Thursday, August 25, 2005

Lionheart is still the best album cover though.

I can't hang on for September. I'm declaring it officially Autumn now, I hope that's okay with everyone. Britain's rubbish at summer anyway. It skips along like an annoying girlfriend, all white teeth and floral dresses, then suddenly it's floods of tears, stormy looks and wet leaves in your hair. At which point the metaphor shatters into a thousand tiny pieces, each reflecting the whole (meta-metaphors? Or am I trying to be too clever? I probably am). Anyway, Summer, what we had was precious, and special and that, but it's over*.

It's getting easier to write the Cabinet book as well now, partly because I'm nearly halfway through, and it's really picking up momentum, partly because it's easier to write about a snowy seaside town when you're not looking out the window and seeing a particularly sunny seaside town full of people in shorts and sandals.

Autumnal songs:

Have to be slightly menacing; ideally two thirds thrashing guitars and angry drums, one third about fireworks and cats with the Trio Bulgarka on backing vocals (I want them on my backing vocals, when I'm in Tesco's. 'Where is the, where is the, where is the cheeeeeeeeeeeeeeese!), thus below. I've written a Kate Bush song into my road trip movie - the main characters sing along, and I copied out the lyrics and everything. They can change the setting, the period, they can take out the tornado or the giant orange, but Kate's staying in. Unless it's hard to get the rights, in which case I suppose I can find something else.

Thee More Shallows - '2am', from More Deep Cuts

The National - 'Mr November', from Alligator

Kate Bush - 'Rocket's Tail', from The Sensual World


* Not you, Summer. A different Summer. Obviously.

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

I've been thinking that about autumn ever since the weekend, despite the sun shining through the windows again today - it smells like autumn somehow. Shame about summer though, I'd just started to enjoy it.

Still, autumn clearly has all the best tunes.

ScroobiousScrivener said...

Oh thank goodness, if somebody else agrees it's autumn (two people in fact), I can start wearing boots and tights and velvety stuff. Hooray!

And listening to the good tunes, yes. And drinking hot chocolate. I do like autumn.

patroclus said...

Yes! Autumn is the best season by far. And I wore my boots for the first time yesterday. Hurrah!

Izzy said...

the leaves are going brown, the conkers are forming on the chestnut trees and it's pi**ed with rain on me walking to work two days in a row. 'Tis Autumn indeed.

Anonymous said...

Giant orange?

James Henry said...

Yes.

surly girl said...

hmm.

woo! and yay! for autumn. it's my favourite season - all crispy mornings and big jumpers and things.

and no more old men in shorts.

Fizzy good said...

I'll tell Rose Keegan, shall I?

Anonymous said...

Where are the songs of Spring? Ay, where are they?
Think not of them, thou hast thy music too...

Hooray! Fellow Autumn enthusiasts! The Brits do Autumn so much better than Summer - I can start going out in my preferred 3/4 layers of clothing without ending up looking like a boil-in-the-bag lobster!

Fizzy good, are you planning to play the concertina while you tell her?

Anonymous said...

Oh, and I was wondering, James - was a giant peach too much of a cliche or does it have to be an orange?

James Henry said...

No it has to be an orange. I'm keeping the kid's references strictly to the Cabinet, lest I start wandering round thinking I can see Moomins again. That way madness lies.

Summer said...

I read along and wondered why I couldn't remember our fling. Because, yes, I'd totally remember. Thank you for the asterisk.

It's 104 degrees Fahrenheit here (what, like 42 Celcius?), and I hate being outdoors. Even at night, it's hot.

I've wondered why autumn is a poignant time for me compared to spring, and I geekily figured it out; the absolute value of the derivative of the average daily temperature is greater in autumn than it is in spring.

Anonymous said...

Summer has been painfully hot here in the US, though I haven't endured 104 Fahrenheit. So I too am looking forward to fall.

Glad to see Toy-Fu still running.

Anonymous said...

How dare you insult my shorts. I may be getting on, but I have very good legs.

I wrote "Heaven" as sung by Jimmy Scott into my movie, as well as "Mack the Knife" sung by Michael Buble.