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…
I love thee, sweet Mary, by John Clare
A une enfant, par Georges Gourdon
Georges Gourdon est un poète et journaliste de la Charente-Maritime, né à Vandré le 22 avril 1852 et mort à Rochefort le 19 décembre 1915. En 1910 il publia le recueil Le chemin de la vie, qui obtint en 1911 le Prix de Poésie de l’Académie française. 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…
Ma petite voisine, par Auguste Gaud
Auguste Gaud (1857–1924) est un poète et écrivain poitevin. Fils d’un cordonnier et d’une couturière, il exerça le métier paternel avant de se lancer dans la littérature. À partir de 1903, il fut juge de paix.
Il publia d’abord de nombreuses œuvres en français ayant pour toile de fond la culture paysanne de sa région. A partir de 1895, il devint le chef de file du Félibrige Poitevin, un mouvement régionaliste qui, à l’instar du Félibrige de Frédéric Mistral, faisait la promotion du dialecte, de la culture et du folklore du Poitou-Saintonge. Il se mit alors à écrire des morceaux en poitevin-saintongeais. 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…
Quatre cent dons d’amour
La poésie et l’amour se déploient pour la quatre centième fois… Célébrons-le avec les baisers de la belle demoiselle ! 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…
Adelaide, the love in the life and poetry of Ernest Dowson, Part I
In two previous articles, “Ernest Dowson and the Cult of Minnie Terry” (in Pigtails in Paint) and “Ernest Dowson and the ages of woman” (in this blog), I told that in his youth Ernest Dowson worshipped little girls, in particular the child actress Minnie Terry. But this infatuation remained somewhat on the surface, it did not really move his soul. Indeed, it vanished as soon as he met the true passion of his life, Adelaide Foltinowicz, a girl he nicknamed “Missie” or “Missy.” CONTINUE READING / CONTINUER LA LECTURE…
Look Away, by Iggy Pop
Naughty Little Doggie, the eleventh studio album by Iggy Pop, was released in 1996. Its tenth and last track, “Look Away,” evokes his memories of Sable Starr and Johnny Thunders. CONTINUE READING / CONTINUER LA LECTURE…