Lindsay Kemp and The Jean Genie
Posted by Moonage | Filed under The World Of David Bowie, Vision
This is probably the most difficult person to write on I’ve ever dealt with on this blog. Very, very, very early in Bowie’s career, he made some unusual life choices. First of all, he teamed up with a rather odd character named Lindsay Kemp.
And, he dabbled in Buddhism. Now, the thing about Lindsay Kemp, especially in the late 60’s, was he was into pantomime. Bowie, was singing and looking very, very, normal. This made for a career that was basically going nowhere. However, once Bowie teamed up with Kemp, things started getting strange real quick.
First, he tried his hand at mime. That didn’t go anywhere on the charts. So, he added music to his mime:
That went a lot farther!
Now, you have to look kinda close, but one of the scary looking people is Lindsay Kemp ( I think ). Actually it’s Jack Birkett. See his excellent comment which leads to his Myspace page!
Now, you can read all you want about Kemp at Wiki or whatever. But, it was his very odd mix of Kabuki and dance IMO that gave us this:
Now, I picked this particular song for a reason. Lindsay Kemp was a huge fan of a fellow named Jean Genet. Now, Jean Genet was not your everyday run of the mill bum/author/poet/prostitute/political activist. He apparently was quite gay as well, being kicked out of the army for indecency. I think it’s quite obvious what song Jean Genet inspired:
A small Jean Genie snuck off to the city
Strung out on lasers and slash back blazers
Ate all your razors while pulling the waiters
Talking bout Monroe and walking on Snow White
New York’s a go-go and everything tastes right
Poor little GreenieCHORUS
The Jean Genie lives on his back ( prostitute )
The Jean Genie loves chimney stacks ( homosexual )
He’s outrageous, he screams and he bawls ( protests everything )
Jean Genie let yourself go! ( friendly sarcasm )Sits like a man but he smiles like a reptile
She loves him, she loves him but just for a short while
She’ll scratch in the sand, won’t let go his hand
He says he’s a beautician and sells you nutrition
And keeps all your dead hair for making up underwear
Poor little GreenieCHORUSHe’s so simple minded he can’t drive his module
He bites on the neon and sleeps in the capsule
Loves to be loved, loves to be loved
I know there has to be some song Bowie did that was based on Lindsay Kemp, but so far I can’t think of which it would be. But, it was Bowie meeting and teaming up with Kemp that led to Ziggy Stardust and Bowie’s most visual and writing creativity for a decade. In other words, although there may be no specific song acknowledging Kemp’s influence on Bowie, what Bowie became IS that tribute.
Jean Genet died about 20 years ago. Lindsay Kemp is about 70, alive, and pretty much retired. If you want to see some very odd, and visually and mentally challenging stuff, Google Lindsay Kemp ( and Jack Birkett, aka the incredible Orlando ). I really can’t do their stuff justice here.
Tags: david bowie, incredible-orlando, jack-birkett, jean-genet, john-im-only-dancing, lindsay-kemp, The World Of David Bowie, the-jean-genie, the-mask, Vision, width-of-a-circle
The Bewlay Brothers - We Frightened the small children away……
Posted by Moonage | Filed under Interpretations
Now, when looking at interesting lyrics, a couple songs stick out and BEG for some type of translation. None of which could possibly be more confusing than The Bewlay Brothers. The Bewlay Brothers was recorded for Hunky Dory, one of his premier lyrical albums. Without further ado, here are the lyrics :
And so the story goes they wore the clothes They said the things to make it seem improbable
The whale of a lie like they hope it was
And the good men of tomorrow had their feet in the wallow and their heads of brawn were nicer shorn and how they bought their positions with saccharin and trust
And the world was asleep to our latent fuss
Sighing, the swirl through the streets like the crust of the sun The Bewlay Brothers
In our Wings that Bark
Flashing teeth of Brass
Standing tall in the dark
Oh, And we were Gone
Hanging out with your Dwarf Men
We were so turned on
By your lack of conclusions I was Stone and he was Wax So he could scream, and still relax, unbelievable
And we frightened the small children away
And our talk was old and dust would flow thru our veins and Lo! it was midnight back o’ the kitchen door
Like the grim face on the Cathedral floor
And the solid book we wrote Cannot be found today
And it was Stalking time for the Moonboys
The Bewlay Brothers
With our backs on the arch
In the Devil-may-be-here
But He can’t sing about that
Oh, And we were Gone
Real Cool Traders
We were so Turned On
You’d thought we were Fakers
Now the dress is hung, the ticket pawned The Factor Max that proved the fact is melted down
And woven on the edging of my pillow
Now my Brother lays upon the rocks he could be dead, he could be not, he could be You
He’s Chameleon, Comedian, Corinthian and Caricature
“Shooting-up Pie-in-the-Sky”
The Bewlay Brothers
In the feeble and the Bad
The Bewlay Brothers
In the Blessed and Cold
In the Crutch-hungry Dark
Was where we flayed our Mark
Oh, and we were Gone
Kings of Oblivion
We were so Turned On
In the Mind-Warp Pavilion
Lay me place and bake me pie I’m starving for me Gravy
Leave my shoes, and door unlocked I might just slip away
Just for the Day, Hey!
Please come Away, Hey!
OK, don’t think I can translate that? Well, guess what.
I can’t. That’s the point of the song.
Tags: bewlay-brothers, david bowie, Interpretations, width-of-a-circle
