In Just A Little Bit, Ian Brown is collectively characterising socially 'weak' people (those who do nothing with their lives, as evidenced by the lyric "you're too busy doing nothing") as Oliver Twist. "Hand after handout. Where's your self-respect ?" relates to a key point in the text, when Mr Bumble exclaims "Oliver Twist has asked for more !", at the boy's request for more food. Oliver was arguably the strongest character in the novel, ultimately prevailing through a series of hardships; this lyric, however, is using the aspect of Oliver's situation of dependence in the meal-time incident, to comment upon those in modern society with a "poverty-as-romance" mentality (see So Young), which I will develop upon later in this essay:
Around the time of Oliver's ninth birthday, Mr. Bumble, a parish beadle, removes him from the branch-workhouse and puts him to work in the main facility. Oliver, who toils with very little food, remains in the workhouse for six months, after which time, he breeches regulations by requesting another portion of gruel:
The evening arrived; the boys took their places. The master, in his cook’s uniform, stationed himself at the copper; his pauper assistants ranged themselves behind him; the gruel was served out; and a long grace was said over the short commons. The gruel disappeared; the boys whispered each other, and winked at Oliver; while his next neighbours nudged him. Child as he was, he was desperate with hunger, and reckless with misery. He rose from the table; and advancing to the master, basin and spoon in hand, said: somewhat alarmed at his own temerity:
‘Please, sir, I want some more.’
The master was a fat, healthy man; but he turned very pale. He gazed in stupified astonishment on the small rebel for some seconds, and then clung for support to the copper. The assistants were paralysed with wonder; the boys with fear.
‘What!’ said the master at length, in a faint voice.
‘Please, sir,’ replied Oliver, ‘I want some more.’
The master aimed a blow at Oliver’s head with the ladle; pinioned him in his arm; and shrieked aloud for the beadle.
The board were sitting in solemn conclave, when Mr. Bumble rushed into the room in great excitement, and addressing the gentleman in the high chair, said,
‘Mr. Limbkins, I beg your pardon, sir! Oliver Twist has asked for more!’
There was a general start. Horror was depicted on every countenance.
‘For MORE!’ said Mr. Limbkins. ‘Compose yourself, Bumble, and answer me distinctly. Do I understand that he asked for more, after he had eaten the supper allotted by the dietary ?’
‘He did, sir,’ replied Bumble.
‘That boy will be hung,’ said the gentleman in the white waistcoat. ‘I know that boy will be hung.’
(Oliver Twist, Chapter 2)
The board of gentlemen who administer the workhouse are outraged by such a request, perceiving this as ingratitude. Just A Little Bit uses Oliver's situation at this famous point in the novel to characterise the self-imposed plight of those in modern society with a "poverty-as-romance" mentality, also targeted in So Young. In his childhood, Oliver could do nothing about his poverty-stricken situation and displayed courage to ask for more food, knowing the reaction such a request would be met with (It should be noted, though, that this request by Oliver was no act of self-assertion, but rather, the result of drawing lots); in stark contrast, the "poverty-as-romance" mentality of some in modern society, which Ian is so critical of, is a conscious adoption of this lifestyle. Thus, the following lyric is a criticism aimed not at Oliver, but rather those, as perceived by Ian, with a Smiths-esque romanticisation of poverty:
The Stone Roses, Just A Little Bit
Desiring to get rid of Oliver, the board offers a sum of money to any person wishing to take on the boy as an apprentice. Mr Sowerberry, an undertaker employed by the parish, eventually takes Oliver into his service. After maltreatment, Oliver flees, encountering Jack Dawkins (also known as the Artful Dodger), who leads him to London, into association with a criminal named Fagin. Oliver resides with Fagin and his criminal associates for some time, unaware of their unlawful occupations. A verse of Just A Little Bit incorporates these two new-found characters in Oliver's life:
The Stone Roses, Just A Little Bit
Oliver had been sleeping on the streets when he was found by the Artful Dodger and was taken to stay with Fagin and Charley Bates (another of Fagin's boy pickpockets). Upon arrival at Fagin's home, Fagin tells the Artful Dodger to make a bath for Oliver:
The Jew grinned; and, making a low obeisance to Oliver, took him by the hand, and hoped he should have the honour of his intimate acquaintance. Upon this, the young gentleman with the pipes came round him, and shook both his hands very hard — especially the one in which he held his little bundle. One young gentleman was very anxious to hang up his cap for him; and another was so obliging as to put his hands in his pockets, in order that, as he was very tired, he might not have the trouble of emptying them, himself, when he went to bed. These civilities would probably be extended much farther, but for a liberal exercise of the Jew’s toasting–fork on the heads and shoulders of the affectionate youths who offered them.
‘We are very glad to see you, Oliver, very,’ said the Jew. ‘Dodger, take off the sausages; and draw a tub near the fire for Oliver. Ah, you’re a–staring at the pocket–handkerchiefs ! eh, my dear. There are a good many of ’em, ain’t there ? We’ve just looked ’em out, ready for the wash; that’s all, Oliver; that’s all. Ha ! ha ! ha !’
(Oliver Twist, Chapter 8)
The above verse of the song uses this passage of the novel to portray how susceptible Fagin's underlings are to ruin; the fruits of Fagin's thievery feed, wash and clothe the Artful Dodger, Oliver and the others, and he could 'pull the plug' out on them at any given time; none, not even his most apt pupil, the Artful Dodger, would escape the ensuing swirl into oblivion.
Oliver Twist is Dickens's tale of childhood innocence beset by evil, depicting the dark criminal underworld of London. Scathing in its indictment of a cruel society, is used to call the public's attention to various contemporary social evils, including the workhouse, child labour and the recruitment of children as criminals.
Anne Frank (12 June 1929 – beginning of March 1945) was a European Jewish girl who wrote a diary while in hiding with her family and four friends in Amsterdam during the German occupation of the Netherlands in World War II. Anne was born in Frankfurt, Germany, but her family moved to Amsterdam in 1933, after the Nazis gained power in Germany. However, she and her family were trapped when the Nazi occupation extended into the Netherlands. As persecutions against the Jewish population increased, the family went into hiding in July 1942 in hidden rooms in her father Otto Frank's office building. After two years in hiding, the group was betrayed and transported to concentration camps. Seven months after her arrest, Anne died of typhus in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp within days of her sister, Margot Frank. Her father, Otto, the only survivor of the group, returned to Amsterdam after the war ended, to find that her diary had been saved and he subsequently acted to have it published. The diary, given to Anne Frank on her thirteenth birthday, chronicles her life from 12th June 1942 until 1st August 1944. It was eventually translated from its original Dutch into many languages and became one of the world's most widely read books. Described as the work of a mature and insightful mind, it provides an intimate examination of daily life under Nazi occupation and in hiding.
The Naked Civil Servant is the first volume of autobiography by Quentin Crisp, which brought to the attention of the general public his defiant exhibitionism and longstanding refusal to conceal his homosexuality.
In a Melody Maker piece from 1989, The Stone Roses list 'The Fall' and 'A Happy Death' by Albert Camus among their reading material. Camus also was among Ian's reading material during his stay at Strangeway's prison. The post-punk band The Fall take their name from the novel. Though often associated with the school of existentialism, Camus preferred to be known as a man and a thinker, rather than as a member of a school or ideology. The Fall, Camus' last complete work of fiction, is set in Amsterdam and consists of a series of monologues by the self-proclaimed "judge-penitent" Jean-Baptiste Clamence, as he reflects upon his life to a stranger. In what amounts to a confession, Clamence tells of his success as a wealthy Parisian defense lawyer who was highly respected by his colleagues; his crisis; and his ultimate "fall" from grace, which is meant to invoke, in secular terms, The Fall of Man in the Garden of Eden.
In a Melody Maker piece from 1989, The Stone Roses list 'The Fall' and 'A Happy Death' by Albert Camus among their reading material. Camus also was among Ian's reading material during his stay at Strangeway's prison. This was the first novel by Camus. The existentialist topic of the book is the conscious creation of one's happiness, and the need of time (and money) to achieve this. It draws upon memories of the author such as his job at the maritime commission in Algiers, his suffering from tuberculosis, and his travels in Europe. The novel was composed and reworked several times between 1936 and 1938 but Camus decided not to publish it. It was eventually published in 1971, more than ten years after Camus' death. It is the precursor to his most famous work, 'The Stranger', published in 1942.
'The Revolution of Everyday Life', the inspiration for the title of Ian Brown's Corpses In Their Mouths, was published in the same year as Guy Debord's 'The Society of the Spectacle'. Vaneigem and Debord were two of the strongest voices of the Situationists, the poetic and spirited prose of the former providing a balance to the political and polemic style of the latter. 'Corpses In Their Mouths' became a slogan of the 1968 Paris riots.
For information on the Situationist movement see Bye Bye Badman (see also Under The Paving Stones: The Beach).
John Squire became an avid Led Zeppelin fan at the beginning of the 1990s and can be seen reading this biography in the bath in the first Love Spreads video.
The name of Reni's band 'The Rub' is from Prince Hamlet's soliloquy in Act Three, Scene One of Shakespeare's Hamlet:
(William Shakespeare, Hamlet, Act Three, Scene One)
The 'rub' is a problem or difficulty, in this case to his committing suicide; the term comes from lawn bowling, where the 'rub' is any obstacle, usually uneven ground, that pushes the ball off course. The Oxford English Dictionary has its first example from Thomas Nashe's 'The First Part of Pasquil's Apology' of 1590: "Some small rubs, as I hear, have been cast in my way to hinder my coming forth, but they shall not profit."
In a Q & A session with a North-West paper (8th February 2000), Ian Brown cited 'The Scramble for Africa' by Thomas Pakenham as being among his reading in Strangeways jail. In this interview, Ian states that factual books are his main reading interest:
In this disregard for fictional works, Brown differs from Squire, whose solo work has a notable fictional literary influence. Pakenham's book details the race for conquest of Africa in the final two decades of the nineteenth century. Still ruled by Africans in 1880 and barely explored, by 1902 five European powers (Britain, France, Germany, Belgium and Italy) had grabbed almost the entire continent, establishing 30 new colonies and protectorates, spanning 10 million square miles of land.
Ian's fondness for the continent of Africa has long been evident in his fashion; in his solo career he wore an Ethiopia insigned top and below, can be seen in The Stone Roses wearing shirts showing the continent.
John Squire, Time Changes Everything
Maya Angelou's first work of literature, the autobiographical 'I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings', reflects the essence of her struggle to overcome the restrictions that were placed upon her in a hostile environment. Writing with a twist of lyrical imagery combined with a touch of realism, the work explores her isolation and loneliness and the attributes of her character that helped her cope with the prejudices of society. Quite graphic in nature, the text deals with issues of childhood, rape, racism, and sexism.
But a bird that stalks
down his narrow cage
can seldom see through
his bars of rage
his wings are clipped and
his feet are tied
so he opens his throat to sing.
The caged bird sings
with fearful trill
of the things unknown
but longed for still
and his tune is heard
on the distant hill for the caged bird
sings of freedom
The free bird thinks of another breeze
and the trade winds soft through the sighing trees
and the fat worms waiting on a dawn-bright lawn
and he names the sky his own.
But a caged bird stands on the grave of dreams
his shadow shouts on a nightmare scream
his wings are clipped and his feet are tied
so he opens his throat to sing
The caged bird sings
with a fearful trill
of things unknown
but longed for still
and his tune is heard
on the distant hill
for the caged bird
sings of freedom.
(Maya Angelou, I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings)
The title of the book is taken from the poem 'Sympathy' by Paul Laurence Dunbar, a seminal American poet in the late 19th and early 20th century:
(Paul Laurence Dunbar, Sympathy, Stanza 3)
Dunbar gained national recognition for his 1896 'Lyrics of a Lowly Life', one poem in the collection being 'Ode to Ethiopia'.
(John Squire, Home Sweet Home)
"Ishmael's whale" is from Herman Melville's 'Moby Dick', a novel often considered the epitome of American Romanticism. It is the story of the ill-fated voyage of the whaling ship, Pequod, to find and destroy the eponymous white whale, driven by the obsessive Captain Ahab. The narrator's reflections, along with complex descriptions of the gruelling work of whaling and personalities of his shipmates, are woven into a profound meditation on hubris, providence, nature, society, and the human struggle for meaning, happiness, and salvation. Ishmael is the name the narrator takes for himself (the opening line of the book - "Call me Ishmael" - is one of the most famous in American literature. A newcomer to whaling, Ishmael is, at the end, the only witness alive to tell the tale.
The lyric from Joe Louis, "How does it feel to be.. Joe Louis ?", appears to be from 'The Doors Of Perception' by Aldous Huxley (1894 - 1963) (a friend of Aleister Crowley):
'The Doors Of Perception' details Huxley's experiences when taking the drug mescaline. In this work, he explores the idea that the human mind filters reality, partly because handling the details of all of the impressions and images coming in would be unbearable, partly because it has been taught to do so. He believes that psychotropic drugs can disable this filter, and open the "doors of perception." He observed that, when taking mescaline, everyday objects lose their functionality and suddenly exist "as such." Space and dimension become irrelevant, and perceptions seem to be enlarged and at times even overwhelming. Huxley was a pioneer of self-directed psychedelic drug use in a search for enlightenment, famously taking 100 micrograms of LSD as he lay dying. The title - Jim Morrison's inspiration for the name of his band, The Doors - comes from 18th century poet, William Blake's 'The Marriage of Heaven and Hell':
The book describes the poet's visit to Hell, a device adopted by Blake from 'Dante's Inferno' and Milton's 'Paradise Lost'. It was composed in London between 1790 and 1793, in the period of radical ferment and political conflict immediately after the French Revolution. Joe Louis contains elements of both 'Dante's Inferno' and the French Revolution.
John Squire, Cape Cod Morning
'Brave New World', Aldous Huxley's dystopian novel, is referenced on this track. The title comes from Miranda's speech in Shakespeare's 'The Tempest', Act V, Scene I:
(Shakespeare, The Tempest, Act V, Scene I)
Set in London in the 26th century, the novel anticipates developments in reproductive technology, eugenics and hypnopaedia that combine to change society. The world it describes could also be a utopia, albeit an ironic one: Humanity is carefree, healthy and technologically advanced. Warfare and poverty have been eliminated and everyone is permanently happy. The irony is that all of these things have been achieved by eliminating many things people currently derive happiness from — family, cultural diversity, art, literature, science, religion and philosophy. It is also a hedonistic society, deriving pleasure from promiscuous sex and drug use.
J. K. Rowling's 'Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban', the third in the Harry Potter series, was bedtime reading for Ian and his son Emilio. Ian is good friends with the movie's Mexican director, Alfonso Cuarón, and this friendship led to his cameo appearance in the 2004 film adaption of the book. He appears as a wizard in The Leaky Cauldron, reading Stephen Hawking's 'A Brief History of Time'.
In A Brief History of Time, Stephen Hawking attempts to explain a range of subjects in cosmology, including the Big Bang, black holes, light cones and superstring theory, to the nonspecialist reader. Ian Brown can be seen reading this popular scientific work in 'Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban'.
The book has also made appearances in other films, such as 'Addams Family Values' (1993) and 'Donnie Darko' (2001).
An article in The Independent on 8th October 2004 lists 'Guns, Germs and Steel' by Jared Diamond as being among Ian's reading material on colonialism. In 1998, this book won a Pulitzer Prize and the Aventis Prize for Best Science Book. The book examines why Eurasian civilization, as a whole, has survived and conquered others, while refuting the belief that Eurasian hegemony is due to any form of Eurasian intellectual or moral superiority. Diamond argues that the gaps in power and technology between human societies do not reflect cultural or racial differences, but rather originate in environmental differences powerfully amplified by various positive feedback loops. He also, most explicitly in the epilogue, argues that societies with food surpluses and high-to-moderate degrees of interaction with outsiders are more likely to encourage great people to realize their full potential and to adopt new inventions.
U2, Pride (In The Name of Love) (1984)
The greatest man who ever lived ?
"Probably Martin Luther King. I read 'Bearing The Cross', about the last three weeks of his life. He knew he was gonna die, he knew that in taking on the cause he would be a target. There's a story that he's sitting at the kitchen table and he asks God: "Why now, why now ?" because he has a vision that he's gonna get killed. In the last few days of his life, he and his family are being followed by the CIA and he knows he's gonna get taken out, it's just amazing. It's almost like the same story as Jesus. I can't think of anyone with that courage and how he did it all with a smile on his face. Now forty years later, his speeches can still make you cry or make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up. I wish there was another Martin Luther King about today and I bet I'm not alone."
(Ian Brown speaking to Channel 4 in 2005)
Martin Luther King, Jr., whom Ian Brown expresses great admiration for in several interviews, is referenced in The Stone Roses song, Tradjic Roundabout. Winner of the 1987 Pulitzer Prize for biography, Bearing the Cross is a seminal examination of King. The author interviews all of his closest surviving associates and creates a powerful portrait of King and the movement for which he dedicated himself.
U2's Pride (In The Name of Love) pays tribute to the Civil Rights leader. Like Ian (above), Bono also recognised parallels between the fate of Jesus and Martin Luther King, and merges the mission and plight of each on this track:
U2, Pride (In The Name of Love) (1984)
Pride (In The Name of Love) was originally intended to be about Ronald Reagan's pride in America's military power but Bono was subsequently influenced by Stephen B. Oates's book 'Let The Trumpet Sound: A Life of Martin Luther King, Jr.' as well as by a biography of Malcolm X. Clips from King speeches are often shown on the stage's video screens during U2 performances of the track. Ian and Bono share literary interests in this regard, with both frontmen namechecking works on these two civil rights leaders in interviews, and each draw extensively upon The Bible in their work. Martin Luther King was assassinated at 6:01 p.m., April 4, 1968, not "early morning, April 4" in Bono's lyric, and the U2 frontman in recognition of the error, occasionally changes the lyric to "Early evening..." in live performance.
A number of John Squire artistic works from 2006 are named after characters and dialogue from the novel 'Stone Junction' by Jim Dodge.
He read omnivorously, stocking up on library books on the monthly trip to town.
'Shamus And The U-235' (oil on canvas on board, 47.5" x 35")
Shamus Malloy is the name of a character from the novel obsessed with Uranium (uranium-235).
'Her First Punch' (oil on canvas, 50" x 50")
The title of this work is from the following passage of the book:
"Sit down, slut," Sister Bernadette screamed, slamming the desktop with her open hands as she jumped to her feet. "I said sit down." Annalee, just under six feet tall and a little over 130 pounds, broke Sister Bernadette's jaw with her first punch, a roundhouse right with every bit of herself behind it.
'It's Your Best Shot At Sanity Man' (oil on canvas on board, 47.5" x 35.5")
This is from the following line of the book:
"Go back, man. It's your best shot at sanity."
'Annalee Faro Pearse' (pure pigment and plaster on canvas on board, 37.25" x 23.5")
Annalee Faro Pearse is the name of a character from the novel.
'Outlaws' (oil and pure pigment on canvas, 40" x 30") and 'Only Do Wrong When You Feel It's Right' (oil and pure pigment on canvas, 40" x 30")
The title of these two works derive from the following passage of the book:
"Outlaws," Smiling Jack said. "Not criminals: outlaws. My friend Volta says there's an important difference. Outlaws only do wrong when they feel it's right; criminals only feel right when they're doing wrong."
'Johnny Seven Moons And The Golden Gate' (oil on canvas on board, 29" x 24")
Johnny Seven Moons is the name of a character from the novel.
Stone Junction is the story of a boy, Daniel Pearse's, journey to adulthood amid magic, mayhem and mysticism, all guided by a mysterious organisation named AMO, the Alliance of Magicians and Outlaws. A series of apprenticeships teaches Daniel meditation, safecracking, poker, and the art of becoming invisible. Starting with his mother's 'roundhouse' right to a nun's jaw, the novel is a modern odyssey of one man's quest for knowledge and understanding in a world where revenge, betrayal, revolution, mind-bending chemicals, magic and murder are the norm.
Ian Brown enquired specifically about this book in a London bookstore on Monday 8th January 2007. Mark Farley dealt with his enquiry, finding him a copy in the shop. Here is the synopsis for the book:
Bibliography:
Angelou, Maya. I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings
Camus Albert, The Fall
Camus Albert, A Happy Death
Crisp, Quentin. The Naked Civil Servant
Davis, Stephen. Hammer of the Gods
Diamond, Jared, Guns, Germs and Steel
Dickens, Charles. Oliver Twist
Dodge, Jim. Stone Junction
Frank, Anne. Anne Frank: the diary of a young girl
Garrow, David J., Bearing the Cross: Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference
Hawking, Stephen. A Brief History of Time
Hodgkinson, Tom, How to be Free
Huxley, Aldous. Brave New World
Huxley, Aldous. The Doors Of Perception
Melville, Herman. Moby Dick
Pakenham, Thomas, The Scramble for Africa
Rowling, J. K. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Shakespeare, William. The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark
Vaneigem, Raoul. The Revolution of Everyday Life
Comments ? Thoughts ? Ideas ?
Discuss them in the Discussion Forum
Or email me.
Paul McAuley
http://www.thisisthedaybreak.co.uk
Email: Paul@thisisthedaybreak.co.uk
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