Month: September 1989

Mad Mullah, Comedy Lyric, cSeptember 1989

This is the first of the comedy lyrics on my log, roughly dated as September 1989. Actually I suspect that an early incarnation of The Ultimate Love Song probably preceded it, but no matter.

Mad Mullah lacks the subtlety and/or humour of some of my later work, but it is not bad for an early effort and has some multi-layering to it.

MAD MULLAH (A Song to the tune of "Moonshadow" by Cat Stevens)

CHORUS

I’m being followed by a mad Mullah, mad Mullah, mad Mullah,
Ducking and hiding from a mad Mullah, mad Mullah, mad Mullah.

VERSE ONE

And if I went out of my tree,
Who would mourn Salman Rushdie?
And if they ever shoot my mouth,
Awayayayayayayayay, I won’t have to speak no more.
And if I went out of my mind,
Apologies then would be signed.
And if they ever blow my pen,
Awayayayayayayayay, I won’t have to write no more.
Yes, I’m being followed by a mad Mullah, mad Mullah, mad Mullah,
Ducking and hiding from a mad Mullah, mad Mullah, mad Mullah.

VERSE TWO

And if I ever lose my ken,
Would it be on “News at Ten”?
And if they ever blast my eyes,
Awayayayayayayayay, I won’t have to see no more.
And if I ever lose my sense,
Would they cease to take offence?
And if they ever beat my brains,
Awayayayayayayayay, I won’t have to think…. [no more].
Yes, I’m being followed by a mad Mullah, mad Mullah, mad Mullah,
Ducking and hiding from a mad Mullah, mad Mullah, mad Mullah.

VERSE THREE (MODULATION – DRAMATIC BIT)

“Did it take long to find me?”, I asked as the doorbell rang.
“Did it take long to find me, and am I to garotte or hang?”.

FINAL CHORUS

I’ve been followed by a mad Mullah, mad Mullah, mad Mullah,
Blasted to silence by a mad Mullah, mad Mullah, mad Mullah.
Mad Mullah, mad Mullah,
Mad Mullah, mad Mullah.

The video below has Cat Stevens singing Moonshadow with the lyrics on the screen:

A Five Day Work Visit To Amsterdam Including A Concertgebouw Evening 23 September 1989

Hotel Krasnapolsky Amsterdam Steven Lek, CC BY-SA 4.0

The Dutch people were friendly, you know they put me up and they fed me…

Amsterdam, Al Stewart

My client was hugely apologetic. The only way they could arrange the three days of meetings in Amsterdam required at a delicate stage of the project I was managing was to schedule a Thursday, Friday and then Monday. They realised that this would be inconvenient for me and of course they were happy to fly me backwards and forwards to London if I wanted to spend the weekend at home or they were happy to put me up and feed me at their expense for the duration, including the weekend.

Young, free and single in September 1989, I was delighted to go for the “stay in Amsterdam at their expense” option.

Please stay at the Kras on our corporate account if you are going to stay that long…

…they said. It would have been rude to say no. I usually stayed for my short stopovers at a more modest place, the Rembrandt Classic I think, preferring the less formal and low key atmosphere.

Once work was done on the Friday evening, the weekend was my own. I didn’t keep a log of this visit but I remember most of the things I did:

  • an Indonesian rijsttafel meal on the Friday evening. A rijsttafel for one is a bit of an oxymoron, but the restaurant came highly recommended by my Dutch clients, for good reason;
  • Van Gogh Museum;
  • Rijksmuseum;
  • Rembrandt House;
  • Concertgebouw on Saturday evening (see below);
  • Anne Frank House (on the Sunday if I remember correctly);
  • Lots of strolling around the canals, sitting in coffee bars (the proper posh ones that serve coffee and play classical music), reading my book and feeling terribly sophisticated. I’m sure Mozart Violin Concertos weren’t playing all the time in every coffee shop, but I do remember hearing them more than once. I have, ever since, associated those concertos with this weekend in Amsterdam.

Concertgebouw, 23 September 1989

I was thrilled to be able to score a good ticket at the Concertgebouw “on a whim”. I guess it is that much easier to be lucky and get a single ticket at short notice. I liked the look of the concert and was not disappointed.

I heard/saw the house band (Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra aka Koninklijt Concertgebouworkest) conducted by Wolfgang Sawallisch, with

  • Ludwig van Beethoven – Overture “Leonora” Op 72a
  • Richard Strauss – Horn Concerto No 2 in E Flat Major
  • Antonin Dvorak – Symphony No 7 in D Minor, Op 70

Local lad, Jacob Slagter, was the horn soloist.

I have long-loved the Dvorak’s 7th symphony and was in seventh heaven (did you see what I did there?) at this performance of it.

Here is that very orchestra, but under Colin Davis a few years earlier, playing the Dvorak 7th:

I loved Amsterdam. It is one of the few places in the world, other than London, where I think I could live happily.

The Wonder: A Woman Keeps A Secret, Susanna Centlivre, The Gate, 16 September 1989

I don’t recall much about this one and the diary is a mess for it. I suspect that the mention of Bobbie on the Friday and The Wonder on the Saturday ended up being one and the same evening. So I’m guessing that I saw this production with Bobbie on one of those evenings.

There’s the diary page for that week. If any of my friends can help me to unpick all of that, may I just thank you profoundly in advance.

The Wonder. To the extent that I remember it, I think the production and acting was very good but that we didn’t much like the play.

An interesting but now rarely performed playwright from the late Restoration/early Hanoverian period, I’m not sure that Susanna Centilivre‘s plays have dated well. But that’s not her fault. I don’t suppose she even faintly imagined The Wonder being revived in 1989 when she dedicated it to the new king, George I, in 1714.

The Wonder was a huge hit in its day. Here is a link to an on-line preview of the play book.

The Escapade Theatre Company (confusingly not the company that now bears that name) was a group dedicated to reviving plays written by or mostly about women.

Anna Mazzotti played the female lead role Isabella, with great poise and confidence I recall. I managed to track her down in 2019 as someone who did/does many Italian language programmes for the BBC and theatre in Rome -still listing The Wonder on her theatrical cv. Strangely (as she only lists two), she also lists Dealing With Clair at the Orange Tree, which Janie and I saw when the Orange Tree revived it (recently at the time of writing):

Dealing With Clair by Martin Crimp, Orange Tree Theatre, 24 November 2018

The male lead, Don Felix, was played by a young Christopher Eccleston – possibly only his second professional gig. His cv is no longer talking about this one, but it does still mention, amongst many other things, Dr Who.

Any further intelligence on this one will need to come from others, e.g. Bobbie!…

…or Michael Billington! Good old Billy – he reviewed the production in The Guardian:

Billington on The WonderBillington on The Wonder Sat, Sep 2, 1989 – 20 · The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) · Newspapers.com

A Prom Commemorating The Day War Broke Out, City Of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra & Simon Rattle, Royal Albert Hall, 3 September 1989

Another CBSO with Simon Rattle concert and another note in my diary wondering who joined me for this one. My prime suspect this time is Bobbie. For sure she was around again by then, as she had been away for most of August that year but for sure was back by the end of the month when we saw the Merchant Of Venice:

The Merchant Of Venice by William Shakespeare, Phoenix Theatre, 29 August 1989

Here is a link to the BBC stub for this prom. This is what we heard:

  • Benjamin Britten – Sinfonia da Requiem
  • Gustav Mahler – Symphony No. 7 in E minor

Anthony Payne in the Independent thinks Mahler’s 7th is a tough work and that the CBSO under Rattle did a good job with it:

Rattle Prom Payne IndyRattle Prom Payne Indy 05 Sep 1989, Tue The Independent (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Robert Henderson in the Telegraph thought the pairing of these two works ingenious while expressing his own doubts about Mahler’s 7th:

Rattle Prom Henderson TelegraphRattle Prom Henderson Telegraph 05 Sep 1989, Tue The Daily Telegraph (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Want to judge for yourself? Here is Thomas Adès conducting the BBC Symphony Orchestra in the Sinfonia da Requiem at the Proms in 2013…

…and here is Claudio Abbado with the Lucerne Festival Orchestra doing Mahler’s 7th.