5th and and half amendment

Success Hasn’t Changed Me At All by Kevin Godley. From ‘The Fun Starts Here’.People, the music, and the business of rock and roll. And most of it figures outside the shadow of a doubt.   The illustrations below are from that book ,banned from mainstream book shops….

When you look  at the work of Godley and Creme, always lurking, is a direct confrontation with a significant issue which is how we relate to abuse in its direct and more subtle forms.  In the case of the music biz, abuse is the vampirism by so-called professionals, well dressed and superficially polished. In real life, there are no shortage of examples, and the point of departure is to see it and understand it for what it actually is. Its all very Judeo-Christian to feel the necessity to love enemies, but don’t be pretentious enough to deny they don’t exist or are dangerous in their ability to harm. It’s tough to be impartial, without emotional numbing ourselves, and to achieve impartiality for short moments seems a major accomplishment. That struggle, that aspiration, the somewhat tenuous grasp is what makes Godley and Creme’s work compelling.

Read More:http://www.orthogonal.com.au/music/godley_creme/index.htm

What is appealing about their work, is the emphatic articulation of disgust in all its naked vulgarity, its ugliness, its unprettified essence without any remorse, compromises or evasive tactics. Its not an indulgence in hated, a wanton mob lynching, simply an exposition of see and feel. Hardly pretty, but somehow touching, pulling threads of the divine in a thirst for truth and an acceptance, albeit painful, of hurt, while equally disparaging to those, perhaps as a path of least resistance, urge, preach, “love” as some accessible, off the shelf commodity like filling up at the ATM. In other words, avoiding the syrup and drivel.

Read More:https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150130358108475&set=o.25145663313&type=1&theater

Hooligan Crane GG2006:


He said I knew him
and I knew I did
but the face didn’t ring any bells.
There was something about the way he was standing
all thunderbolt hair
and gravy boat shoes
and an old school tie
I didn’t notice…
‘til later.

But It all came back when he took it off.
There were ten of them holding me down in the trough.
They took it in turns to
use my head as a football.

Oh, I was only nine and you were seventeen
when you gave me cancer of the dreams.
I was only nine but I didn’t cry
I was invincible
It’s written on the tie.


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Courtesy Paul Hamilton:Getting The Best Deal For My Client by Lol Creme. From 'The Fun Starts Here' (written 1978-1980, published 1981).

They make ‘em strong those ties
They make ‘em strong those ties

said: “I thought you were dead.”
He said: “I wish I was.
On days like this I really wish I was.
And here’s something you might want to celebrate, now.
I’m living in a hole on the sink estate
and I know you’re thinking great,
he got what he deserved.
But if you ever met my wife you’d know
I was worth something to somebody… Briefly.
‘til she read my mind and all she found was the screamy bit
In Ghost Town by The Specials.”…

…Hooligan crane,
black hole in the heart of the neighbourhood.
Hooligan crane,
lashing out at everything warm and good
but it’s not warm
and it’s not good
and it’s not fair. …

From Consequences. Godley and Creme:Peter as Jewish solicitor Malcolm Pepperman from the Godley & Creme triple-vodka (sorry, album) 'Consequences' (1977):- "Let me begin with the statement that I trust will not be a matter of dispute. I am Jewish and always have been. I'm not ashamed of it and I'm not proud of it. The whole thing is not an issue to me - it's irrelevant! And I see no reason why my being Jewish should be DRAGGED into the discussion at all. The fact that I've been massacred personally for thousands of years is neither here nor there. So can we agree at least on one thing - namely not to waste our time discussing whether I'm Jewish or not! Read More:https://www.facebook.com/topic.php?uid=5950754730&topic=3920

The message of the work,the transgressive interface between the personal and the social,  is that the context of the entertainment complex, the prostitution of work to market forces, results in a determination to remain true, so that all the crapola life lobs at you can be accepted.  Obviously, we  can punish ourselves, make self-inflicted wounds,  for the errors of our childhood and teens, but it was very much a learning phase, and it is self-destructive to exercise auto-punishment beyond any coherent or intelligible reason for inevitable spasms of ignorance, brain cramps in an effort to bridge and reinforce the continuity between infancy, childhood and the vague outline of adulthood.

---McCulloch's Thumb by Lol Creme.---Read More:https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150130360733475&set=o.25145663313&type=1&theater

…Oh, It took him an hour to get to the top.
Nobody tried to make him stop
and the crowd outside the burger shop
were lovin’ it.

And as the streets filled up with gutter press
a low – life hack got his old address
and went looking for a way to turn his own mess
into money yeah.
And he found this old note – book under a bed
written by a young boy living in dread
of a gang of men called…‘The Invincibles.’

It said how they used to drag him back
and beat him ‘til the sky turned black
while hummin’ along to Ghost Town by The Specials.

They make ‘em strong those ties
They make ‘em strong those ties

Then he lost it.
He swung the arm of the crane round
into the old school buildings.
And he killed some important people
who were on their way into London.
And nobody saw it coming
‘cause nobody ever does.

Hooligan Crane,
black hole in the heart of the neighbourhood.
Hooligan Crane,
lashing out at everything warm and good
but it’s not warm
and it’s not good
and it’s not fair.

I’m not afraid of dyin’
you know it
you know it’s sad
People like us
We’re not afraid of dyin’
You know it.
You know all good things are equally… bad …

ADDENDUM:

I find music a really direct mode of expression. From heart and mind to recording is a more direct route than from heart and mind to film. Perhaps it’s because, in music video one is mostly illustrating someone else’s music and you’re competing against others for the opportunity to do so. There’s also a world of commercial bullshit and protocol throwing up walls between you and your vision. Maybe that’s also why making a great video is doubly satisfying… Because you’ve had to wade through all that crap to get there. …He doesn’t improve my songwriting, HE MAKES IT. I don’t play an instrument so Graham gives my notions musical life in a way that instinctively understands their heart and gut. He’s the ideal collaborator because if it’s about a collision of empathy and tension… and it always is, Mr. G knows how to sculpt both. He’s the knowledgeable, consummate pro with every chord at his fingertips. I’m the amateur. I’m instinctive. I tend to stumble around groping after a vague blueprint in the back of my mind whereas GG has the skills to locate, ground, and turn it into something better. I can be difficult and dogmatic and waver between thinking something’s great, one minute, and garbage the next, GG has the patience to allow me to waver and gently guide us to a place where it can BECOME great. In other words we compliment each others tastes, methods and abilities. We’ve got a lot of history, too, and that inevitably helps. When you write with someone you’re exposing yourself, emotionally, so you’d better trust that person to treat what you’re putting out there with respect. In our case that cuts both ways. In the final analysis it either works or it doesn’t. Trying to figure out ‘why’ is like searching for the meaning of life. …

…Q: One of the new songs, “Hooligan crane”, contains the subject of school bullying, like the Godley & Creme-song “Punchbag”, from the past. That song was already remarkable because it seemed to get more personal than 10cc ever did. And now the subject is back again. Kevin, you already told you have personal experience on this matter. Seeing it resulting in a second (and another great) lyric I guess this is still something of importance to you.

A by Kevin: I grew up thinking people were staring at me. I was bullied at school. I was a victim. I got by because I could draw. I sold pictures of nude women for sixpence to other pupils even though I didn’t know what tits and ass really looked like. I remember being stripped in a train carriage by bullies, I remember being beaten up on a number of occasions. I remember almost becoming a bully, myself, because it was such a relief to be on the tormentors’ side instead of the tormented. HOOLIGAN CRANE is my revenge. ( John Bruinsma interview ) Read More:http://www.johnbruinsma.nl/gginterview.html
———————————–
KEV: It would probably have been a different record, quite frankly. But I think part of the problem was we were in this womb-like situation for fourteen months and we’d lost touch with reality. We were creating our own version of reality and spewing it onto tape from our own minds, and there was a whole revolution going on out there.

But surely the whole business of artistic expression is about indulgence, digging in as far as you can, and never mind what’s going on in the rest of the world.

KEV: I think you’re right, I think so. Partially. But it depends. I think some of the best art is about what’s going on in the world, rather than just what’s going on in your head. I think that pop music, rock music, particularly the best of that, is about a connection of both aspects. And the worst of it is not. The worst of it is drivel that comes out of people’s heads.

Well, there are some of us who think differently of Consequences. Did you know there was a website?

KEV: Yeah, there’s not much on it except some gibberish about the characters. It’s very difficult. Whatever artist you speak to about any aspect of their work, it’s difficult to be objective about it. It’s such a subjective experience, with all the attendant baggage. So your opinion of it as a work just to listen to is obviously different to my opinion of the work that I made or helped to make. I can see glaring errors.

But just as a two hour listen, if you’ve got time in your life…

KEV: I should listen to it again, shouldn’t I? (Laughs)

I think so, I think you’d be pretty tickled. You say that in your stoned concentration, it was the detail that got the attention, but it’s the detail that makes it absolutely magical.

KEV: Yeah. Some interesting sonic moments, for sure. Read More:http://www.suppertime.co.uk/blint/kev.shtml

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