‘They’re forming in straight line’ ‘They’re going through a tight wind’ ‘The kids are losing their minds’
20 November 2017
EXXO
Heyhoe, ho-ho, had a sense of humour and was a bit of a rebel in her own way, even if she was an arl Tory lord and stuff, so I hope she’d be proud to be involved in what is, I’ll say it again, one of the best toponymical* word-plays in the whole Biscuit opus. [I suppose I could, maybe should, be post this on the ‘Clear Day’ song page … except that by not doing so this could be a kind of protest, refusing to do so until that song is awarded ‘full song status’ under ‘unreleased material’]
The reason that I go on about “It’s a clear day, but I can’t see the point”, a line so good that it started off in one song but ended up in another, is that I don’t think some listeners totally get it. I might have already written all this in ‘£24.99 from Argos’ but such episodes of memory loss probably constitute all the more reason to get this down (again?) quickly.
The line sums up the good old Blackwellian nihilism, which is tempered by the love of getting out for a good walk or bike ride in the hills, which can at least in part drag us out of the sloth of the depression brought on by those moments when we can’t see the point of anything much.
It refers to all those descriptions of the ‘high points’ of walks, the trig points, which say things like “On a clear day you can see the Lake District/The Isle of Man/The Severn Estuary/The Great Orme/Point Lynas/Penmon Point”, etc. Sometimes these things are written on those brass plates they have, with the little maps, atop the scenic viewpoints. [Are there still such brass plates atop landmarks on the Wirral, like Bidston Hill or Thurstaston? Or have they all been nicked for scrap? ] At the same time, the line clearly evokes the crasss optimism of ‘les autres’, as summed up by say Richard Rogers/Jay Lerner’s musical ‘On a Clear Day you can see Forever’. Thus encapsulating both the uninfectious post-war optimism of our parents’ generation and simultaneously their dubious musical tastes. So much so for Brigadoon.
At the far point of his walk or cycle, Blackwell looks across the Dee Estuary, past Hilbre towards the Clwydian Hills, but the cloudbase is low so he can’t even see the Point of Ayr (see also ‘I, Trog’), which marks the end point of the Dee estuary’s opposite coastline, in Flint(shire)
We know that the toponymically obsessed Mr. B is thinking of Flint because another reason for his malaise is that to top it all he’s also ‘skint’. Rachel Heyhoe is spoof nu-rhyming slang you see.
By the way, the ‘clear day, but…’ idea is so good that it has occurred, perhaps in reaction to that old Hollywood musical number, to at least one other lyricist: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fqGsfrsWB1k
*“You can hear From far and near A word you’ve never, never heard before… on a clear day…on a clear day…”
Peter Mcornithologist
Lets go
20 November 2017
hendrix-tattoo
‘They’re forming in straight line’
‘They’re going through a tight wind’
‘The kids are losing their minds’
20 November 2017
EXXO
Heyhoe, ho-ho, had a sense of humour and was a bit of a rebel in her own way, even if she was an arl Tory lord and stuff, so I hope she’d be proud to be involved in what is, I’ll say it again, one of the best toponymical* word-plays in the whole Biscuit opus. [I suppose I could, maybe should, be post this on the ‘Clear Day’ song page … except that by not doing so this could be a kind of protest, refusing to do so until that song is awarded ‘full song status’ under ‘unreleased material’]
The reason that I go on about “It’s a clear day, but I can’t see the point”, a line so good that it started off in one song but ended up in another, is that I don’t think some listeners totally get it. I might have already written all this in ‘£24.99 from Argos’ but such episodes of memory loss probably constitute all the more reason to get this down (again?) quickly.
The line sums up the good old Blackwellian nihilism, which is tempered by the love of getting out for a good walk or bike ride in the hills, which can at least in part drag us out of the sloth of the depression brought on by those moments when we can’t see the point of anything much.
It refers to all those descriptions of the ‘high points’ of walks, the trig points, which say things like “On a clear day you can see the Lake District/The Isle of Man/The Severn Estuary/The Great Orme/Point Lynas/Penmon Point”, etc. Sometimes these things are written on those brass plates they have, with the little maps, atop the scenic viewpoints. [Are there still such brass plates atop landmarks on the Wirral, like Bidston Hill or Thurstaston? Or have they all been nicked for scrap? ] At the same time, the line clearly evokes the crasss optimism of ‘les autres’, as summed up by say Richard Rogers/Jay Lerner’s musical ‘On a Clear Day you can see Forever’. Thus encapsulating both the uninfectious post-war optimism of our parents’ generation and simultaneously their dubious musical tastes. So much so for Brigadoon.
At the far point of his walk or cycle, Blackwell looks across the Dee Estuary, past Hilbre towards the Clwydian Hills, but the cloudbase is low so he can’t even see the Point of Ayr (see also ‘I, Trog’), which marks the end point of the Dee estuary’s opposite coastline, in Flint(shire)
We know that the toponymically obsessed Mr. B is thinking of Flint because another reason for his malaise is that to top it all he’s also ‘skint’. Rachel Heyhoe is spoof nu-rhyming slang you see.
By the way, the ‘clear day, but…’ idea is so good that it has occurred, perhaps in reaction to that old Hollywood musical number, to at least one other lyricist:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fqGsfrsWB1k
*“You can hear
From far and near
A word you’ve never, never heard before…
on a clear day…on a clear day…”
20 November 2017
dr desperate
Lord’s cricket ground are planning to honour the late Baroness next year with a new North Gate named after her. Unsurprisingly, some male MCC members raised objections.
https://www.lords.org/lords/news-stories/mcc-announce-heyhoe-flint-gate-at-lord-s
9 August 2021