Music: Doo Wop
For one thing, bastardy gave me the inspiration for the first doo-wop song I wrote, although, because it was a subtle piece of work for a kid my age, no one but I noticed that it was about bastardy. […]
“Well,” I said, seizing the opportunity that she had given me, “[…] why don’t you sing it? […]”
Eventually she did, […]
It began like this:
Woh-oh, woh-oh-oh-ohhh,
There’s a space between
What you say and what you mean.And it went on like that for quite a few lines before ending like this:
Woh-oh, woh-oh-oh-ohhh,
There’s a space between
Who I am and who you say I am.
Woh-oh, woh-oh-oh-ohhh,
That’s where the shadows fall.
Woh-oh, woh-oh-oh-ohhh,
And where the shadows fall,
Anything can happen
Anything at all.
Woh-oh, woh-oh-oh-ohhh,
Bah doobie doo wah.
Peter’s song shows signs of having been heavily influenced by T. S. Eliot’s “The Hollow Men.”
Between the idea
And the reality
Between the motion
And the act
Falls the Shadow […]Between the conception
And the creation
Between the emotion
And the response
Falls the Shadow […]Between the desire
And the spasm
Between the potency
And the existence
Between the essence
And the descent
Falls the Shadow
See also:
Allusion, Quotation TG 140, TG 455, TG 462, TG 502, TG 506, TG 532, TG 559, TG 583, TG 592, TG 626, TG 654, TG 657, TG 714, TG 735, TG 736, TG 738, TG 780, TG 781, TG 802, TG 829, TG 832, TG 935, TG 951, TG 957, TG 964, TG 979, TG 982, TG 985, TG 1039
Music: Ottorino Respighi’s “Ancient Airs and Dances for the Lute” TG 53; Records; Audio Equipment TG 12; Jazz: Coleman Hawkins: “Body and Soul” TG 252; Rock ’n’ Roll TG 457; Music Appreciation TG 458; Jazz TG 513; Lyrics TG 513; For the Reservations Recommended Soundtrack Album TG 514, TG 520, TG 559; Duke Ellington’s “East St. Louis Toodle-Oo” TG 605; “Rarotonga” TG 681; Shostakovich’s Concerto no. 1 for Cello and Orchestra TG 836
Subscribe to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy
Share The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy
Watch Well, What Now? This series of short videos continues The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy in the present.
Have you missed an episode or two or several?
You can begin reading at the beginning or you can catch up by visiting the archive or consulting the index to the Topical Guide. The Substack serialization of Little Follies begins here; Herb ’n’ Lorna begins here; Reservations Recommended begins here; Where Do You Stop? begins here; What a Piece of Work I Am begins here; At Home with the Glynns begins here; Leaving Small’s Hotel begins here.
You can listen to the episodes on the Personal History podcast. Begin at the beginning or scroll through the episodes to find what you’ve missed. The Substack podcast reading of Little Follies begins here; Herb ’n’ Lorna begins here; Reservations Recommended begins here; Where Do You Stop? begins here; What a Piece of Work I Am begins here; At Home with the Glynns begins here; Leaving Small’s Hotel begins here.
You can listen to “My Mother Takes a Tumble” and “Do Clams Bite?” complete and uninterrupted as audiobooks through YouTube.
You can ensure that you never miss a future issue by getting a free subscription. (You can help support the work by choosing a paid subscription instead.)
At Apple Books you can download free eBooks of Little Follies, Herb ’n’ Lorna, Reservations Recommended, Where Do You Stop?, What a Piece of Work I Am, At Home with the Glynns, and Leaving Small’s Hotel.
You can buy hardcover and paperback editions of all the books at Lulu.
You’ll find overviews of the entire work in An Introduction to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy (a pdf document), The Origin Story (here on substack), Between the Lines (a video, here on Substack), and at Encyclopedia.com.
The serialization of The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy is supported by its readers. I sometimes earn affiliate fees when you click through the affiliate links in a post. EK
The illustration in the banner that opens each episode is from an illustration by Stewart Rouse that first appeared on the cover of the August 1931 issue of Modern Mechanics and Inventions.
www.erickraft.com
www.babbingtonpress.com