It came to me all at once, really. I’d just received some rather good news. And it just grew from there. Everything: The concept, the name, the structure, and even the sign off. After years of searching, I knew I’d finally found the podcast I wanted to create.
I’ve always been a big fan of podcasts and have great admiration for passionate people who create their own product. A couple of years ago, I toyed with turning a series of essays I’d written into a limited series podcast, but didn’t want it to end up in the three-episode and done bone yard of good ideas and poor planning. Instead, I gathered those essays into a creative nonfiction book that I used as my thesis project for an MFA program I entered. The piece, “The Most Terrible Time in My Life…Ends Thursday,” was very well received, approved with “no edits needed.” My MFA in Writing was officially conferred quite recently. Combined with my other degrees in Linguistics, Literature, and Design, I’ve become quite the alphabet letter collector. So, when I received this good news, my first thought wasn’t, “oh, good I’m finished,” it was, “ok, what’s the next mountain I want to climb?” The answer was right there in the Thesis approval letter. There was a line that stuck out, that stayed with me, that pretty much bugged me: “congratulations,” it said, “on this outstanding culmination of your work in our program.” Given that I’d written nearly every word of the book in the years leading up to entering their program, I thought, pssh, I learned more about writing and poetry from listening to the genius words and phrases of Elvis Costello than I learned in their entire two-year masters program. Don’t get me wrong, it was informative and fun, just not as rigorous as an Elvis Costello song. And that’s how it came to me. Many great ideas are born out of spite, and I hope this is one of them. My name’s Remedy. And this is an appreciation and exploration of linguists, language, and clever word play as framed by the peerless poetry of the modern day master, Elvis Costello. I bookend each episode with an exclamation borrowed from Elvis Costello’s 1997, “The Bridge I Burned.” It’s an homage to what he bellows after quoting a 15th century Italian philosopher. Is this stealing? Am I a thief? Well, funny you should ask. --- Dig it Today’s slow drag is with “King of Thieves,” from “Punch the Clock,” released in 1983. The songwriting is credited to Elvis Costello. It’s a charming alternative universe kind of song. It’s a chronicle of the struggles a writer might face trying to break through into the literary world by becoming a published author. I had forgotten all about "The Case of The Three Pins" They said I must be cracked Until the brown paper parcel landed on my welcome mat Even the pretty secretaries who wouldn't even let me hang my hat All recognize my handwriting And return to sender as a matter of fact “The Case of The Three Pins,” I’d like to think is a hardboiled detective novel written by a once bright-eyed crime author, lost in late night reruns of Bogart films, blowing their limited budget on stamps to mail a manuscript to a publisher. Ah, the days before electronic submission. Thank god for electronic submission. “Until the brown paper parcel landed on my welcome mat.” Just another example of how he leans into the persona: “return to sender, address unknown.” This might be reaching a bit, but then the next lines: If I were you I'd change my name again They don't care what they do to you, believe me This is the coronation of the King of Thieves His occupation is the King of Thieves He can steal more than you can save You can take him on, but you're not that brave Here’s another great example of rhyming words with themselves. Coronation and occupation themselves rhyme and then anchor each line that ends with “king of thieves.” Save and brave are safe words, but the implication goes to the bone. Taking good ideas and turning them into their own. You might want to argue, to stand your ground but, like that man said, “you’re not that brave.” So far it seems as if our aspiring writer is under very few illusions. Maybe the perspective shifts a bit here: I'll tell your fortune in a minute or two I might even tell you what comes next The moguls want a human sacrifice And look at that girl - young, hungry and perplexed They took away the best years of her life Ah, but it's all in good fun And if you kept your nose clean You can laugh now at the caring things they've done This starts to draw a comparison with a confidence man, a double talking businessman who makes big promises, or maybe this is the plot of “The Three Pins?” I'll write this story down, but you'll never guess the final twist Blow the whistle on the whole design As they find my name on that fatal mailing list The rejection in the beginning has now turned to resilience, to motivation and desire to break through. It’s always a dream to get accepted in order to start fixing things from the inside. Funny how it never seems to turn out that way. I hear the clatter of a typewriter Another rookie eating up the reams I think it's time to put my feet under the desk And place my mark on another man's dreams “Another rookie eating up the reams.” A friend once said that line reminded him of me and my writing. Always nice to be thought of, I suppose. Notice how the words echo the meaning of the word “clatter.” So many other words could be used to denote typing: tapping, striking, banging, yet, he’s found the perfect onomatopoeia to carry the pivotal scene in this pulp fiction. Clatter. This is the coronation of the King of Thieves And look at that girl, look at that girl It’s fun getting swept up in someone’s story, some meta telling of a story within a story. So vivid yet confusing. If I were you I'd change my name again They don't care what they do to you, believe me This is the coronation of the King of Thieves His occupation is the King of Thieves He can steal more than you can save You can take him on, but you're not that brave And look at me, emulating a modern day master by using the same structure he uses when he quotes a 15th century philosopher. "And remember to flee far away from the unbridled, and the impudent, the malicious, and the unlucky. For these being full of bad demons or rays are maleficent, and like lepers and people stricken with plague, they harm not only by touch but even by proximity and by sight." ~ Marsilio Ficino (1433 – 1499) If it’s stealing, of course, “he can steal more than” I can save, but as I’ve mentioned before: choose your heroes wisely. And now that “The Most Terrible Time in My Life…Ends Thursday” has been given the official seal of approval by those who believe they’ve guided me well, I’d like to revisit a limited series podcast for it. It will be a sister podcast to this one, and one that I think you will enjoy as well. ---- Dig it: Again, this has been a slow drag with “King of Thieves” from 1983’s, “Punch the Clock.” It captures the struggles and work arounds that aspiring writers goes through. Where does the narrative of the song end and the plot of novel begin? And of course, the reflexive “if I were you I’d change my name again” melds into the framework well, yet stands out as an example of how we shouldn’t take our personas so seriously, or at least that’s my sense at the moment.
Show Notes:
---------------------- Appreciation written, produced, and narrated by Remedy Robinson, MA/MFA Twitter: https://twitter.com/slowdragremedy Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/slow_drag_with_remedy/ Email: [email protected] Podcast music by https://www.fesliyanstudios.com Rate this Podcast: https://ratethispodcast.com/slowdrag ---------------------- References: More about the Slow Drag dance origins: https://bluesjazzbookclub.com/2018/09/01/a-landscape-of-slow-drag/ “The Bridge I Burned”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cGhlUBtY8_I A bit more about Marsilio Ficino: https://www.iep.utm.edu/ficino/ “The Most Terrible Time in my Life…Ends Thursday”: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07XLXS5PL/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=remedy+robinson&qid=1568499321&sr=8-3 So, until next time, Adieu, my little ballyhoo Comments are closed.
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AboutSlow Drag with Remedy is an Elvis Costello podcast appreciation. It's an exploration of linguistics, language, poetry, and clever wordplay as framed by the peerless poetry of the modern-day master, Elvis Costello. Slow Drag by Song
Poor Napoleon Alibi Church Underground The Big Light Georgie and Her Rival Joe Porterhouse No Hiding Place 20% Amnesia All This Useless Beauty Let Him Dangle King of Thieves Damnation's Cellar Stripping Paper Pidgin English Riot Act Bedlam The Quickening Art Luxembourg Chemistry Class Living in Paradise My Mood Swings Waiting for the End of the World Little Atoms Two Little Hitlers Crimes of Paris You Tripped at Every Step Needle Time Men Called Uncle Peace in Our Time The Loved Ones I Almost Had a Weakness Our Little Angel Invasion Hit Parade Turpentine Miracle Man A Voice in the Dark The Greatest Thing Satellite Hand in Hand Clubland Tart Glitter Gulch Stations of the Cross Science Fiction Twin Possession This Sad Burlesque Flutter and Wow Soul for Hire After the Fall Blue Chair Monkey to Man Mouth Almighty Watch Your Step ...This Town... Distorted Angel Worthless Thing No Dancing Miss Macbeth Charm School Poor Fractured Atlas Brilliant Mistake My Little Blue Window Suspect My Tears Coal Train Robberies Fish 'n' Chip Papers I Hope You're Happy Now Man Out of Time 13 Steps Lead Down Go Away Sweet Pear The Name of This Thing is Not Love Jimmie Standing in the Rain The Deportees Club The Birds Will Still Be Singing Starting to Come to Me Pay It Back Five Small Words Pretty Words Radio Silence Human Hands Night Rally I'll Wear It Proudly Motel Matches Drum and Bone Harpies Bizarre Nothing Clings Like Ivy Why Won't Heaven Help Me Next Time 'Round The River in Reverse A Room with No Number Clown Strike The Invisible Man My Most Beautiful Mistake All the Rage The Town Where Time Stood Still Episode of Blonde e of Blonde No Flag A Slow Drag with Josephine That Bridge I Burned Sour Milk Cow Blues You Little Fool Spooky Girlfriend Suit of Lights There's a Story in Your Voice Dishonor The Stars The Other Side of Summer Mischievous Ghost They're Not Laughing at Me Now White Knuckles Honey, Are You Straight or Are You Blind? Black and White World The World and His Wife
God's Comic The First to Leave Green Shirt The Man You Love to Hate Lip Service American Gangster Time Blame It on Cain The Spell That You Cast Lipstick Vogue The Difference Stella Hurt Tears before Bedtime |