A variety of London memories, triggered by hearing “Stuck in the Middle with You” on Tuesday and Cradle of Filth’s cover of “Hallowed Be Thy Name” yesterday.
Recently, was shopping at the Black Rose in Camden Town. They were playing the original Maiden version of Hallowed Be Thy Name. Not quite as aggressive as Cradle of Filth’s version, but nice none the less. For some reason, it reminded me of London in the same way that Underworld’s “Born Slippy” from the Trainspotting soundtrack reminds me of walking across bridges in London. All in all, quite a peaceful feeling of belonging.
One time, was at a party with my girlfriend, sitting in the middle of a couch. “Stuck In The Middle With You” started playing, and her and I started rocking back and forth to the music, and I started to sing…
Clowns to the left of me,
Jokers to the right,
Here I am… stuck in the middle alone.
As you can see, I’ve lost none of my charm over the years. Needless to say, that earned me a harsh glare and a hearty punch.
In London, they have these flashing yellow lights at many crosswalks. Someone once asked me why? I went on about how our eyes evolved to detect change, be it in position, or in lighting, since that likely indicated danger. Just as I finish that sentence, my friend trips on a crack in the sidewalk.
Last one involves the perils of the English language. My English speaking (from England, not from North America) girlfriend, who also happened to be a linguistics major, asks me if I thought she was pretty. I responded that I thought she was quite beautiful. She blew up at me, wondering how I could only find her quite beautiful. She would grumble about this occasionally when she was in a less charitable mood toward me. One night, out of the blue, she calls me, and in a very bashful voice says that she’s sorry. She’d been studying North American English, and learned that when we say “quite” we mean “very” as opposed to the British, who mean “somewhat”. Thankfully, our next argument about “sled” vs. “sledge” was about a less sensitive topic.
[...] It was a lot of fun, though a bit different than I envisioned. For some reason, I thought there’d be a small stage at the front of the room. Don’t know why. Yumi is quite good at it, and duets by Smooth & Yumi were very well done. Jim, Dina, & I… well… that’s another story. The overwhelming selection, and the desire not to inflict even more pain on my friends, made me pass on singing some songs, including Monkeywrench by the Foo Fighters, and Hallowed Be Thy Name by Iron Maiden. [...]