Meaningful songs #26 - TRACEY THORN

This  is the twenty-sixth in an occasional series of songs from my collection, with the intent of introducing music to younger readers that they may gain appreciation of music from the classic years, 1957-1990. 

I have lived long enough to hear the "popular" music industry become ever-more formulaic, lazy, uninspiring and cynical; delivering "units" and "artistes" as interesting and memorable as polished mud.

Meaningful songs that eloquently convey a story, sentiment, or social comment and make it to national consciousness are rare these days. If you agree this song is meaningful, please introduce it to someone young; they might enjoy becoming "musical archaeologists".

Todays song, titled "Too Happy", released in 1982, is by a singer called TRACEY THORN.

Tracey Thorn's debut album contained Too Happy

Too Happy speaks of indistinct and immature feelings of two (young) people who know they have love between them, yet cannot manage or understand the emotion within that love. For one so young at the time, Tracey's lyric shows great insight.  Beloved by lovers of wistful angst, this song has helped many through their first love.

In 1982 Tracey Thorn was not yet partnered with Benn Watt to be the group Everything But The Girl, but her debut album, A Distant Shore, from which came this song, was critically well received because of her reflective and plaintive lyrics. Recorded quickly, for only £138, it is somewhat "lo-fi" album in places.

TOO HAPPY
    
Just what has happened now I don't know

So happy five minutes ago

Laughing and talking of things that we planned

Then a wrong word and you dropped my hand

Sometimes I don't think and say things I don't mean

Expect you to read all the spaces between

Careless words I know you soon regret

Cry 'cause I can't bear you to think I'm upset

Then I joke and say now I'll go home

But you should know I'd never leave you here alone

Why must we go through these little scenes?

Each wondering what the other's silence means

I wouldn't break it by turning to shout

So soon forget what I was angry about

I never believed that you could be too happy

But I realize now that we can be

When we can't cope with this love that we've found

Seems we'll say anything to knock it down

Then I realize I love you more

And is that what we go through this for?

Return to the first article in this series or hear the first song in this series.

Read the next article in the series  or hear the next song in the series.

For the index of all songs in this blog click here

Word of the day - NITHERED

The word today is Nithered

Nithered is an adjective and means the following:

- To acknowledge the effect(s) of feeling very cold - "I'm Nithered"

- To be or feel to be very cold

- Derived from the word Nither (Humiliate, Blast, Debase of Blight)

   N.B. Not clear how nither and nithered are related

A word rarely used these days

Nithered seems to be so rare my spell-checker refuses its use

To be very cold or feeling its effects someone may say they are nithered

To be chilled or cold  is not enough to be nithered

Where I live, the word "nithered" remains in use, for example, "you must be nithered with so few clothes on in this (freezing) weather", so I was surprised to learn that it is, and was always, a rare word because of its limited geographical area of use: Scottish borders and North Eastern England. It is a word in steep decline, possibly into extinction, as its users are dying off and younger people rarely need to express their feeling of great personal  coldness. Modern people will say "I'm frozen", "I'm freezing", "I'm very cold"; but not use nithered.

Don't let this word die, use it and then explain it to others.

If you need more start here or here and here.

There is an index of words of the day.

Word of the day - ACCRETION

The word today is Accretion

Accretion is a noun and means the following:

- The process of enlargement by a gradual process of acquisition

- The natural adhesion and accumulation of parts or particles to something

- Growth by the deposition or acquisition of material(s) 

Accretion is often used by specialists: Astronomers and other sciences

Astronomers speak often of "accretion disks"

Accretion can be as simple as a build-up of crap

If you need more start here or here.

There is an index of words of the day.

Flaring - an insult to the world

I read this article and became "awoke" to this insult on the world. These violators of good sense and ecological responsibility, with their cynical actions, are being called-out. 

Not Clever!

No amount of corporate "green washing" can explain nor condone such global pollution that contributes greatly to the demise of long-stable weather systems, because of global warming and gaseous pollutants. 

People are suffering enough around the world, yet these companies will care not, as long as they receive little "blow-back" from whole populations and legislators alike. "Fu** you" seems to be their attitude on this topic. I would like more of us to say back to them, "just clean up your act or the financial fines will make it more expensive than addressing your problem, so to remedy it". (I'm so naive aren't I?)

Though they must have access to technologies to give a productive use to their "waste" (Methane gas mostly), they choose not to, because it doesn't make them any more profitable, (as if they are suffering), and because WE, THE PEOPLES OF THE WORLD, do not call them out at local and national levels, especially in the Middle East, where this problem is most acute. Even those whose countries allow flaring, Iraq in this case, want change.

Flaring in the Middle East

There have been many reports and warnings, but what you don't see you don't worry about it seems, but really, when will we wake up to a few things? The elephant in the room (so to speak) is us, peoples of the world, for there are far too many of us and we demand too much from the world in terms of its sufferance of our exponential gluttony and its by-products.

Please may I implore you to lessen your demands: travel less, don't fly, eat less, use one computer screen instead of two, buy a car with a cleaner engine (not electric because of the monumental waste issues and disposal of them in less than a decade), use efficient LED lighting, beg for Hydrogen and solar power, have less children* (your money will go further and there will be less demand), press your suppliers to address their polluting, be prepared to pay more for what you buy and so buy less, look after your clothes, wash some less and ignore fashion (for we are people and not sheep and remember - style will always trump "fashion"). Become an "Essentialist" (not a minimalist) and buy what you need, let stuff become worn-out, recycle, upcycle, or just cycle for fitness, improve before you remove, and don't think you're inferior if your neighbours have more for they are just being needy, but you are being strong. Think of your children or future children and leave them guidance for helping the earth to look after us all, for they should have a better life than you but they may not get the chance if we totally screw the world.

We are on a road to no-where and we, today's people, are driving like fools.

* For the sake of future survival on this planet have less children, for we truly are now, "the elephant in the room"; we are the problem, the difficult issue that is very obvious but is ignored for convenience or comfort.

Rant over; but we can only effect meaningful collective change from within, and as consumers force our suppliers to change by not buying their "stuff" until they change. Perhaps if we collectively do NOT buy from one supplier they will feel the power of their (former) consumers and scare other suppliers into action. Getting back to the gas flares around the world, perhaps we could send a message by simply not buying from the most prolific offenders (like Liverpudlians who won't buy the Sun newspaper). Do this for months and that will make their industry sit-up and experience our dissatisfaction with their particular insult to the world. Your expenditure gives you all the power in this case.

More learned people offer further reading.

A scandal

Global gas flaring observed from space and also here.

Routine gas flaring is wasteful,, polluting and unmeasured.

Technical stuff but readable.

More information - technical and in depth.

It's official now.

The UK has the same problem.

COP28 in Dubai will probably be a cop-out and will oil and coal producers actually take notes?

OK, accidents do happen.

At last,  Google will bring more publicity to this problem.

P.S. Trees of any kind (maybe not Palm oil plantations) are good for the earth as they soak up all sorts of crap, air air-born gaseous pollutants and give us Oxygen, whilst enabling many forms of biological diversity amongst them; so if you are able, please plant a tree and nurture it as best you can, if not for yourself but the children of the next 200 years. Perhaps checkout this site as well.

Word of the day - PERNICIOUS

The word today is Pernicious 

Pernicious is an adjective and means the following:

- Having a destructive or harmful effect or influence, to a point of death

- To have qualities of injuring and killing

- To have destructive, malicious, wicked or baleful personality traits

If someone says you are pernicious they mean you are "bad news"

Being known as pernicious is not a good thing

Most people have heard of pernicious anaemia (blood disorder)

If you need more start here or here and here.

There is an index of words of the day.

Kill these Chinese invaders

Chinese invaders that need to be killed (note yellow legs)

These Chinese invaders were first detected in France in 2014, arriving as a nest in a consignment of pottery, but being aggressive critters they have spread widely (Belgium, Germany, Holland, Spain, Portugal) and finally got established in the UK, as far north as Hull, via trade with our Channel Islands.

They are not good news!    They need to be killed on sight!

As we know, nature isn't the fluffy world of cuteness often portrayed on TV, but an adversarial system that promotes dominance, and so it is with the "Yellow Legged Asian Hornet"; they are tough, invasive, aggressive and wiping out many of the UKs native pollinating bee species, especially docile honey bees which they eat. 

Without help from us they will wipe-out honey bees for they are able to kill a hive of Honey Bees in a single day. Their method is to simply sit at the entrance of a beehive, agitate the hive into attack mode, then bite their heads off and take the protein-rich bodies away to the nest to feed.

The life cycle of the Yellow Legged Asian Hornet is two-fold and it is at the first stage (Spring nest) that it is easy to eradicate (squash) them. The second stage (large nest) needs professional help to retrieve and kill them.

This link is more detailed

WORDS OF WARNING - Hornets bite hard!

Spring nest eradication is easy. Merely observe the nest, identify its occupants as Yellow Legged Asian Hornets (not native harmless wasps), then dislodge the nest into a bag with a gloved hand and then squash the bag.  A spring nest is typically no bigger than a tennis ball and best dealt with at dusk when they are at home and quiet. Don't poke the nest - just place a bag over it, knock it off and squish it. Spring nests are usually built in March/April, in sheds, lofts, garages or porches: places protected from the weather. Kill them at this stage and they can't breed in the second life cycle phase during the summer.

Knock Spring nest into a bag

Report  Larger Nests

The second life cycle nest, in the summer, will be a lot larger, usually up a tree, so after observing the occupants are actually the target (see identity marks in the picture), report it for official eradication. It will be dealt within days by trained people. Record the location and if possible take pictures, then contact the NNSS (Non Native Species Secretariat) on the email address alertnonnativ@ceh.ac.uk, or the National Bee Unit at York. Remember to look out for yellow legs.

If you happen to live in and around Hull, contact the Beverley Beekeepers Association if you suspect a sighting of a Yellow Legged Asian Hornet. You will be saving their industry, preserving parts of your food supply and eradicate what is an invasive and dangerous species. Please be vigilant and pass this information to as many people as you can.

Update Feb 9th 2024

Though their invasion continues there is a sign that evolutionary processes are at work, at least with the most common of European Bumble bee species.

FOURAS - An ode to Fouras-les-Bains

Here's a poem that wrote itself as I was thinking of its topic.

Fouras is a lovely coastal town in France, but it's best to know its S is silent before reading the poem. It is not FourAS but FourAH.

Plage Sud Quay

Hurrah, hurrah for Fouras

My precious little gem

I found her many years ago

We've been in love since then

Hurrah, hurrah for Fouras

I'll soon see her again

She'll greet me as a friend

Her beauty and charm to lend

Hurrah, hurrah for Fouras

My lovely, lovely friend.

GROWTH

Human Numbers Are The Real Problem

Gradually

Returning

Our

World

To

Hell

Global

Ruination

Of

World

Trade

Health

Glaring

Reasons

Our

World

Threatens 

Humankind

Global

Resources

Outstripped

When  

There's

Humans

Greedy

Requirements

Of

Wanton

Thoughtless

Hedonists

Grandiose

Resolutions

On

When

To

Halt

Word of the day - RIGMAROLE

The word today is Rigmarole

Rigmarole is a noun and means the following:

- A long sequence of actions, explanations or words of no real purpose

- Tedious, long-winded, complicated or petty process achieving little

- Talk or actions designed to deflect those seeking help or information 

In my childhood I heard this word a few times, mainly from parents and grandparents (and I'm 66), thinking then it was a local word not in use nationally and on it's way to obscurity, then, to my surprise, it was used in a national news report. Rigmarole is not a dead word after all!

Past tense of rigmarole is rigmaroles - "we heard some rigmaroles"

Saying "don't give me that rigmarole" means stop messing me about

Mum said, "tell me the truth and none of that rigmarole"

If you need more start here or here.

There is an index of words of the day.

One-liners

I am absolutely bereft of the ability to think of a topic today, so I'm just going to offer you some one-liners from a user forum I frequent. They made me smile, so here goes, starting with two of my own.

I called my first wife Titanic because she went down only once.

Laying in bed my wife said, "with one finger make me scream", so I poked her in the eye.

From Dapleb

My favourite teacher at school was Mrs Turtle

 - She tortoise well.

My maths teacher called me average.

 - How mean!

My boss told me to have a good day.

 - So I went home!

I went for a vasectomy 'cos I don't want kids.

 - I got home OK but they were still there.

What did the drummer call his daughters?

 -  Anna One, Anna Two, Anna Three.

I asked the surgeon if I could administer my own anaesthetic

 - He said, "Sure, knock yourself out".

To the man in a wheelchair who stole my camouflage jacket

 - You can hide but you can't run.

I thought my printer started playing music

 - But it was only jamming.

James Bond never farts in bed.

 - It would blow his cover.

My wife is leaving me because I'm going bald.

 - I don't mind, it's hair loss.

When my wife is depressed I let her colour-in my tattoo

 - Because she just wants a shoulder to crayon.

Did you know dyslexic zombies only eat Brians

and Bruce Lee's vegan brother was called Brocco Lee.

I've written a book about how to safely fall down stairs.

 - It's a step-by-step guide.

I accidentally drank a bottle of invisible ink

 - Now I'm in hospital waiting to be seen.

A book just fell on my head

 - but I only have my shelf to blame.

Someone keeps sending me flowers with their heads cut off.

 - I think I'm being stalked

I couldn't believe dad was stealing from his job as a road worker.

 - He denied it of course, but the signs were there.

My health coach came from Jamaica.

 - She teaches Pilates Of The Caribbean.

I've started investing in stocks, beef, chicken and vegetables.

 - One day I hope to become a bouillionaire.

Going uphill with a cart full of horseshoes, 4 leaf clovers & rabbits feet. 

 - I though he's really pushing his luck.

I was desperate to pee at the swimming pool so I did in the deep end.

 - A lifeguard noticed and blew his whistle so hard I nearly fell in.

I have a hen who can count her own eggs,

 - She's a mathemachicken.

An Egyptian mummy covered in chocolate and nuts has been found.

 - Archaeologists believe it may be Pharaoh Roche.

I can't remember how to write 1, 1000, 51, 6, 500 in Roman numerals.

 - IM LIVID

I know a chameleon who a can't change colour anymore.

 - He's got a reptile dysfunction.

Macbeth was the greatest chicken killer

 - because he did murder most foul.

I got a dog off the blacksmith today.

 - As soon as we got home it made a bolt for the door.

From Paul047

I went into a public loo and passed a sign, "Wet Floor".

 - So I did!

From AliG

For lesbians with depression a new drug is available.

 - It's called Tricoxagain.

Cowboys used a lantern on their saddle to find their way home.

 - This was saddle light navigation.

Nothing's built in the UK today, I bought a TV that said "built in aerial".

 - I don't even know where that is.

I'm a little worried about my addiction to Viagra

 - and my wife is taking it very hard.

My wife blamed me for ruining her birthday, but that's ridiculous.

 - I didn't even know it was her birthday.

From Favs

I have a fear of speed humps

 - but I'm getting over it.

I was wondering why the Frisbee was getting bigger

 - then it struck me.

Our postman's a daredevil.

 - He's always pushing the envelope.

In our new restaurant, called Karma, there is no menu.

 - You just get what you deserve.

From Harvy Krumpet

I accidentally swallowed some Scrabble tiles

 -  and experiencing constant vowel movements

 -  but the next trip to the bathroom could spell disaster.

What do you call a snake approximately 3.14 meters long?

 - A Pi-thon.

The people in Dubai don't like the Flintstones

 - but the people in Abu Dhabi do.

My 4 year old son doesn't know the Spanish for please.

 - I just think that's poor for four.

I've heard blind people don't skydive as it upsets their dog

and what washes on to small beaches are microwaves.

At the sperm bank a nurse asked me to masturbate in the cup.

 - I told her I wasn't ready to compete yet.

From Drewpy

It's freezing outside and my wife keeps looking through the window.

 - If she keeps doing it I'll eventually have to let her in.

Tampax are bringing out a new tampon, replacing the string for tinsel.

 - It's being released for the Christmas period.

My wife irritatingly told me to stop impersonating a Flamingo.

 - So I had to put my foot down.

From Snowbird

How many fingers am I holding up asked the doctor last week.

 -  That was the strangest prostate exam I've ever had.

Having developed a phobia to German sausage

 - I now fear the wurst.

From Hombre

I was going to re-marry my ex wife

 - but then she realised I was only after my money.

It's 100 yards to the pub, yet 200 yards back again.

 - The difference is staggering.

From ChrisG

The saying "I before E, except after C" was disproved by a scientist.

My wife accused me of stealing her thesaurus.

 - I was shocked, appalled, dismayed and stunned.

I woke up grumpy this morning and I don't know why.

 - I usually let her have a lie in.