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  3. The Prince: And what do you do?

    The Man: Whaddoidowhaddoido? I play R’nB, R’n’B, ARANBEE, eatin’ Paris buns, cleanin’ windows, down by Avalon, down by Avalon, Mahalia Jackson comin’ through the ether, Arthur Askey, Jimmy Clitheroe, Sidney Bechet, Edith Piaf, Mary, Mungo’n’Midge, Lightnin’ Hopkins, Billy Cotton Band Show, Are You Being Served?, Bix Beiderbecke, King Oliver, Louis Theroux, lionel Blue, Lionel Hampton, Lionel Richie, Lional Morten, Lionel Blair, Dan Dare, Scarborough Fair, corporate hospitality down on Cyprus Avenue, pork pie hat, shades, black suit, black duit, pork pies, pork pies, EATIN’ ALL THE PIES, smooth jazz, three chords, mystical rants, Celtic Ray, Doris Day, Milk Tray, Willis Conover, Simon Dee, Edward Stourton, Alan Freed, Peters’n’Lee, fiddle-de-dee, tore down a la Gambo, did ye get healed did ye get healed?’

    Prince: Ah, very good, very good… and you sir, next in line, what do you do? (ad infinitum)

  6. “Give us a bit of that Brown Eyed Girl one, that’s a good un. And how about getting the old Them back together? Do you want to hear my Bluebottle impression?”

    VtM : I’ve fallen in the water

    • That’s a great article, and says probably all that can be said about him. I liked this:

      “I really get this gripe he has about people thinking he’s an ‘entertainer’, when he’s actually a lost voice from another place, a clue sent by the ‘mystery’ to stop us losing interest. I can see why it maddens him that nobody seems to grasp all that. He’s out of this world, one of one.”

      I think that’s right, but I also think that he should see he’s in the entertainment industry, that’s how he gets across to people, and he should go a bit lighter on himself, and the people he entertains.

      Thanks for the link. Saved me reading all them books.

      • I loved his comment re the dinner with Dylan. Suspect those two are on similar wavelengths if you’ll pardon the pun.

        Of the interviews I’ve read ,when he deigns to actually speak he can be relied on to give thoughtful answers, not glib pap. Often he will say he doesn’t know coz he has thought about the question and actually doesn’t know.

        • ‘It ain’t why why, it just is’. There’s a catch-all answer for most questions, as used in… actually, I can’t remember. Is it something off ‘Common One’?

          • correct Summertime In England

            “Summertime In England”

            Can you meet me in the country
            In the summertime in England
            Will you meet me?
            Will you meet me in the country
            In the summertime in England
            Will you meet me?
            We’ll go riding up to Kendal in the country
            In the summertime in England.
            Did you ever hear about
            Did you ever hear about
            Did you ever hear about
            Wordsworth and Coleridge, baby?
            Did you ever hear about Wordsworth and Coleridge?
            They were smokin’ up in Kendal
            By the lakeside
            Can you meet me in the country in the long grass
            In the summertime in England
            Will you meet me
            With your red robe dangling all around your body
            With your red robe dangling all around your body
            Will you meet me
            Did you ever hear about . . .
            William Blake
            T. S. Eliot
            In the summer
            In the countryside
            They were smokin’
            Summertime in England
            Won’t you meet me down Bristol
            Meet me along by Bristol
            We’ll go ridin’ down
            Down by Avalon
            Down by Avalon
            Down by Avalon
            In the countryside in England
            With your red robe danglin’ all around your body free
            Let your red robe go.
            Goin’ ridin’ down by Avalon
            Would you meet me in the country
            In the summertime in England
            Would you meet me?
            In the Church of St. John . . .
            Down by Avalon . . . .
            Holy Magnet
            Give you attraction
            Yea, I was attracted to you.
            Your coat was old, ragged and worn
            And you wore it down through the ages
            Ah, the sufferin’ did show in your eyes as we spoke
            And the gospel music
            The voice of Mahalia Jackson came through the ether
            Oh my common one with the coat so old
            And the light in the head
            Said, daddy, don’t stroke me
            Call me the common one.
            I said, oh, common one, my illuminated one.
            Oh my high in the art of sufferin’ one.
            Take a walk with me
            Take a walk with me down by Avalon
            Oh, my common one with the coat so old
            And the light in her head.
            And the sufferin’ so fine
            Take a walk with me down by Avalon
            And I will show you
            It ain’t why, why, why
            It just is.
            Would you meet me in the country
            Can you meet me in the long grass
            In the country in the summertime
            Can you meet me in the long grass
            Wait a minute
            With your red robe . . .
            Danglin’ all around your body.
            Yeats and Lady Gregory corresponded . . .
            And James Joyce wrote streams of consciousness books . . .
            T.S. Eliot chose England . . .
            T.S. Eliot joined the ministry . . .
            Did you ever hear about . . .
            Wordsworth and Coleridge?
            Smokin’ up in Kendal
            They were smokin’ by the lakeside . . .
            Let your red robe go . . .
            Let your red robe dangle in the countryside in England
            We’ll go ridin’ down by Avalon
            In the country
            In the summertime
            With you by my side
            Let your red robe go . . .
            You’ll be happy dancin’ . . .
            Let your red robe go . . .
            Won’t you meet me down by Avalon
            In the summertime in England
            In the Church of St. John . . .
            Did you ever hear about Jesus walkin’
            Jesus walkin’ down by Avalon?
            Can you feel the light in England?
            Can you feel the light in England?
            Oh, my common one with the light in her head
            And the coat so old
            And the sufferin’ so fine
            Take a walk with me
            Oh, my common one,
            Oh, my illuminated one
            Down by Avalon . . .
            Oh, my common one . . .
            Oh, my storytime one
            Oh, my treasury in the sunset
            Take a walk with me
            And I will show you
            It ain’t why . . .
            It just is . . .
            Oh, my common one
            With the light in the head
            And the coat so old
            Oh, my high in the art of sufferin’ one . . .
            Oh, my common one
            Take a walk with me
            Down by Avalon
            And I will show you
            It ain’t why . . .
            It just is.
            Oh, my common one with the light in her head
            And the coat so fine
            And the sufferin’ so high . . .
            All right now.
            Oh, my common one . . .
            It ain’t why . . .
            It just is . . .
            That’s all
            That’s all there is about it.
            It just is.
            Can you feel the light?
            I want to go to church and say.
            In your soul . . .
            Ain’t it high?
            Oh, my common one
            Oh, my storytime one
            Oh, my high in the art of sufferin’ one
            Put your head on my shoulder . . .
            And you listen to the silence.
            Can you feel the silence?

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