Everyone knows about Lewis Carroll’s friendship with Alice Pleasance Liddell, who inspired the main character in his famous books Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass; indeed, after a rowing boat travelling during which Carroll regaled Alice and her two sisters with a fantastic story of a girl named Alice who had fallen into a rabbit-hole, she asked him to write it down, and so came Alice’s Adventures Under Ground, the initial version of the first book. CONTINUE READING / CONTINUER LA LECTURE…
Category: English
Pedophilia, by The Slackers
The Slackers are an American ska band, formed in Manhattan in 1991. After making demo cassettes in 1992 and 1993, they released their first studio album Better Late Than Never in 1996; it was then remastered and re-released with three additional tracks in 2002. The album’s third track “Pedophilia” is a humorous piece making fun of the usual clichés: an old man peeps at a little girl, and her mother tells her to go outside. CONTINUE READING / CONTINUER LA LECTURE…
It Started with a Kiss, by Hot Chocolate
The British soul band Hot Chocolate was formed in 1968 by Errol Brown and Tony Wilson. It knew fame in the 1970s and 1980s, with at least one hit song every year on the UK Singles Chart from 1970 to 1980. The group was interrupted several times and its membership changed through the years. In particular Errol Brown, who was their lead singer, frontman and principal songwriter, left in 1986.
Their song “It Started with a Kiss” was released in 1982 as A side of a single, and was included as track 6 on their seventh studio album Mystery. It reached number 5 in the UK. In autumn 2004, it became voted by the UK public as one of the Top 20 love songs of all time. CONTINUE READING / CONTINUER LA LECTURE…
Her I Love, by John Clare
My next choice is a beautiful poem found in the part titled Songs and Ballads of Poems Descriptive of Rural Life and Scenery, John Clare’s first collection of poetry, published in 1820.
Here the poet compares the charms of his beloved with nature’s beauties: her cheek with roses and carnations, her lips with ripe cherries and red coral, her eyes with a pulpy plum and the azure sky, finally her kiss with the perfume of flowers; but each time, nature’s marvels pale in comparison to the girl of his heart. CONTINUE READING / CONTINUER LA LECTURE…
Stray Cat Blues, by The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones released the studio album Beggars Banquet in December 1968. The eight song in it (the third track on side two), “Stray Cat Blues,” was written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards. In it, the singer lusts for sex with a groupie aged 15 years, which illegal in both the UK and the USA. He describes the young girl as a ‘stray cat’ who isn’t shy about performing sexual acts. CONTINUE READING / CONTINUER LA LECTURE…
I love thee, sweet Mary, by John Clare
I have chosen the following soft and gentle poem as a prime example of the shy and restrained form of love found in Clare’s beautiful poetry. CONTINUE READING / CONTINUER LA LECTURE…
Girl, You’ll Be a Woman Soon, by Neil Diamond
The American singer-songwriter Neil Leslie Diamond (born January 24, 1941) is one of the most successful musicians of all time, with more than 130 million records sold worldwide.
His second LP album Just for You was released on August 25, 1967; it has never been released on CD. Its first title, the song “Girl, You’ll Be a Woman Soon,” reached number 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 (the US pop singles chart) in 1967. Other versions have been recorded by many musicians, in particular Cliff Richard (1968), Jackie Edwards (1968), the Biddu Orchestra (1978), and 16 Volt (1998). It enjoyed a second life when the rock band Urge Overkill interpreted it for the soundtrack of Quentin Tarantino’s 1994 film Pulp Fiction. CONTINUE READING / CONTINUER LA LECTURE…
Adelaide, the love in the life and poetry of Ernest Dowson, Part II
In the first part of this essay, I told how Ernest Dowson met Adelaide Foltinowicz, aged eleven years and a half, whom he nicknamed “Missie” or “Missy,” then he started spending his evenings at her father’s restaurant where she worked as a waitress, and gradually fell in love with her. CONTINUE READING / CONTINUER LA LECTURE…
Mellow Yellow, by Donovan
Donovan Phillips Leitch (born in 1946), known as Donovan, is a Scottish musician and songwriter who knew fame from his début in 1965 to the early 1970s.
In October 1966 his song “Mellow Yellow” was released as a single. It reached No. 2 on the US Billboard Hot 100, and No. 8 in the UK. It was then included as first track in his fourth album Mellow Yellow, released in the US in February 1967. CONTINUE READING / CONTINUER LA LECTURE…
Sick Again, by Led Zeppelin
Physical Graffiti, the sixth studio album by Led Zeppelin, was released as a double album on February 24, 1975. Its 15th and last track, the song “Sick Again,” written by Robert Plant and Jimmy Page, tells about underage teenage groupies, in particular the so-called “L.A. Queens,” with whom the band got acquainted on their North American Tours of 1972 and 1973. CONTINUE READING / CONTINUER LA LECTURE…