She’s flying in the fashion now,
Seems to have a will of her own.
I’ve always liked Sir Julian Of Cope’s World Shut Your Mouth. It’s a meat and potatoes stomper, but a hell of a catchy one. I remember watching JC perform it on Top Of The Pops in the 80s, all dark sunglasses and gangly, leather-clad limbs, writhing around on his special microphone stand like some kind of demented (and possibly constipated) bat.
It’s got a new life for me now, since it featured in the BBC drama The A-Word. The programme features a family with a young autistic boy, who is obsessed with his dad’s record collection, listening and singing along to a plethora of indie, rock, punk, pop and new wave tracks.
It’s my daughter’s new favourite song from her new favourite show. She loves the drama because she’s fascinated with other people’s syndromes and disabilities, and because her syndrome shares some traits with autism (or ‘oysterism’ as she often pronounces it). And she loves the song because she thinks it’s a bit rude, what with the lyrics telling the world to shut its mouth. “He should say shush, shouldn’t he?” she asked me. And that’s not easy to say – trust me, I tried it after a couple of gins.
She also told me: “I’m a bit like Joe in the A-Word, mum, because I can calm down if I’m worried by listening to music.”
“I’m the same,” I admitted. Although I didn’t mention quite how much more calming I find the rather impressively curated ‘A-Word Playlist’ compared to the previous ninth circle of hell – her ‘Favourite Tracks’ selection, which included One Direction and The Macarena. No-one deserved that, least of all me.
She’s flying in the fashion now,
Seems to have a will of her own.
Keep on flying, my girl.
Be careful Drakey, deeper investigation of The Copester could lead to premature investigation of psychedelic substances.
But it can also lead to some brilliant music.
Yeah, the Fried LP cover boggled her mind. I told her Julian was just playing a game of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
I was told that Julian was once asked if he was wearing underpants for the photo shoot.
His reply was “No, of course I wasn’t. I was being a f*****g tortoise!”
Wasn’t it a great soundtrack ?
Plenty of Edwyn Collins, Wedding Present, Wreckless Eric etc…
I have to confess to finding the first series slightly underwhelming, with the parents – esp the mum, being annoying in a way which took my eye off of the ball of thier struggle to cope with the demands of Joe’s condition.
This series was much more nuanced…My own experience of teaching youngsters with conditions on / within the spectrum has given me some – small – sense of what must be 24 hour, 7 day a week anxiety and I think that was more apparent from this series.
Apologies for dropping in a political-ish point here, but accessing diagnoses, funding and support for these kinds of needs is the inevitable minefield of arbitrary decisions, varaible quality of responsible authorities and has been sliced to ribbons as part of the austerity measures. Shame on our miserable, self-serving weasel government.
Here’s hoping for a 2018 in which the World Opens its eyes, ears and hearts.
Happy New Year to Afterworders everywhere….
No apologies needed, @nogbad – I agree with every word of that.
Edwyn had it right: rip it up and start again…
Lovely stuff – the DrakeyDrude has some wonderful stuff to explore should she wish!
She was very impressed to find that we have got quite a high percentage of the tracks on vinyl. It’s rare that she finds her parents’ musical tastes anything even approaching impressive.
Lovely post Drakey as usual. I didn’t see the first series of the A word but was completely on series 2 and also the soundtrack which as you say was brill.
Just protect her ears from Reynard the Fox – Not sure how calming that would be.
Wouldn’t recommend reading Copendium either. It’s brilliant but I finished it a year ago and I’m still reeling. I kind of caught Out-Of-My-Mind-On-Dope-And-Speeditis off the pages by osmosis.
I was unaware of the A Word, not watching much TV these days but I will try to get to see the show. The Baroness will most likely have seen it. My interest is stirred because I used to support people with Autism/Asberger’s. The attitude of our Government to Autism and mental health in our dis-united country is a disgrace.
A great post @drakeygirl.
Welcome back, DG
A wonderful post.
My only brush with minor rock history was that I was there at the Hammersmith Palais when Cope snapped his Mic stand and slashed open his stomach with the jagged edge. Not Bowie killing Ziggy or The Beatles on the roof i know but you have to take what you can get.
Happy New Year!
Lovely post DG. Maybe not the best time to ask after festive excess but how’s the Chubby Checking going?
Good, thanks! Had a fab, fit year filled with lots of sporty stuff (and my first ever couple of games of rugby, which were thrilling (for me, not necessarily the spectators). However, I finished 2017 off with a rather waistline-expanding December of injury and partying (the two things not related).
A dry January and some medical advice on my dodgy knee will sort me right out. And I might not be able to run or scrummage at the moment, but at least I can still swim…
*swishes hair, wafting forth an alluring scent of chlorine and talc*
Great post, and ta for the A Word tip-off: I shall start on it once I’m done with Dark on Netflix.
Not wanting to sound obsessive or anything, though, but isn’t it “She’s flying in the face of fashion’?
Drakey’s flying in the face of lyrics, yeah…😉
You know when write something and read what you think written, not what it it actually is is?
That.
(And I only noticed the missing face after the time limit for editing was up. It’s really bugging me now).
That’s just lovely @drakeygirl. I’m glad your girl is doing well ❤️
I loves me some Cope – apparently some mega box-sets are due this year (separately) covering both TX and solo-Cope, possibly 18 disks for the latter…?
Strewth. I like me some St. Julian but 18 discs?
Mind you over 40 years I suppose it is not so many.
Top tip: you probably want to keep her away from “Cunts can fuck off” (though I do find it’s a useful addition to my internal repertoire).
And lovely writing, as always – nice to see you back.