Steve Harley songs, always rich in narrative, hey!
Superb storyteller, part true, part false? A fascinating character...
...MURIEL THE ACTOR (Harley, S, 1973)
"...
Slip on a T-shirt, me gotta look so cool
Me Biba braces are making me so so cruel
She - Dinosaur and Me - her He-Whore
Sleep Muriel..."
Steve (and Bryan Ferry), in black Biba T-shirts. Early 1970's, Biba*, a top outlet, mirrored Steve's ambition for Cockney Rebel.
The cruelness in the braces was very 'A Clockwork Orange', Anthony Burgess (1962). No doubt Steve had read the book. What about the film too? Screenplay, produced and directed by Stanley Kubrick. Timing. Culture. Pop. Real. Acting. Performance. Art. This is what Cockney Rebel were using and adapting. The Bowler hat on the stand on the front cover of the album. The film (1971), happened just before Cockney Rebel got off the ground.
The scene of Steve's next lines - the dominant (voracious) Muriel, but the writer or character, wasn't complaining - though glad for a rest (watching her sleep...). That's a lot to cover in four lines. Very clever.
Steve's legacy offers much scope to discuss more, of his writing, don't you think?
* Barbara Hulanicki - the founder of Biba - 'It isn't just selling dresses, it's a whole way of life' (1970). For more information, check out:
www.bbc.com/culture/article/20240917-bar...olutionising-fashion
fashiontextilemuseum.org/exhibitionsdisp...iba-story-1964-1975/
I also said, more than five months ago post #13324 (link below) refers
"...I've said previously that this is one of the two (at least) concept albums - this is representing a, for the time, lifestyle. The clothes, the images, the personas, the music - with violin for guitar..."
www.steveharley.com/forum/7-welcome-mat/...kney-rebel-1973.html
Further, if we consider a song like 'JUDY TEEN' (Harley, S, 1974) how many other pop lyricists would use a word like 'schlep'!? Not many. Or 'sacral' [blues] and then rhyme with 'in various hues'. Just brilliant.
Steve's songs are loaded with historical - contemporaneous - context (as any good pop 'art' should be) like, 'Verbal slang, American twang, you dare not ignore'. Very 'street' (New York and London) - actually that kind of reference is probably more relevant today, than it was in 1974 (when the World seemed bigger).
On the other hand 'troubadour' has connotations such as medieval circa 12th century, French, poetry and singing (courtly) love. This is interesting because whilst the inferences overall might disguise baser motives (I think that the 1974 Promo for the single, subtly, for a moment only, backs up this view - unless this is in my mind, lol), this meaning might be regarded as possessing ennobling passion. Maybe, super-ego (conscience) v Id (raw instincts and initial chaos)? Perhaps the character is struggling with conflicting emotions - always a good story line from that...
'Sacral' in the song's context, perhaps refers to sacred, authority, divine. 'Superballs', very 1970's. Besides some of the melodies he came up with, this lyrical ability of Steve's, must have given him a great deal of confidence! x
"...Lead me away, come inside,
see my mind in kaleidoscope..."
from SEBASTIAN (Harley, S, 1973) 