Once again I was watching Parkinson on BBC Prime (I know he's an old fart, but the interviews are always great) and this time he interviewed David Bowie. I never realized how flaky Bowie can be. Usually, in interviews he's pleasant, but cool. But he must have felt right at home with Parky, because he was grinning and jumping from topic to topic like crazy. And when he started humming weird melody lines from Tubby the Tuba and songs by Ernest Luft even Parky just sat there mesmerized by this odd man.

Once again he told the story of how Life on Mars is his version of My Way (Bowie was hired to translate the French song "Comme d'habitude" into English, but did a terrible job. So they passed the job on to Tony Anka, who turned it into My Way for Frank Sinatra. So as a revenge Bowie decided to write an equally grandiose song for himself, which became Life on Mars) and several anecdotes about The Stones and Little Richard. But the one thing he said that got me out off my seat was his answer to Parky's question about how he used to get on with his parents. Bowie leaned in and said, "They fuck you up, your parents do!". People were laughing hard, so it was hard to pick up the rest he said, but it had to with his parents passing on their faults to him and then adding some extra ones.

It took me a while to realize that he was paraphrasing from a poem by Philip Larkin, but afterwards I looked it up and here's the whole thing:

This Be The Verse
They fuck you up, your mum and dad.
They may not mean to, but they do.
They fill you with the faults they had
And add some extra, just for you.

But they were fucked up in their turn
By fools in old-style hats and coats,
Who half the time were soppy-stern
And half at one another's throats.

Man hands on misery to man.
It deepens like a coastal shelf.
Get out as early as you can,
And don't have any kids yourself.

Obviously, it's up for debate how well this applies to everyone, but even if it doesn't ring true to you, I think you'll agree it's pretty funny.

I found the poem at Art of Europe, which is a very interesting site. There's a lot of information about great European artists written in very unique way. So if you need the basics on W.B. Yeats you can go there and be informed that late in his career he "fell into Mysticism and Whining about his Hard-Ons before winning a Nobel and Generally Degenaerately [sic] associating with Aery Trolls and suchlike proporters of Nuclear Power and Par Lagerkvist inside his ElderStatesman head. If he was alive today, would probably be into the United Nations, the Moonies, Viagra and
Jennifer Love Hewitt.". The site is also packed with paintings and poems, so even if you consider the quote above total blasphemy I'm sure you'd still be able to find something there you'll like.

Posted by John Fogde at August 2, 2003 12:26 PM | TrackBack