Strangers (Edward Lear/Dave Davies Collaboration)

Whereare you going I don't mind
I've killed my world andI've killed my time
Sowhere do I go what do I see
I see many people comingafter me
Sowhere are you going to I don't mind
If I live too long I'mafraid I'll die
So Iwill follow you wherever you go
If your offered hand isstill open to me
Strangerson this road we are on
We are not two we are one
Soyou've been where I've just come
From the land that bringslosers on
So wewill share this road we walk
And mind our mouths andbeware our talk
'Tillpeace we find tell you what I'll do
All the things I own Iwill share with you
If Ifeel tomorrow like I feel today
We'll take what we wantand give the rest away
Strangerson this road we are on
We are not two we are one
Holyman and holy priest
This love of life makesme weak at my knees
Andwhen we get there make your play
'Cos soon I feel you'regonna carry us away
In apromised lie you made us believe
For many men there is somuch grief
And mymind is proud but it aches with rage
And if I live too longI'm afraid I'll die
Strangerson this road we are on
We are not two we are one
Strangerson this road we are on
We are not two we are one

Art:

1. Edward Lear, Masada (or Sebbeh) on the Dead Sea,1858.

2. Edward Lear, Petra Wadi (Bushes), 1858.

3. Strangers (link):  This is one of Dave Davies' best songs andoriginally appeared as the second song on the first side of Lola Versus PowermanAnd The Monegoround, Part One (Kinks, 1970), where it supplements (and in some wayscompletes) the album's psycho-autobiography research effort.  Strangers is the face side of a coin displaying on its reverse Mean Disposition (link).

'Gozo my child is the isle of Calypso' (Edward Lear)

Gozo mychild is the isle of Calypso

That naughtyyoung woman who made egg flip so

And all daylong with a spoon did sip so,

And everymorn in the sea did dip so

WhereonUlysses seeing her strip so

And all ofher beautiful ringlets drip so

From herbeautiful head to her beautiful hipso

Because hercurls she would never clip so,

--  Tookto staying away from his ship so,

And she hismariners all did trip so

And fed themwith chickens that had the pip so

For fear heshould ever give her the slip so

And over theocean start for a trip so

    Singing – (with peculiar sweetness --) "This is

I who havewheedled the wily Ulysses,

With kurlsand cobwebs and kustards and kisses

    Gip so, whip so, crip so, and quip so

    Flip so, bip so, rip so and zip so –

          O naughty Calypso!

Which hasmade the little hills for to skip so!”

Key:  

Upper: Arnold Böcklin, Odysseus By The Sea, 1869

 

Lower: Arnold Böcklin, Odysseus and Calypso, 1883

 

Letter To Anna Duncan, January 3, 1865

Dear Miss Duncan, 

    [. . . ] I gothome very safely last night, and partly this was owing to the care taken of myby two remarkably large & amiable Frogs, whose arms I took , & who sawme down the lane.  (You will see a truerepresentation of the fact overleaf.) Nothing could exceed the genteel & intelligent expression of theircountenances, except the urbanity of their deportment  and the melancholy and oblivious sweetness oftheir voices.  They informed me that theywere the parents of nine and forty tadpoles of various ages and talents some ofwhom were expecting shortly to emigrate to Malvern and Mesopotamia.

Believe me,

     Yours sincerely,

          Edward Lear

There Was An Old Person Of Sheen (Edward Lear Selection)

There was anOld Person of Sheen,

Whoseexpression was calm and serene;

He sate inthe water, and drank bottled porter,

That placidOld Person of Sheen.

NOTE:  Last week, after trying times, my jaw began to tighten. Once, long ago, working for the most horrible boss in the world, this happened.  Although the symptoms were unmistakeable and terrifying (I grew up in the tetanus/lockjaw nightmare era), a diagnosis question mark hung over my mood until I visited three experts in rapid succession:  a dentist, a psychiatrist and my Feldenkreis Method physical therapist/instructor.  Each of them set me straight with very similar advice and my cure followed quickly.  Experiencing the reoccurrence, I re-employed their collective, effective wisdom (serene thoughts; let your jaw float; above all, breathe), adding some 10-year old Valium and, as Lear advises,  bottled porter to the mix.  Eureka! -- I found it.   Until last night when I heard the current president of my former college use the word "impactful" in conversation.  More Valium, More Porter, More Serenity.  Please.

St. Peter's Old Style Porter:  It's good.

Summing Up: Pussycat Nature (Edward Lear)

I thinkhuman nature is pretty much the same all along.

     On the whole perhaps Pussycat nature isthe best.

-- Edward Lear