Richard Harris recorded McArthurs Park. He was an alcoholic. His rendition carried a melancholy tone that always imposed sadness on me, based also on the real message in the words. It still does. And always will.
The cake-in-rain symbolism tied to the curious coincidence of Harris (King Arthur) had me searching for the mysterious tie-in to McArthurs Park. I thought it must harbor a meaning pertaining to and an expression of Harris's life.
When I heard the Waylon Jennings (whom I liked) version it seemed an ill fit. Only later, also with the aid of discovery that Jimmy Webb not Harris himself wrote the song, did I stop forcing the meaning however the original impression was indelible,
I think back to the numerous orchestrated songs of that era, Burt Bacharach, Mason Williams, and the nostalgia is unavoidable.
Peter O’Toole, what an unbelievable charming man and storyteller. I could listen to his voice forever, no matter what he is talking about. Calling the great Peter Finch „Finchy“ is so sweet and funny at the same time. Thank you so much for posting this dear Celia!
I'm so glad you liked it Petra. I started lifting me out of a very wormy mood....and now I'm laughing, despite everything. And I'm grateful to be alive.
I could probably write several books of stories of my father’s friends and their relationship to alcohol. One of the more memorable ones was when one of his friends came over to our house in Connecticut and my father was not home. The friend was fairly sauced. I kept him there for a while, giving him coffee and things, but he eventually left.
The next day he called up looking for my father and I told him he was not there and he said, “Damn, I just spent five dollars on a phone call for nothing!”.
I asked why he would have to spend five dollars to call us? He said, “I’m in Puerto Rico!”
He had gone from our house to New York to a bar. From there, somehow he went to Kennedy airport and flew to Puerto Rico.
When he came back, he had no idea where his car was. Three months later the insurance was about to pay him off for the car when he got a call from the owner of an apartment building in Queens wanting to know what the hell his car was doing there for this whole time.
I am a thousand percent Irish - both sets of grandparents born and raised in Ireland and their children married Irish, but I have a married name that is from the Kingdom of Galacia. And oh, the questions I get from people about my married name! My mother-in-law hated that her only son married an Irish girl, so she use to tell everyone I was half German. Not kidding. I had to go to my mom and get a notarized note that there was no German in my family (not that there's anything wrong with that!), it just was not true. I would carry this note around and hand it to my spouse's relatives when we would get together. The Kingdom of Galacia is no more; hasn't been there for about a century; I understand it merged with either Poland or Romania or Ukraine.
Looks like everyone is having a good time in the comments, but I had to share something really good that happened today. The US has a secretary of energy who gets it. He gave a speech today at the most important energy conference in the US. For me, this speech is on the level of Dr. Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech. It won’t attract 100,000 people to hear it. Not many will understand it. But it is ground-breaking on that level. Energy is foundational to society; you would not be reading this but for an electrical device. The US now has a secretary of energy who has cared about it since he was a kid. He understands what it means for the US. But what is most important to him is that 2 million people die every year due to wood smoke pollution from their cooking. And half of the people in the world wear clothes that were washed by hand. He does not simply want Americans to prosper through their use of energy; he wants everyone to. Bravo, Mr. Secretary!
Thank you Celia! Just love Peter O'Toole. Had the very fortunate experience of seeing him on B'way years ago as the lead in Pygmalion. Devastatingly funny!
This was the perfect antidote to all the nonsense going on right now. Love the old Peter O'Toole stories, as well as Richard Harris. Guys who really lived life.
Celia, nice pause for a bit of hilarious chatting. Peter O'Toole is a great 'raconteur". You will never find this sort of humanity in Davos at a WEF gathering!
Like with so many other things in our culture, "they've" taken the fun out of drinking.
I can imagine the 2 Ps (O'Toole and Finch) regaling and pranking each other during those marathon evenings. At the rendezvous O'Toole confesses with a serious Shakespearian face to his cohort, mate I might as well get this out of the way, I have solemn news and good news. Finchy, somewhat incredulous says, alright out with the bad news then we'll raise one to a better outcome.
PO: Recall the last time together we spoke ever so briefly of life without our customary sociables.
PF: Yes what of it?
PO: Well mate, I don't drink any more.
PF: You've gone mad.
PO: Not entirely. I don't drink any less either :- )
A pity that my tribute to those two legends was that well worn chestnut> I found this keeper among several others on the website below:
Danny staggered out of the pub one Saturday evening and bumped into his parish priest, Father O’Malley. Father O’Malley quickly addressed the demon drink and the problems it causes. He told Danny, “Abstinence is a wonderful thing.” Danny replied, “Shure and I know it is Father, if it’s practiced in moderation.”
Peter O’Toole
Richard Harris
Oliver Reed
Robert Shaw
The last of a great generation
Richard Harris recorded McArthurs Park. He was an alcoholic. His rendition carried a melancholy tone that always imposed sadness on me, based also on the real message in the words. It still does. And always will.
https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=macarthur+park+richard+harris&view=detail&mid=E7E6F620929DF052BE8FE7E6F620929DF052BE8F&mcid=A8D79CAFA1B945C4B614AE5369F0A46B&FORM=VIRE&PC=HCTS&cc=CA&setlang=en-US&PC=HCTS&cvid=c1e0a79fcfc04a1f9eacef87d0f216bb&qs=SC&nclid=0346B839B78DBBEB2AFAE5AFE71642EB&ts=1741686251275
The cake-in-rain symbolism tied to the curious coincidence of Harris (King Arthur) had me searching for the mysterious tie-in to McArthurs Park. I thought it must harbor a meaning pertaining to and an expression of Harris's life.
When I heard the Waylon Jennings (whom I liked) version it seemed an ill fit. Only later, also with the aid of discovery that Jimmy Webb not Harris himself wrote the song, did I stop forcing the meaning however the original impression was indelible,
I think back to the numerous orchestrated songs of that era, Burt Bacharach, Mason Williams, and the nostalgia is unavoidable.
https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=waylon+Jennings+and+the+Kimberlys+McArthers+park&mid=F0A8A64565817FB2E912F0A8A64565817FB2E912&view=detail&mcid=C4801F12A5E841779B8C04CBF139DE30&FORM=VIRE&PC=HCTS&cc=CA&setlang=en-US&PC=HCTS&cvid=de968e29fce24900b8f1fa2c49afb558&qs=SW&nclid=0346B839B78DBBEB2AFAE5AFE71642EB&ts=1741702441328
The voice of that gal is sooo pretty.
Peter O’Toole, what an unbelievable charming man and storyteller. I could listen to his voice forever, no matter what he is talking about. Calling the great Peter Finch „Finchy“ is so sweet and funny at the same time. Thank you so much for posting this dear Celia!
I'm so glad you liked it Petra. I started lifting me out of a very wormy mood....and now I'm laughing, despite everything. And I'm grateful to be alive.
I suspect that you would also enjoy another Irishman, who is, unfortunately, no longer with us, Brendan Grace. He was a stand up comedian that I especially enjoyed. See: https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffab&q=Brendan+Grace%2C+CAHINESE+TAKE+AWAY&iax=videos&ia=videos&iai=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3D01TicRyQ4Po
Actually Brendan Grace was one of my reasons for visiting Ireland a few years ago. ;-)
I love Ireland and the REAL Irish people. Found it tough to deal with the frequent rain however.
I could probably write several books of stories of my father’s friends and their relationship to alcohol. One of the more memorable ones was when one of his friends came over to our house in Connecticut and my father was not home. The friend was fairly sauced. I kept him there for a while, giving him coffee and things, but he eventually left.
The next day he called up looking for my father and I told him he was not there and he said, “Damn, I just spent five dollars on a phone call for nothing!”.
I asked why he would have to spend five dollars to call us? He said, “I’m in Puerto Rico!”
He had gone from our house to New York to a bar. From there, somehow he went to Kennedy airport and flew to Puerto Rico.
When he came back, he had no idea where his car was. Three months later the insurance was about to pay him off for the car when he got a call from the owner of an apartment building in Queens wanting to know what the hell his car was doing there for this whole time.
😂 hilarious!!!
We need to have a writer editor lunch except I'm in Granada and you're in Colorado. We'll figure out which stories of yours to develop. 🥁
You can't make this shit up! OMG!
I am a thousand percent Irish - both sets of grandparents born and raised in Ireland and their children married Irish, but I have a married name that is from the Kingdom of Galacia. And oh, the questions I get from people about my married name! My mother-in-law hated that her only son married an Irish girl, so she use to tell everyone I was half German. Not kidding. I had to go to my mom and get a notarized note that there was no German in my family (not that there's anything wrong with that!), it just was not true. I would carry this note around and hand it to my spouse's relatives when we would get together. The Kingdom of Galacia is no more; hasn't been there for about a century; I understand it merged with either Poland or Romania or Ukraine.
I know it's painful but it's also hilarious! Americans don't understand these dynamics...
Looks like everyone is having a good time in the comments, but I had to share something really good that happened today. The US has a secretary of energy who gets it. He gave a speech today at the most important energy conference in the US. For me, this speech is on the level of Dr. Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech. It won’t attract 100,000 people to hear it. Not many will understand it. But it is ground-breaking on that level. Energy is foundational to society; you would not be reading this but for an electrical device. The US now has a secretary of energy who has cared about it since he was a kid. He understands what it means for the US. But what is most important to him is that 2 million people die every year due to wood smoke pollution from their cooking. And half of the people in the world wear clothes that were washed by hand. He does not simply want Americans to prosper through their use of energy; he wants everyone to. Bravo, Mr. Secretary!
https://robertbryce.substack.com/p/chris-wright-we-need-more-energy
How interesting. I will listen to his speech. Thank you Jeff.
That was great, thanks!
Happy Irish-American Heritage month.
Slainté. Red Breast 12 yr. cask strength please, 🥃.
Stable Genius
Stable Genius
The bay gelding with the blazed face
and three tall socks had a lip on him
that could articulate a galvanized steel
lift and slide latch with such ease
that whichever side of said impediment he stood
became home field for a game of reversing fortunes
and not just his, I mean, but those too
of his stable mates who watched and heard
yet seemingly did not quite infer
what magic blessings a supple upper labrum
might, with practice, confer, in the way
Providence favors ingenuity with nerve
and on occasion graces both deserving and
undeserved with a chance, sweet amalgam,
in this case, corn, oats, barley, aromatic
in molasses, in the dead winter of night
when moon glow between boards of a little barn
casts bars of light on wheat straw,
when an odd one stops fiddling, a handle drops,
a stall door creaks and arcs, in darkness, true;
if the grain bin lid was up, he knew
what propriety requires when Luck grins,
and so would he roguishly traipse about muzzling
each latch to let the whole bunch out.
Thank you darling C… loved that. It made me laugh and was much needed! Fuck em all… that’s all one can say right now!
"I Stumble with Ireland!"
Again, I burst into laughter. I think we have found a very good vein. Although, the Irish say he faked his Irish roots but never mind all that.
Thank you Celia! Just love Peter O'Toole. Had the very fortunate experience of seeing him on B'way years ago as the lead in Pygmalion. Devastatingly funny!
This was the perfect antidote to all the nonsense going on right now. Love the old Peter O'Toole stories, as well as Richard Harris. Guys who really lived life.
Humor is a lifesaver! And Peter O'Toole always was a charmer. 🥰
Celia, nice pause for a bit of hilarious chatting. Peter O'Toole is a great 'raconteur". You will never find this sort of humanity in Davos at a WEF gathering!
Like with so many other things in our culture, "they've" taken the fun out of drinking.
I can imagine the 2 Ps (O'Toole and Finch) regaling and pranking each other during those marathon evenings. At the rendezvous O'Toole confesses with a serious Shakespearian face to his cohort, mate I might as well get this out of the way, I have solemn news and good news. Finchy, somewhat incredulous says, alright out with the bad news then we'll raise one to a better outcome.
PO: Recall the last time together we spoke ever so briefly of life without our customary sociables.
PF: Yes what of it?
PO: Well mate, I don't drink any more.
PF: You've gone mad.
PO: Not entirely. I don't drink any less either :- )
A pity that my tribute to those two legends was that well worn chestnut> I found this keeper among several others on the website below:
Danny staggered out of the pub one Saturday evening and bumped into his parish priest, Father O’Malley. Father O’Malley quickly addressed the demon drink and the problems it causes. He told Danny, “Abstinence is a wonderful thing.” Danny replied, “Shure and I know it is Father, if it’s practiced in moderation.”
https://theirishgifthouse.com/contents/en-us/d2135_Irish_Drinking_Jokes.html
I am also so distressed. Thank you for this. And may the door never close too soon as you embark on your journey.