Sinister: Goodbye England's Rose and other bollocks

[Tag]

On Wed, 17 Dec 1997 10:48:19 -0000, Benjamin wrote:

>I possibly sense from the tone of the last letter that you ask this
>question with a small sense of sarcasm? well the answer to your puzzle
>is thus:

Sarcastic, not me mate....I meant every word, but I just wasn't hard
enough on 'the lizard king' (I reckon 'the reptile twat' is far more
appropriate).  But I would never be sarky about St Nick, who I love
very much.  In amongst all those forgettable and not particularly
regrettable (hey! that's good, I nicked it from the Simpsons) rock
n'roll deaths, his was a genuine tragedy.

>I think I'm right in writing (can any one correct me?)  that the very
>first person ever to cover Nick Drake songs was in fact Elton John. I
>believe  he recorded four songs (Day Is Done, Saturday Sun, Way To Blue
>and Time Has Told Me) on a demo way back in 1968. As far as I know these
>songs are available on bootlegs only.

Blimey, I never knew that.  I really didn't, and it's interesting.

>So you may well think Elton john is now a very rich man with a partially
>cured hair problem,

Well, yes I do, but I don't think that's a reason to hate him.  'Your
song', 'Daniel', 'Song for Guy'...wonderful stuff.  A friend of my
mother's was in the same year at school as our Reg, and remembers a
shy little six year old who sat on his own playing the piano at kid's
parties (it wasn't Elton...she just remembers one) (that bit in
brackets was a joke, and it was very, very funny).

And he and I share a birthday (he's a bit older than me).  Along with
Aretha Franklin, Paul-Michael Glaser, Simone Signoret AND the
saxophone player from Spandau Ballet (Steve Norman, for those who are
bothered).  I know this for a fact because I am a vaguely tragic human
being, who has an unfathomable curiosity for people that he shares a
star sign with (Serge Gainsbourg is my favourite co-Aries.  John Major
and Damon Albarn aren't).

>....but you can't deny that B&S and EJ both draw a pon the same musical
>influences.

Well, yes.  But I sort of prefer not to think about B&S's influences -
your illusions can be shattered if you find some of your favourite
musical moments are second-hand.

Hey!  Senor Pedro 'Cojones del Toro' Miller is back!  And this time he
wants to rock with the Zep.  Pero te quiero, anyway.

I should have some interesting news regarding Manchester in the next
couple of days.....keep watching the skies.

It's snowing, maybe I'll see a fox, and maybe I couldn't give a toss.

Love Tag
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