Friday, 11 January 2013

Special Relationship? UK-USA


                                               
                                                   Old Bruton Church, Virginia
Bruton Parish: the name honoured the prominent Ludwell family
 and Governor Sir William Berkeley, 
 whose ancestral homes were at Bruton in Somerset, England.  

Wikipedia: "Colonists who survived the attacks raided the tribes and particularly their corn crops in the summer and fall of 1622 so successfully that Chief Opechancanough decided to negotiate. Through friendly native intermediaries, a peace parley was arranged between the two groups. Some of the Jamestown leaders, led by Captain William Tucker and Dr. John Potts, poisoned the Powhatans' share of the liquor for the parley's ceremonial toast. The poison incapacitated the Powhatans and about 200 were killed. Chief Opechancanough escaped.
In 1624 Virginia was made a royal colony of England. This meant that the Crown took direct authority rather than allowing guidance by the Virginia Company of London. The Crown could exercise its patronage for royal favorites. Settlers continued to encroach on land of the Powhatan tribes, and the colony (and England) tended to change or ignore agreements with the natives when no longer in their interest. The tribes had increasing frustration with the settlers".

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Potts or Pott?

Flying home from Washington DC, I decided to settle for the audio channel rather than any of the movies on offer.

I couldn't settle down to finish the two superb books I'd taken with me for the flight - John Updike's last collection of Bech stories, Bech at Bay, and a book on the Delta Blues -  Delta Blues, by Ted Gioia

Dylan's "Tempest" was one of the CD's available for listening on the BA in-flight system, and I must have played Roll On, John about a dozen times. The rest of the album remains a disappointment. But this moving Dylan song about John Lennon made me think about "The Special Relationship", which is most solid and pronounced in the field of popular music - although that was not what Winston Churchill had in mind.

I hadn't listened closely to the lyrics of Narrow Way, but one verse seemed strangely appropriate- lyrics not yet officially available on www.bobdylan.com

Dylan seemed to be telling his (British?)  listeners to go back home and leave him alone. He refers to the British burning of the White House (in 1814). See Wikipedia

Is there still a bleeding wound in the heart of town? 



President Obama and Prime Minister David Cameron: The White House burning (YouTube)

Politically, not so special?

Another "special musical relationship": Tom Waits and Keith Richards, Shenandoah

BB King and Buddy Guy reminisce

The Stones in Chicago (Chess, 1964)

Robert Frost, Mending Wall





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