Do you have certain HMHB refrains which pop into your head at inopportune moments? For me, the most common (for years) has been the chorus (above) from this one. I swear it’ll probably be the last thing I hear as I take my own final Stannah. Perhaps because his name is linked with rising from the dead, Chester Barnes (brilliant character, by the way) would appear to be still going strong. Anita Roddick, alas, did not fare so well. Anyway, I thought I’d better do this one before any more kind correspondents send it in. Thanks to Bob, Richard, Daryl, gNick, John A and Grim
See lyrics to This Leaden Pall
Max Williams
“Spartan and monastic”? I always wondered what that line was, i never would have figured that out. Excellent work!
29 March 2010
@steve_nicholls
There’s a definite “ssshhh!” after the Papal Entourage chorus.
Just as there is in the football chant.
(maybe in parenthesis)
29 March 2010
Neil G
Surely that should be ‘take’ my final Stannah, rather than ‘turn’?
29 March 2010
dagenham dave
I agree with Neil G, I’ve always heard ‘take’.
29 March 2010
Dave Cooper
I’m so glad that “spartan and monastic” is correct, it’s what I;ve always sung but I’ve never been sure.
I think “take” as well, makes more sense.
29 March 2010
Alex B
Another vote for ‘take’. It’s a joy to have finally found my inner-pedant and be able to contribute…
29 March 2010
Chris The Siteowner
Funnily enough, I also thought it was “take”, but the majority of the people who sent in lyrics (see above) disagreed, so I thought I’d go with what they said, and see what the response was. I’ll take it we want it changed then.
29 March 2010
Charles Exford
As an adjective meaning “simple & without luxuries”, spartan shouldn’t really have a capital, as it’s derived from “Spartan” but now has a meaning far removed from “from or pertaining to Sparta”.
Before anyone starts drawing parallels, or drawing the Venetian blinds, I wouldn’t bother, nothing’s that much like “spartan” in the way it has lost its capital, except maybe things like china dolls and turkeys.
29 March 2010
dagenham dave
Funnily enough, I also thought it was “take”, but the majority of the people who sent in lyrics (see above) disagreed, so I thought I’d go with what they said, and see what the response was. I’ll take it we want it changed then.
yes please Chris
29 March 2010
Dave F.
I’m going with ‘take’, as does the lyric book.
I’m also going to stand shoulder to shoulder with Exxo with the lower case ‘s’. There are now two clear meanings for spartan & NB is clearly referring to it as frugal.
Another example of a word that often gets capitalized is philistine.
The book has an apostrophe in ’round to indicate the abbreviation of around. I agree with this.
It also has the year as 2153 which is clearly a typo.
29 March 2010
Dave Betts
I’m going to out myself… I actually like Tales from Topographic Oceans as well as most of The Clash’s output (except of course the majority of Sandanista which is bilge). I’ll understand if I’m excommunicated (but not by the Pope or indeed his entourage).
What would a papal entourage’s song be? The one about Slipknot perhaps?
30 March 2010
Charles Exford
> What would a papal entourage’s song be? The one about Slipknot perhaps?
‘Vatican Broadside’ is appropriate in so far as it is basically a Liverpool footy song, “The famous Man United went to Rome to see the Pope”, which in turn was based on the fact that John Paul the Second had declared himself to be a Liverpool fan. So Liverpudlians like me would be happy if it was the same tune as the one about Slipknot, but with different words. United fans probably wouldn’t mind either cos they just gleefully sing exactly the same chorus back at us anyway:
“Who the f*** are Man United, Who the f*** are Man United,
Who the f*** are Man United, and the Reds go marching on, on, on.”
NB57 on the other hand has no axe to grind either way about United or Liverpool, so he might prefer to elicit one of Pope Benny’s favourite Bayern Beerfest folky thigh-slapping tunes ?
[I happened to be in St. Peter's Square one Wenesday morning in 1982 and everybody was waiting in hushed anticipation for the Pope's weekly appearance, when suddenly over the tannoy it said, in several languages, "Ladies and gentlemen, the Moscow State Circus are accompanying the pope today". Most of the circus then processed from out behind the basilica, acrobats tumbling, clowns juggling, circus music blaring, in front of old JP II, who was chuckling away in his popemobile. He had a sense of humour that one].
30 March 2010
Third rate Les
> he might prefer to elicit one of Pope Benny’s favourite Bayern Beerfest folky thigh-slapping tunes ?
Perhaps “Paparazzi”
(an unusual example of a good German joke there – as in “Papa Ratzi”). (as in his name, Ratzinger). (does it spoil it to explain it in that much detail?).
I read his book, you know. Good stuff, although could have done with a few more jokes.
30 March 2010
celery
I don’t hear an ‘i’ in ‘is’ in the line ‘Chester Barnes is risen…’, perhaps it should be written as ‘Chester Barnes’s risen…’ which would also encompass the possibility that the word that is shortened could be intended as ‘has’ – as in ‘Chester Barnes has risen…’
Similarly there are no two clear ‘t’ sounds together in the line ‘Granddaughter doesn’t want to know…’ I’m loathe to suggest ‘wanna’ as an alternative… but how about ‘wanta’? As in ‘Granddaughter doesn’t wanta know…’
Or it could all just be my cloth ears… in which case, feel free to ignore me…
30 March 2010
Alan
For some reason I apparently have a sub-Tourettes habit of uttering ‘Static. Naturally.’ at random moments.
28 July 2010
MIKE IN COV
THE city’s heat is like a leaden pall—
Its lowered lamps glow in the midnight air
Like mammoth orange-moths that flit and flare
Through the dark tapestry of night. The tall
Black houses crush the creeping beggars down,
Who walk beneath and think of breezes cool,
Of silver bodies bathing in a pool;
Or trees that whisper in some far, small town
Whose quiet nursed them, when they thought that
Was merely metal, not a grave of mould
In which men bury all that’s fine and fair.
When they could chase the jewelled butterfly
Through the green bracken-scented lanes or sigh
For all the future held so rich and rare;
When, though they knew it not, their baby cries
Were lovely as the jewelled butterflies.
Osbert Sitwell (1920)
5 July 2012
Chigley Skin
^^^ That’s not only a fantastic elucidation on the origins of the album/song title, but also one of the most beautiful bits of verse I’ve seen in ages. Great stuff.
5 July 2012
MIKE IN COV
@Chigley. I’d half-thought the title might be a Dante reference (Inferno, Canto 23; but I’ve dumped that theory), until I did some idle googling and came across this poem. I didn’t know it, and – you’re right, it’s a forgotten stonker. Ta, NB.
5 July 2012
MIKE IN COV
“Comments on the Papal visit to Ukraine [in 2001] were almost all passionate, not without nationalism and references to a miracle. For example one priest said that the Pope’s song during the Youth Rally in Lviv stopped the rain.” Apparently taken from Agenzia Fides (Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927).
Regrettable that the Holy Father didn’t visit the UK this June.
9 July 2012
ACIDIC REGULATOR
I’m convinced “spartan and monastic” is a quote; it’s not the most obvious pairing. (I approve of lowercase ‘s’; the OED agrees with me, well done them.) Google throws up references scattered over time and space, the earliest being from 1940. I’m running out of ideas, brainwave anyone?
All together now, what flavour is the Olympic velodrome?
4 August 2012
Exxo
It is in my opinion indeed such a clear collocation (after all, the two words can be synonyms in some contexts) that it seems to me possibly intended as one of Nigel’s pisstake-of-lifestyle-cliché type lines.
Both words collocate commonly with words like ‘lifestyle’ and ‘conditions’, and like you say google throws up plenty of references, especially when you extend the search to ‘spartan’ + ‘monastery’ or ‘monks’.
So I disagree about the pairing. The only reason they are not even more common together is that they are practically synonyms. What they don’t commonly collocate with is “_feel_”. That collocation is much more unusual, but there’s no reason why it’s not an NB57 original, as he (possibly) takes the piss out of the idea that the spartan cell-like conditions in a retirement home should be spun as desirable in certain contexts.
In my opinion you’re TTH again, but good luck.
4 August 2012
John Burscough
I’m not sure if this is a deliberate ‘Lyrics in the Media’ reference (the word ‘palled’ occurs, as does ‘light at the end of a tunnel’) but either way it implies that 2163 will be Chester Barnes’ third reincarnation.
Incidentally, if it’s Barnes, shouldn’t it be Barnesy (not Barnsey)?
26 January 2013
Melvin Duval
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26 April 2013
Dr Desperate
I wouldn’t get too excited about this bloke’s review, Chris, he’s going to have his work cut out being a regular visitor to the other 670,000 sites he’s sent the same message to.
26 April 2013
Leo
Call me cloth-eared, but I hear the line as ‘The doctor operates me in my room’ – not quite grammar but the meaning is clear enough. I also assume that the papal entourage is the consultant and the hangers-on (junior medics) that visit each patient before treatment is decided – any thoughts?
2 June 2013