"They sang so sweet, down to concrete."

[ashlyme]

This morning's nightmare should have come with a late-Broadcast soundtrack. It was horribly vivid at the time, enough that I woke up M for comfort. I don't remember much now. Some conspiracy that involved eighties-style bankers and old witchcraft. There was at least one animated Hand of Glory in it, less ragged than the man I had become: a mumbling

Comments

[rolypolypony]

Happy Birthday to M!

[ashlyme]

Thanks!

[sovay]

"They sang so sweet, down to concrete."

Huh! I always assumed I was hearing some variant of sang so sweet and so complete, as in "The Gypsy Laddie" ("Raggle-Taggle Gypsies," etc.), probably sampling a folksinger I would know if I could isolate her voice; she almost sounds like Jean Redpath, but darker and more plangent. It is, weirdly, one of the songs I associate with Jeannette Winterson's The Daylight Gate.

Some conspiracy that involved eighties-style bankers and old witchcraft. There was at least one animated Hand of Glory in it, less ragged than the man I had become: a mumbling paranoiac sleeping rough in the hedges.

If you can turn that into a story, it should be amazing.

(You could use "The Complete Banker" for the eighties-style parts. Neil Hannon makes a break from Ghost Box.)

There are hints of kelpies' sons, Flying Dutchmen-style ecological activists, resurrected birds, but none of it resonates.

Damn. Read Natalie Babbitt's The Eyes of the Amaryllis (1977) for antidote: I took it home from a used book store last month

[ashlyme]

*I always assumed I was hearing some variant of sang so sweet and so complete*

Er, you may have been, and the subject line's an utter mondegreen. It's how I've always heard that line. BP have scrambled old folk songs before now, and I thought they'd just slightly mangled this one...

*If you can turn that into a story, it should be amazing.*

I may try! I don't remember quite what the conspiracy *was*. Something like the plot of Lewis' "That Hideous Strength", all Jags and necromancy. I'm listening to "The Complete Banker" and it's amazing.

*somehow I didn't find it until this year.*

That surprises me; it sounds so very *you*. I need to find this as soon as possible. Thank you!

[sovay]

It's how I've always heard that line. BP have scrambled old folk songs before now, and I thought they'd just slightly mangled this one...

You may well be right! You've been listening to Belbury Poly longer than I have.

Something like the plot of Lewis' "That Hideous Strength", all Jags and necromancy.

Seriously, write this.

I'm listening to "The Complete Banker" and it's amazing.

"Well, that's just me-the complete banker in a black Bentley, Margaret Thatcher riding next to me . . ."

I adore that song.

I need to find this as soon as possible. Thank you!

You're welcome! It amazes me that I did not read it as a child, but I have a very good recall even of books I've forgotten and rediscovered, and nothing about this one was familiar. It was just composed of things that I love.