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Thread: New annotations (Read 16329 times) |
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Andrew Curry
MV Feature
a working man is more than flesh and bone
Posts: 39
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Re: New annotations (Thief in the Night)
« Reply #20: 17.12.06 at 17:25 » |
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<< A guitar reminds you of death and taxes >>
i think this line also deserves an annotation:
Benjamin Franklin, 1706-1790, "In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes."
Franklin was one of the Founding Fathers of the American republic (and therefore one of the signatories of the Declaration of Independence.) As a scientist he conducted some of the influential early experiments about electricity and as a diplomat secured the French support that won the war of independence against the British. He uses the phrase in a letter written in 1789, a year before his death.
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https://peteatkin.com/forum?board=Words&action=display&num=1143396684&start=20#20  |
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Andrew Curry
MV Feature
a working man is more than flesh and bone
Posts: 39
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Re: annotations (DTMA)
« Reply #21: 17.12.06 at 18:49 » |
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Just noticed this one:
<< No-one had even heard of Herman Kahn
Hudson Institute is a private, not-for-profit research organization
founded in 1961 by the late Herman Kahn.>>
The annotation is correct, but only tells half the story. Herman Kahn was a futurist who developed the use of scenarios at the Hudson Institute to explore the possible consequences of nuclear war. One of these, for example, was the 'mutually assured destruction' scenario. Although he maintained that the only way to realise the potential horror of nuclear war was to imagine the consequences, some thought he relished some of the outcomes; the Dr Strangelove character in Stanley Kubrick's film, who ends up, IIRC, riding a nuclear missile down towards the earth, was partly based on Kahn.
Apologies for the typos in the earlier post about Bird and Diz. Too much haste.
Andrew
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https://peteatkin.com/forum?board=Words&action=display&num=1143396684&start=21#21 |
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Colin Crooks
MV Feature
The Hypertension Kid
Posts: 46
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Re: New annotations
« Reply #23: 05.01.07 at 16:57 » |
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Just as an aside, there is a tenuous link between "The Prince of Aquitaine" and Donald Swann of Flanders and Swann.
In "At the Drop of a Hat" Donald Swann sang his own setting of "El Desdischado" under the title "Je suis le Ténébreux".
Happy New Year to you all!
Colin
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https://peteatkin.com/forum?board=Words&action=display&num=1143396684&start=23#23 |
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Richard Hales
MV Fresher
Armchair Hero
Posts: 8
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Re: New annotations
« Reply #24: 05.01.07 at 18:32 » |
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Reference "Shadow and the Widower"...
This is all very interesting but what is the song about?
It has always made me think of a 50s black and white movie scenario. The images are very cinematic. The shadow is literally that of a hitman (common James theme) lurking with a gun (widow maker) and seems to me to be a metaphor for impending tragedy. Cheerful little ditty - but I love it. (even if I have missed the point!)
Richard
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https://peteatkin.com/forum?board=Words&action=display&num=1143396684&start=24#24 |
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Secret Drinker
MV Fixture
Paul Gunningham, MoM
Posts: 207
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Re: New annotations
« Reply #25: 05.01.07 at 19:34 » |
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on 05.01.07 at 15:50, S J Birkill wrote:
Re. the "envelope of sugar" in Prince of Aquitaine: I recognised this instantly - returning from my first ever trip to the US (on business, in my first job, in 1973, the year the album came out), I brought back all kinds of "plunder" including several of these; plus all kinds of other junk, such as baseball caps (these were not at all common in the UK then) and Sesame Street puppets (the programme wasn't shown in the UK until later - that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it!) 
It would all seem a bit sad now, I agree, but travel to the States from the UK for ordinary folk like me was fairly rare then, and a bit of a novelty, in the days before Laker and Easyjet 
It was little phrases like this that made Clive's lyrics stand out for me back then
Cheers
Paul
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https://peteatkin.com/forum?board=Words&action=display&num=1143396684&start=25#25 |
Staving off the pressure... by drinking real ale
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Richard Bleksley
MV Fixture
My time has come to find a better way
Posts: 164
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Re: New annotations
« Reply #26: 06.01.07 at 01:05 » |
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Thanks, Andrew. I'd always assumed that Clive hadn't invented the phrase "the shadow and the widower" himself, but had no idea where it came from. Ah, that Clive and his literary references!
Switching with bewildering speed to The Prince of Aquitaine, I wonder if "la tour abolie" might be a reference to the tarot trump called "The Tower," even though its French name, for some reason, is "La Maison Dieu." For those unfamiliar, the card (at least in traditional tarot packs) depicts a tower being destroyed by lightning, with people falling off it. Its interpretations include a sudden change, crisis or upheaval; release (as in an emotional outburst); a humiliation or reversal of fortune; and a sudden revelation or insight.
Hmm...
Richard
(getting a bit occult in Sutton, Surrey)
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https://peteatkin.com/forum?board=Words&action=display&num=1143396684&start=26#26 |
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Mike Walters
MV Fixture
Posts: 127
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Re: New annotations
« Reply #27: 06.01.07 at 10:47 » |
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On the subject of 'The Prince of Acquitaine', a few days ago Steve M, in adding his votes to the end of year poll, also made reference to the London Daily Photo blog. I was intrigued, so Googled it and, with characteristic Google serendipity, was directed to a page with a certain Atkinesque (or, rather, Jamesian) resonance...
http://londondailyphoto.blogspot.com/2006/12/burnham-wood.html
Excellent blog as well, so thanks for Steve M for pointing to it.
Happy new year to everyone
Mike
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https://peteatkin.com/forum?board=Words&action=display&num=1143396684&start=27#27 |
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Andrew Curry
MV Feature
a working man is more than flesh and bone
Posts: 39
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Re: New annotations
« Reply #28: 06.01.07 at 20:07 » |
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Richard wrote:
<<I wonder if "la tour abolie" might be a reference to the tarot trump called "The Tower," even though its French name, for some reason, is "La Maison Dieu." For those unfamiliar, the card (at least in traditional tarot packs) depicts a tower being destroyed by lightning, with people falling off it. Its interpretations include a sudden change, crisis or upheaval; release (as in an emotional outburst); a humiliation or reversal of fortune; and a sudden revelation or insight.>>
Right on the money, Richard! I'm not an expert on Nerval, but the essay in the translation I have does say that Nerval was fascinated with the Tarot and its imagery and it is embedded throughout the poem sequence which El Desdischado comes from.
Andrew
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https://peteatkin.com/forum?board=Words&action=display&num=1143396684&start=28#28 |
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hamilton
MV Fresher
Posts: 6
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Re: New annotations
« Reply #29: 07.01.07 at 00:49 » |
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Mike,
>>On the subject of 'The Prince of Acquitaine', a few days ago Steve M, in adding his votes to the end of year poll, also made reference to the London Daily Photo blog. I was intrigued, so Googled it and, with characteristic Google serendipity, was directed to a page with a certain Atkinesque (or, rather, Jamesian) resonance...<<
Thanks for the link, and I'm pleased you like my blog. You may or may not recognise my name as I don't post here often, but I've been around since the early days of Smash Flops and the mailing list. All things being equal, I'll be at the Wood Street gig on the 11th Feb, and Pete will be featured on the blog the next day.
Hamilton
===
http://londondailyphoto.blogspot.com
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https://peteatkin.com/forum?board=Words&action=display&num=1143396684&start=29#29 |
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Richard Bleksley
MV Fixture
My time has come to find a better way
Posts: 164
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Re: New annotations
« Reply #30: 15.01.07 at 11:09 » |
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That nice Mr. Birkill is letting me blow my own trumpet this time, so this is just to announce that I've had a go at annotating The Last Hill That Shows You All the Valley.
The results can be found here.
http://www.peteatkin.com/c6a.htm
Richard
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https://peteatkin.com/forum?board=Words&action=display&num=1143396684&start=30#30 |
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