family and the public.  The audience perceives the commenter to be criticizing, even shaming, the person they're talking about (Sarah, in this case) and yet there's an attitude of bemusement at the actions, and lingering affection for the perpetrator of said actions.

        "...She didn't' go quietly, and she hasn't been quiet ever since!"

In one podcast, a participant stated that "Fergie" (Sarah's nickname) is his favorite royal, and he will "stand by that."

        It's like, they pretend to be shocked or scandalized, but really they are mightily entertained, and helping to provide these reports for the "entertainment" of the public - the "subjects" of the Queen.

---------------------------------------------------------

And a "cherry-on-top" of the Andrew-Sarah story is, that after their 1996 divorce was finalized, they continued to live together!  

        They had two daughters to bring up, and Sarah has said "we're a happy divorced couple."

royal commentator Dickie Arbiter

Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson    (1986)

-30-

19th Nervous Breakdown

 People in England talk about, and read about, their Royal Family quite a lot.

Not all the people, of course.

But it is a phenomenon.

There's a lot of talkin' about the Royal Family, and its members.

Talking, and writing.  Articles, and books.  On and on and on.

The podcasts, the podcasts, the videos, Oh My!

        TIna Brown wrote, in her biography of Diana, that most English people have dreamed about Queen Elizabeth II sometime during their lives.

        (Some people might think that to be a little weird.)

The Royal Family is an ancient institution, meant to give continuity, and thereby stability, to the nation by providing "a focal point" for the population.  The people can have the members of the Royal Family as a focal point, a symbol of an "ideal family" that is meant to be relatable for most people.

        Great Britain's royal family is - an idea.

        Its members are supposed to be dignified, and steadfast, and never get divorced.

Being human, and never supposed to have any scandals, there are, of course, scandals.  Or - maybe you could say ... surprises.

In the documentary about 1992, the "Annus horribilis," they talk about when news broke that Sarah, the Duchess of York, wife of Prince Andrew, had been seeing an American man named Steve Wyatt.

        I remember that.  And I wasn't even particularly looking for news about Sarah - my only slight interest in her would have been because she was "Diana-adjacent"... But I remember that name - Steve Wyatt, an oil millionaire from Texas.  And then months later it was in the magazines that Sarah was now going out with another American, John Bryan.

        All this dating around while she was married....  (Her husband was often away from home with the Navy.)

Discussing the Steve Wyatt relationship, author Andrew Morton said Wyatt referred to the Duchess as "mah woman."

        It's hilarious to hear him say this, because he has a typical upper-middle-class English accent, but when he says "mah woman" he tries to do what he thinks is a Texas accent, but it is overlaid by the English... it's like when you listen to Mick Jagger sing, and you ask yourself, "Is he singing with a Southern accent or an English accent?"

(answer:  Yes.)

   

Andrew Morton, author of Diana, Her True Story

-30-

heckled

England's King Charles was heckled by a guy in a crowd near a Cathedral he was visiting, in late October of this year.

        "How long have you known about Andrew and Epstein?" the heckler called out.  "Have you asked the police to cover up for Andrew, Charles?"

Some of the other people there started yelling at the guy.  They were just there to see the king....

        Heckling is sort of an unofficial form of "lobbying," you could say.  Noisy lobbying.  The guy was requesting answers, and clarification - transparency.

There's an interview on You Tube with Melinda Gates (ex-wife of Bill Gates) where she says the fact that her then-husband had gone to meetings with Jeffrey Epstein was one contributing factor in their divorce.

She says, "I wanted to see who this man [Epstein] was.  And - I regretted it from the second I stepped in the door.  He was abhorrent, he was evil personified.  I had nightmares about it, afterwards."

        A pretty strong statement.

-30-

...so many royal experts...

 Listening to a conversation about Britain's royals in a You Tube video, I heard the same commentator, Tom Bower, call scoldingly for Meghan Markle to forgive her father, and later declare triumphantly that Prince William "will never forgive!" his brother Harry.

Okay.  

Must sprinkle that forgiveness sparingly.

(No pun intended with the word "spare" since Harry's own memoir was titled Spare.)

Robert Jobson, biographer and commentator on the British Royal Family

-30-

the princess is not the issue

 

        I was typing thoughts on here yesterday, and then later it occurred to me that I hadn't made it clear and concise - I was too wound up....

What I was trying to express was:  

        When a person or a group questions something, it seems wrong, to me, if government representatives respond by complaining about the people doing the questioning, instead of addressing the issue.

~  In 1968, protests against America's involvement in the Vietnam War:  Nixon complains about the protesters.

        No, he should have talked about our involvement in the war and made a case for the government policy he favors.

~  In 1997, Princess Diana highlights the land-mines issue: members of Parliament respond by bitching about the Princess.

        No, they should have talked about why they think land mines are necessary and maybe outline plans for protecting civilians from injury - like, a civilian safety strategy or something.

These people, they don't talk about the subject that's being brought up, they just try to smear the person, or group, that brought it up.

That's not an answer, and it's not a defense of their policy, or position.

This behavior seems dishonest, and immature, and arrogant.

        ...And not productive or helpful.

-30-

Nixon Now; Nixon then; now and then......

 September 27th and 28th of this year, I was thinking about some of the things presidential candidate Richard Nixon said back in the day, and it seemed to me that instead of addressing the issue, he was just complaining about the protesters.

Like - "Stop saying things!  Only I can say things!"

It was kind of similar to the situation when Princess Diana campaigned against land mines in 1997, the last year of her life before the car wreck, and the Tories (conservatives) in the British Parliament said, "She's a loose cannon, and working for the Labour Party!"

They're just hoping listeners will say, "Oh, well, if she's on the side of the Labour Party then she must be evil, and land mines that maim and kill little kids in the countries where they are planted are -- what?  --  very very good and must be protected??!!  Hello?!

'Oh!  Labour Party!  Liberals!  AAaaaauuuugggghhhh!'

They're just trying to get the public to hate somebody.

        Meanwhile, I don't think the so-called "Labour Party" was saying anything at all about the lethal land mines (which they probably should have); only Diana was taking up that issue and highlighting it. 

------------------------------------------------------------

You know, saying, "Someone who thinks differently from me is completely illegitimate because I say so" is not a strong argument for your position on the actual issue. ...

-30-

something shiny...for children to pick up...?

 

In the 2007 film Charlie Wilson's War, there's a scene where Democratic Congressman Charlie Wilson is conversing with Gust Avrokatos, CIA agent, and he says, of his recent trip to the Middle East, "I saw two kids, had their hands blown off, when they tried to pick up somethin' shiny..."

Gust says, "Sometimes the kids think those bombs are toys."

Wilson:  "For children to pick up."

Gust:  "Yeah."

... they're talking about land mines, which Princess Diana, in the last year of her life, campaigned against.

And the "conservative" people in the British Parliament complained about her, said she was "a loose cannon" and working for the "Labour Party."

How they could stand up for land mines vs. Princess Diana trying to get rid of them, is beyond me.

-30-

ghastly

 1992, for the British Royal Family, was kind of book-ended by not one, and not two, but three marriages that were shown to be disintegrating:  

Charles and Diana;

Andrew and Sarah;

and Princess Anne and her husband Mark Phillips.

And none of these people are "supposed to" get divorced.  Ever.  It's the old standard that's meant to be held to.

        A commentator in one of the documentaries on You Tube, Ian Hislop, tells us, "The Windsor Dynasty is to be thought terrifically dull.  The point is, you're not meant to envy their lifestyle, you're  meant to think, 'Oh, Scotland, cold, dogs, horses,  waving.'  And - unfortunately - they started getting interesting."

        When Sarah Ferguson got married to Prince Andrew in the '80s - "Initially, everyone said 'isn't she a marvelous breath of fresh air - oh, this is what the royals need, you know, new blood.'  And then new blood comes along and people go, 'Oh God, she's ghastly!'"

Meghan Markle, 31 years later:  same drill.

-30-

undiluted pleasure

 

The Queen's "Annus horribilis" speech is on You Tube, if you want to hear it.

"1992 is not a year on which I shall look back with undiluted pleasure...."

        (She's engaging in British understatement.)

-30-

freakin' 1992

 On You Tube there are videos about the royal family.

(When I say "the royal family" I always mean the British Royal Family - I rarely think about any other royal families - no offense to any of them....)

There are so many videos about them, you almost wouldn't believe it.

They fall into two categories:

1.  documentaries - where there's a narrator, they tell a story, show a lot of pictures and film clips, and have different people commenting and contributing.

and, 2.  podcasts - where it's people in a room (or on Zoom) having conversations about some person or situation in the British RF.

        Some of these, particularly the podcasts may be a little "gossipy" and then I sort of tell myself, 'Should I be listening to this?'

        But some of the podcasts, and most of the documentaries, tell us some information that we can use to inform our knowledge about our own government and society and way of life.

With those English accents, they pronounce the word controversy as

"cahn - TROV - er - see"

whereas in America we pronounce it

CON - truh - ver - see.

And while we pronounce the word privacy as

PRI - vah - see,

with the first syllable rhyming with "sigh,"

in England they say

"PRIV - ah - see", with the first syllable rhyming with "give."

There's one video titled Annus Horribilis:  How 1992 Changed The Monarchy Forever | The Queen's Worst Year.

        The channel / uploader is "Real Royalty."

So many things happened in the year 1992 that gave the royal family bad publicity, toward the end, when Windsor Castle had even caught on fire, the Queen gave a speech in which she said 1992 had been an "Annus horribilis" - Latin for "horrible year."

        I remember speaking on the phone with my parents; my main concern in all that royal drama was the book about Princess Diana that came out (written by Andrew Morton), saying Prince Charles had maintained a romance with Camilla Parker-Bowles throughout his marriage with Diana.  

        My dad expressed sympathy for Diana, and then mentioned how the Queen called it the "annus horribilis" - he was mildly impressed by that - he always liked languages....

Most people don't use much Latin anymore.

Some of the lobbyists I worked with in the 1990s would wear a button on the last day of the legislative session, expressing some humorous thought in Latin... I think some of 'em went to Catholic school back in the day, and that might have been where they picked up some Latin.

the Windsor Castle fire    1992

-30-

"hope is back on the map"

 On You Tube, there's a video with the title:

"Trump, Turn the Volume Up!" - Zohran Mamdani's Fiery Victory Speech Rocks NYC

        It's an interesting speech.  

                (It was made two weeks ago, when he won the election as New York City Mayor.)

I only heard of this guy because I recently listened to an interview with the filmmaker Woody Allen, on a channel called "The Free Press."  The interviewer was a young lady, asking Woody who he planned to vote for in the mayor race in New York City.  She suggested the name "Mamdani," and I thought "Who??"

        Woody Allen answered her, Well, no, he was sure Mamdani's heart was in the right place and he wanted good things for the people, but he, himself, was going to vote for Andrew Cuomo (the "establishment" choice) because he thinks Mr. Cuomo "can do the best job" for New Yorkers.

(It's, as Phoebe Buffay says in a Friends episode - "the age thing.")

The young lady doing the interview had an enthusiasm for Mamdani - you could tell by how she suggested his name; but Woody Allen, though young at heart, is almost 90 years old, and he was going with the already-been-governor establishment guy, son of Mario Cuomo:  Andrew Cuomo (though - it appears - he's apparently a tad problematic)....

        A Comment under the video says, of Mamdani,

"He stood tall against money, lies, and power and won.  

Hope's back on the map."

-30-

a Mamdani state of mind

Some folks like to get away

Take a holiday from the neighborhood

Hop a flight to Miami Beach

Or to Hollywood

But I'm taking a Greyhound

On the Hudson River Line

I'm in a New York state of mind

--  Billy Joel

Recent election of a new mayor for New York City:  voters selected Zohran Mamdani.  He begins the job in January.

He has promised to address the issue of New York City being unaffordable to live in.

The young voters like him.

        His opponent was Andrew Cuomo, former governor of New York state.  (When I think of Andrew Cuomo or his brother Chris Cuomo who has been a news-reader on TV, my thoughts always lead to their dad, Mario Cuomo, who was the governor of New York for three terms, 1983 - 1994.)

The grandson of President John Kennedy, Jack Schlossberg, is running for the U.S. House of Representatives.

        And - back to Andrew Cuomo - from 1990 to 2005 he was married to Kerry Kennedy, who is a sister of Robert Kennedy Jr., who is currently Secretary of Health and Human Services.

(Four days ago, a post on social media showed Robert Kennedy Jr. and his current wife with Dwight Yoakam and it said they're having a "night of hillbilly music."

Three days ago, a post on a different platform shows the same photograph and it says they're having "a night of country music.")

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Zohran Mamdani

Mario Cuomo (1932 - 2015)

Jack Schlossberg

-30-

I saw her from the corner, when she turned and doubled back...

 On You Tube, video titled

Chuck Berry & Keith Richards - Nadine

uploader / channel:  BestMasterGuitar

        Go to it, and Play!

In the very first millisecond of the video, the guy with the saxophone is Bobby Keys. 

Then - the camera pans to the right, and there's Keith, standing, playing his guitar.  Then close-up on Chuck Berry's face as he's singing the song "Nadine" and playing his guitar.

        (Some of the criticisms of rock-and-roll music that I used to hear from the older generations was, "We can't understand the words!"  But with Chuck Berry, that isn't an issue - his diction is precise.)

At 1:20 is the famous "duck-walk."

        Something I heard TIna Turner say in an interview was, that she really liked to try and "act" a song, as well as sing it.  -  At 2:02 in the "Nadine" video, we see Chuck Berry acting the song, a bit.  ("Whoa!  Nadine! - Is that you?")

Chuck Berry; Keith Richards

-30-

everybody knows who John Lennon is

 

Like with that middle eastern taxi driver in L.A. - wondering if someone knows the same things you know - once when I was substitute teaching in the high school, I had a little presentation all prepared for the English class.

Talking about songs as poetry.

I brought in the DVD of the Chuck Berry documentary Hail, Hail, Rock And Roll and I had it organized so I could play for the students three short segments in the film:

one where Bruce Springsteen spoke

one in which John Lennon spoke 

and then a song performed by Chuck Berry and the band Keith Richards put together for the movie.

We put the lyrics of the song on the white-board (is that what it's called? - I don't know...)

        And before I played the three segments, I asked the class - you know Bruce Springsteen and his music, right?

Yes.

Then I asked if they all knew who John Lennon was.

One kid spoke (without raising his hand to be recognized, I will add), saying, with that air of weary contempt that young people sometimes use toward adults, "Everybody knows who John Lennon is!"

I said, "OK, good - I'm in a different age group from you guys, so I don't know what you know, that's the only reason I asked...."

        Then we watched the three segments of the movie.

        The class was absolutely silent the whole time.

        After the song was over and I turned off the TV, one boy in the front row said to me, "I really like that kind of music."

As I got on a city bus and found a vacant seat

I thought I saw my future bride walkin' up the street

I shouted to the driver, "Hey conductor, you must -

Slow down I think I see her, please let me off this bus"

Nadine! - honey is that you?

Oh, Nadine, honey, is that you?

Seem like every time I see you darling, you got something else to do

I saw her from the corner when she turned and doubled back

And started walkin' toward a coffee colored Cadillac

I was pushin' through the crowd tryna get to where she's at

I was campaignin', shoutin' like a southern diplomat

Nadine, honey is that you?

Oh, Nadine, honey where are you?

Seem like every time I catch up with you, you're up to something new

Downtown searching for her, looking all around

Saw her getting in a yellow cab heading uptown

I caught a loaded taxi, paid up everybody's tab

Flipped a 20 dollar bill, told him, "Catch that yellow cab"

Nadine, honey is that you?

Oh, Nadine, honey, is that you?

Seems like every time I catch up with you, you're up to something new

She moves around like a wayward summer breeze

Go, driver, go, go, catch her for me, please

Moving through the traffic like a mounted cavalier

Leaning out the taxi window tryna make her hear

Nadine, honey is that you?

Oh, Nadine...

-30-

you go see Rolling Stones?

In the late 1990s, maybe '98, I went to Los Angeles, California to shop around a screenplay I had written, and to see the Rolling Stones in concert.

        Got a taxi to the stadium where they were performing.  The driver was from some country in the Middle East - on his head was a turban (if that's the right word).  He drove well in that mangly traffic they have out there, was quiet and polite.

As we got close to the event location, he asked, "You go see Rolling Stones?"

His accent:  he pronounced rolling as "Rawling," rhyming with calling.

And stones he pronounced as if the "o" was two "oo"s rhyming with the double-o's in cook, or book...

"You go see Rawling stuhns?"

I answered yes, and probably added something like, I listen to their music, this will be first time to see them in concert....

        I really liked that he knew who the Rolling Stones were, and maybe liked their music, as I do.  It gave me a good feeling.

You know - when someone is from the Middle East, you don't know what they know.

Do they know the same things that I know?

They might not even know who the Rolling Stones or Bob Dylan are, but then they could know a lot of music that is not familiar to me...

        Those little micro-connections, in life....

-30-

crossfire hurricane

 When I was in college, some guy told me in a sort of definitive statement, "The Rolling Stones are the greatest rock-and-roll band in the world."

I had not thought of it like that, but it sounded right to me.

Not that there aren't many other fantastic bands, and I love them too.  But the Stones have their own space - their own cloud.

("Hey, hey!

You, you!

Get off-a my cloud!")

So many wonderful songs and performances.  Similar to Bob Dylan - it's a wealth of material to listen to, and more to discover.  It feels luxurious, and wondrous.

        On Amazon Prime, there's a documentary from the Stones' 50th anniversary (in 2012).  It's called The Rolling Stones - Crossfire Hurricane.

That phrase is from their song "Jumpin' Jack Flash," which begins (after the instrumental intro) - "I was born - in a crossfire hurricane..."

-30-

the greatest rock-and-roll band in the world

 Recently I came across the Rolling Stones on Tik Tok, sandwiched in between cat videos.

Several, with Mick singing "Country Honk" - it's a variation on their song "Honky Tonk Women."

(One Comment said, "The Rolling Stones are more country than today's country music.")

        I first heard Rolling Stones music when I went to college in Boston.  In my freshman year, living in the dorm called Warren Towers, on Commonwealth Avenue, I listened to WBCN and heard a song:

...no one knows,

she comes and goes,

good-bye, Ruby Tuesday,

who could hang a name on you

when you change with every new day,

still, I'm gonna miss you...

        I told the guy I was dating that I heard this song I liked by The Beatles, called "Ruby Tuesday" - he corrected this immediately, (and with a sort of startled expression, as if I was a stranger who had just stepped out of a space capsule from another planet), saying, "That isn't the Beatles, it's the Rolling Stones."

        (All those English accents...)

-30-

"you're lookin' at country"

 I like that part in Coal Miner's Daughter where Loretta tells her husband Doolittle, "I didn't know you knew so much about the music business."

He answers her, "I just pick it up as I go along, listenin' to people talk."

        Whomever he was hanging out with, or seeing at his job - some of them must have been discussing and dreaming about making hit records.

        In a book about soul music, it said in the middle of the last century - post World War II and on into the '60s and '70s, all over the American South there were people soundproofing rooms with egg cartons and buying what equipment they could find and afford, to make records.

        They talk about this phenomenon in the Muscle Shoals documentary, as well.

In Coal Miner's Daughter, when Doolittle and Loretta visit the first radio station to encourage the D.J. to play her song on-air, the announcer kind of snaps at them impatiently, "Do you know how many do-it-yourself records I get in here every week?!  If I played 'em all, I wouldn't have time to play anything else!"

Mr. Lynn, with no music-business background, and no fancy "connections," launches his wife's singing career:  pretty impressive.

        Recently listening to the movie, I noticed how a radio personality tells them their record is on the charts and it's "Number fourteen, nationwide!"

        And then within the next couple of scenes, Doolittle encourages Loretta to realize she probably can get on the stage at the Grand Old Opry because, "We're Number fourteen - nationwide!"

He learns on the fly - he was a smart and creative person.

(It occurred to me he could have gone to college on the G.I. Bill, having served in the Army during World War II - as he says in the movie, "I went a-shore at D-Day plus four, and stayed in combat 'til the damn thing was over.")

-30-

number 14 nationwide

 In the movie Coal Miner's Daughter, the true story of Loretta Lynn's early life and career, there's a sequence where Loretta and her husband Doolittle drive around the Southern states visiting radio stations and asking them to play her first record, on the Zero label, "Honky-Tonk Girl."

I was trying to find the actors who portray the DJs they meet - one I didn't think I would find because I don't believe he's credited in the film, but IMDB saved the day - he's an actor named Royce Clark, pictured at the bottom of this post.

        There's a scene where he's interviewing Loretta (played by Sissy Spacek) on-air:  he's smoking a cigarette - no "Mind if I smoke?" in those days... Loretta makes a mistake and says the word "horny" on the air - everybody is like, "What??!!"

        She doesn't know what it means - she says, apologetically, "I didn't know it was dirty!"

A station manager stomps in and berates her and adds, "I ain't never playin' another record of yours on this station!"

        As Loretta and Doolittle are on their way out, the DJ played by Royce Clark catches up with them and tells them, "Don't worry about him.  If you're on the charts, you're gonna get played."

They don't know what the "charts" are; he tells them, and explains, "You're Number 14, nationwide!"

When the couple arrive in Nashville and park by the Grand Old Opry, Loretta worries that they won't let her in, to perform, because she hasn't 'paid her dues' yet.  Doolittle says, "How they gonna keep us out?"  Then the camera is up above them looking down, and Doolittle (played by Tommy Lee Jones) is looking up as he says in a wondrous tone, "We're Number fourteen - nationwide!"

Royce Clark

-30-

my soul flies

 

Viewer comments under the "Drivin' Nails in my Coffin" video on You Tube:

~~  I'm not generally a fan of country music, but once in a while..... Man, I love this.

       Strangely, I was in a Chipotle restaurant this evening, and as I stood in line this song came up.  I was transfixed.  I almost let out a YEE HAW!  

I listened hard to the lyrics and committed the line, "Drivin' Nails in my Coffin" to my memory, and now....here I am.  

        Hell yeah.

~~  My dad was a musician and singer.  He used to sing this song when I was a kid.  He was a huge Ernest Tubb fan.

~~  Hi, I'm from Denmark.  We listened to Ernest on the radio in the 60s.  He was a character.  A haunting steel guitar and a familiar, drawling voice that made you feel good.  

~~  Ernest was ROCKIN' a lot harder than most, in 1961 or whenever this was.

~~  Love it!  Great lyrics.  Heard it on "Dark Winds" and had to find it.

~~  Texas two-step music at its finest, the guitar work is off the freaking hook!!!

~~  Dig it!

~~  Fantastic musicians.

~~  Watching the joy and the enthusiasm they played with made it more enjoyable.

~~  Now that's some rocking country music.  Rock on !

~~  This video never gets old this performance is amazing.

~~  One of a kind voice and great musicians / group.  Love the acoustic bass . . . perfect mix of them all together.

~~  My goodness, this is full of life, My soul flies when this song is playing.

-30-

I've been so sad and so blue

 In the movie Coal Miner's Daughter, the Ernest Tubb country song "Walkin' The Floor Over You" is heard twice - in an early scene, Loretta and one of her brothers listen to the song on the radio, in the mountain cabin which is the family home.

        Later on, when Loretta and her husband Doolittle Lynn arrive in Nashville and go to the Grand Old Opry, Ernest Tubb is there singing the song.

        (His style is so relaxed, the music seems to flow from him effortlessly.)

        The song provides "bookends" to an arc within the story - as a thirteen-year-old girl, Loretta listens to the song on the radio; years later, as she works toward a singing career for herself, she is right there with Ernest Tubb in person, as he performs the song.

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        Contemplating Ernest Tubb made me curious about his music - You Tube showed me a song of his titled "Drivin' Nails in my Coffin."

(??!!?)

(LOL - I swear, country music has more clever, double-edged lyrics and outrageous song titles than any other genre.)

        "driving nails in my coffin" - your own coffin?

        Who is hammering - no, driving - these nails?

        What are the circumstances?

        I mean, when they're hammering these nails, are you in the coffin, at the time??

                lol, cannot get past that song title...

                        What a concept....

On You Tube, video titled:

Ernest Tubb - Drivin' Nails in my Coffin

uploader / channel:  Tom Margetis

        It's a live performance, from the early-ish days of television.  Listeners rampage gleefully through the Comments, cheering what a terrific band Ernest has.

Enjoy.

the "Grand Ole Opry"

-30-

walkin' the floor over you

        In the movie Coal Miner's Daughter, Loretta Lynn's husband Doolittle buys her a guitar as an anniversary present:  she is surprised, and kind of dismayed.  She says to him, "I can't play that thing!"

He answers, "Most people can't, without they learn how first, god-da..."

        "You aren't too ignorant to learn, are ya?"

        I am fascinated and entertained by the way he uses the language - "most people can't without they learn how first..."        

        The word "without" in that position in the sentence.

        We wouldn't use it like that in all parts of America, but I guess in parts of Kentucky, they do.

 

A little later in the movie, Loretta and Doolittle take their four little children with them to a recording studio to make Loretta's first record - a song she wrote herself, called "Honky-Tonk Girl."

        In the car on the way there, Doolittle explains, "The thing that's gonna give you the edge is gettin' yourself a record.  And the next step's even more important than that, and that's gettin' people to play the dad-burn thing.  

        But right now, what you and me have to worry about, is you makin' the best doggone record you can.  It all depends on that, darlin'."

Loretta - "Boy! Doo, I didn't know you knew so much about the music business."

Doo - "I don't.  I'm just figuring it out as I go along, listening to people talk."

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        A cool thing about this movie is, it has classic country singer Ernest Tubb playing himself.  The photograph down at the bottom of this post is of the actress Sissy Spacek playing Loretta Lynn in the film, and Ernest Tubb as himself.

Go on You Tube and type in

Ernest Tubb, walking the floor over you

Select your video and play-and-enjoy

I'm walkin' the floor over you,

I can't sleep a wink, that is true,

I'm hoping and I'm praying

As my heart breaks right in two,

Walkin' the floor over you...

   

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leaving Butcher Hollow

 
Bob Dylan and The Band

The character in Coal Miner's Daughter that gives the advice, "coal mine, moonshine, or move on down the line" was portrayed by the actor William Sanderson.

        You might have seen him in the 1980s situation-comedy Newhart:  he and two other guys would walk in the room and Sanderson's character would say, "Hi, I'm Larry, and this is my brother Daryl, and this here's my other brother Daryl."

Another aspect of the movie which I found interesting is, Loretta Lynn's father is portrayed by Levon Helm, who is better known as drummer for The Band, than as an actor, but he played the hell out of this role.

        In the movie, after Loretta and Doolittle Lynn have been married for a short time, they separate, then meet up and Doo tells her, "I'm leavin' Kentucky."  He's going out west to Washington state and find a job.

He says, "There ain't nothin' for me in Kentucky, Loretta.  Except a chest full of coal dust and bein' a old man, time I'm forty; ask your daddy."

He says, You got to come with me; I love ya, and he tells her he's going to send for her to come out and join him as soon as he has the money.

I kind of wondered why he picked Washington state.  To get far away from Kentucky?  Go any further, he'd be in the Pacific Ocean.

        When Coal Miner's Daughter came out in 1980, I decided I wanted to see it based on a review I read in The New Yorker magazine - probably written by Pauline Kael.  I remember it said the story-telling style in the film was, "This happened, then this happened, then this happened...."

Levon Helm and Sissy Spacek in Coal Miner's Daughter

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advice from a moonshine entrepreneur

 

In the movie Coal Miner's Daughter, the character pictured above advises Doolittle Lynn, "If you're born in the mountains, you've got three choices:  coal mine; moonshine; or Get on down the line...."

        The early part of this story describes, and reflects, aspects of life in rural Kentucky in the post-World War II era.  Doolittle is back from the Army, and Loretta Webb is just shy of 14 years old when they meet.

There's a kind of depressive atmosphere to some extent - a feeling that these people are oppressed and they believe they can't get out from under the system that oppresses them.

        In one scene Loretta is at home with her parents and siblings.  Her mother takes a few moments to "read" some tea leaves at the bottom of a cup.  She tells her husband, "Bad times is a-comin'" and he replies, "Well, we don't need no fortune-teller to know that." 

        Pessimism.

        Superstition.

        Coal mine; moonshine; or get on down the line.

The viewer might think, "Be more optimistic; encourage one another; get a plan.  This is America, where anything is possible!" - But then also, maybe generational poverty and a local economy with few opportunities does a number on people, and society, that we don't fully understand if we aren't sociologists....

-30-

Babylon at bay

 In that song, "End Of The Line" by the Traveling Wilburys, they mention "Purple Haze." 

        I was wondering if that's a song - I've heard the phrase "purple haze" so typed it on You Tube, and yes, that's a Jimi Hendrix song.

        Then I wondered if I have heard that song, so I played it - Oh yes, I have heard that many times, I just didn't know the title of it.

Bringing up "Purple Haze" on You Tube brought a nearby video on a channel called "Behind The Song" talking about a Bob Dylan song that Jimi Hendrix recorded:  "All Along The Watchtower."

        The video begins with a young lady reading a script - the first thing she says is, "Imagine you're Bob Dylan."

        Okay.

She discusses Jimi Hendrix's process in deciding he wanted to record the Dylan song:  "When Dylan sang his lines about princes keeping the view on the watchtower, Hendrix understood that to be him, and Dylan, and the musicians and poets of the world holding Babylon - the oppressive, warring, and impure Babylon - at bay."

Bob Dylan was in the Traveling Wilburys, along with George Harrison (the Beatles), Tom Petty, Roy Orbison, and Jeff Lynne (Electric Light Orchestra).

Jimi Hendrix; Mick Jagger

-30-