Thursday, October 19, 2006

Sir Walter Raleigh

I happen to be a fan of the Beatles. Not a huge fan, just a fan. For instance, I don't believe that Paul was killed and the license plate on the Abbey Road cover points to that. I hate almost all of the Beatles early stuff. I want to puke when I hear "I Want to Hold Your Hand." I've heard that the Beatles themselves hate most of their early stuff too, so I guess I'm not alone. However, I do think that Abbey Road, the White Album, and especially Revolver are strokes of genius. I am also in the minority when I say that George Harrison was brilliant song writer. Oh, and I do hate Yoko. But I'm sure you are asking yourself, "Monica, what does this have to do Sir Walter Raleigh, the Renaissance poet, nobleman, and explorer?" Well, I'm glad you asked.

We were reading Raleigh and talking about him in conjunction with Spenser a couple of days ago in my Renaissance Texts and Theory class. The Professor had mentioned that Raleigh was good friends with Queen Elizabeth I. In fact, he was such a good friend that she granted him a wine monopoly in 1583. This means that every time someone in England bought wine, they would pay taxes to Raleigh. This led many people to curse his name.

When I heard this it stuck out for some odd reason. See, I've been really tired lately because of my thyroid. So I have listened to and had the song "I'm So Tired" off of the White album stuck in my head. Some of the lyrics in the song are " I'm so tired, I haven't slept a wink. I'm so tired my mind is on the blink. I wonder should I get up and fix myself a drink. No, no, no." Then the fourth verse goes "I'm so tired, I'm feeling so upset. Although I'm so tired I'll have another cigarette. And curse Sir Walter Raleigh, He was such a stupid git." Before my class, I just chalked up the random Raleigh reference to the fact the Beatles were on a lot of drugs and doing tripped-out transcendental meditation when they wrote and recorded the White Album. I mean, I only need a couple of drinks before I start making weird references to Joyce. But then, every Joyce reference is weird in some way. Anyhow, now I know the real truth behind the reference in the song. I knew grad school would pay off.

Maybe next semester when I take the John Donne class I'll learn why Eleanor Rigby waits at the window, wearing the face that she keeps in a jar by the door. I mean really, who is it for?

5 comments:

David said...

There is one thing that's worse than the early stuff (which at least appeals to the nice parts of a human being), and it's when John Lennon says, "A working class hero is something to be." What kind of man says this? Who does he think he is? Let's consider some other lyrics:

"They hurt you at home and they hit you at school
They hate you if you're clever and they despise a fool
Till you're so fucking crazy you can't follow their rules...

"Keep you doped with religion and sex and TV
And you think you're so clever and classless and free
But you're still fucking peasants as far as I can see...

"A working class hero is something to be
If you want to be a hero well just follow me"

What planet is this guy from? Clearly he has little experience with real working class people, who he imagines as these lifeless drones unable to lead meaningful lives because their jobs happen not to be as interesting as a rock star's. And what's this about being doped on religion, sex, and TV. Yes, of course, I will be happy to "imagine" there's no religion, but can we at least agree that it's hard to be doped by sex and religion at the same time? By the way, don't get me started on "Imagine". His point seems to be that if you don't happen to subscribe to his worldview, it's because you never "imagined" it. Come on, you poor fucking peasants, it's easy if you try.

Anyway, I used to think that it was impossible not to like the Beatles because their music was so catchy, but now I think the band's way too pretentious--well, mainly Lennon. Harrison does have some nice stuff, as Monica points out. And I guess they make good allusions to Renaissance folk.

M LO said...

I never said I liked Lennon, by the way. He's my least favorite and I really don't like his song writing. The point wasn't how much I like the Beatles. On my list of top 100 bands they would surely be in the lower half. The point is that I found out what some perplexing lyrics mean from an unexpected source; school. It's kind of funny that no one believes me when I say that I like the Beatles, but I'm not a huge fan. It's like no one belives that this is a possibility. Aric, if you're out there, post a comment and back me up!

David said...

I didn't mean to be contentious! I was just writing what I got to thinking about the Beatles--and didn't mean to imply that they were your favorite band and that I was somehow arguing with you.

Now if you would just stop being wrong all the time we could get along.

LauraSuz said...

I like it when stuff like that happens to Monica! I'm sure you had some good sleep last night knowing what the line in the song meant or maybe you slept well because of the amount of alcohol that you consumed last night. Whichever it is, good sleep is needed. But from the red spots last night I vote from the alcohol. Cheers!

M LO said...

David, I didn't think you were trying to be contentious. I didn't really mean to sound defensive about it. I just knew I was going to catch flak from someone about liking the Beatles. I'll work on not being wrong all the time right away.