amor mundi

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Saturday, April 17, 2010

Cleo Laine Helps Keep Amor Mundi More Positive



Cleo sings Sondheim…
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1 comment:

jimf said...

A CD recommendation: Cleo Laine's _Wordsongs_
http://www.amazon.com/Wordsongs-Cleo-Laine/dp/B000008BJF
http://articles.latimes.com/1987-03-22/entertainment/ca-14617_1

Musical arrangements of British poetry,
including John Betjeman's _Sun & Fun_.


I walked into the night-club in the morning;
There was Kümmel[*] on the handle of the door.
The ashtrays were unemptied.
The cleaning unattempted,
And a squashed tomato sandwich on the floor.

I pulled aside the thick magenta curtains
So Regency, so Regency, my dear
And a host of little spiders
Ran a race across the ciders
To a box of baby ‘pollies[**] by the beer.

Oh sun upon the summer-going by-pass
Where ev’rything is speeding to the sea,
And wonder beyond wonder
That here where lorries thunder
The sun should ever percolate to me.

When Boris used to call in his Sedanca[***],
When Teddy took me down to his estate
When my nose excited passion,
When my clothes were in the fashion,
When my beaux were never cross if I was late,

There was sun enough for lazing upon beaches,
There was fun enough for far into the night.
But I’m dying now and done for,
What on earth was all the fun for?
For I’m old and ill and terrified and tight.
------------------

[*] A liqueur, flavoured with cumin, manufactured in
North Germany

[**] Short for Apollinaris water, an effervescent
mineral water produced at Apollinarisburg near
Bonn in Germany, and used as a beverage.

[***] In full, Sedanca de Ville. A sumptuously appointed
cabriolet de ville mounted on a Rolls-Royce chassis
[from f. sedan + the name of Count Carlos de Salamanca,
Spanish nobleman and Rolls-Royce agent, by whom the
word was apparently coined]

8:35 PM

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