Comedy and offense

[Keith Houchen]

6 minutes ago, BomberPat said:

Johnny Cash's "I shot a man in Reno just to watch him die",

This was mentioned in the thread Lamaar started. I used to perform murder ballads and did a few Cash songs. What I loved about Cash’s were they usually had the perspective of the murderer being remorseful for what they did and that’s the story of the song. 
 

You make a great point about writers writing from the perspective of a character. Now as I may have hinted on here I’ve never been a fan of Boris Johnson. One thing I kept seeing brought up to show how he’s racist was how in his novel he mentioned Jews controlling the media and Muslims being bombers so they get their 72 virgins etc. But was that the words of characters? Horrible bastards have been part of literary history forever. Obviously with Johnson there isn’t much good grace or benefit of the doubt, but why use that to attack him when there is so many other legitimate things to use. 

[BomberPat]

3 minutes ago, Keith Houchen said:

You make a great point about writers writing from the perspective of a character. Now as I may have hinted on here I’ve never been a fan of Boris Johnson. One thing I kept seeing brought up to show how he’s racist was how in his novel he mentioned Jews controlling the media and Muslims being bombers so they get their 72 virgins etc. But was that the words of characters? Horrible bastards have been part of literary history forever. Obviously with Johnson there isn’t much good grace or benefit of the doubt, but why use that to attack him when there is so many other legitimate things to use. 

It's a fine line, and I don't know where I'd draw it with Johnson, because I haven't read his book and don't intend to. If those are views expressed by characters within the book, that's one thing, if they're views expressed by an omnipotent narrator, or by a heroic central character that we're clearly meant  to empathise with, it's another - I'm not arguing for "it's just a story, chill out", because what someone chooses to write about can obviously be a clear indication of their beliefs and worldview. But as you say, with Boris Johnson there's no shortage of other things that he's done and said without the thin veneer of a fiction to provide him with an excuse, so that's what people should be focusing their energies on.

[wordsfromlee]

The bloody lefty wokerati snowflake brigade will be saying we can't sing 'Swing Low, Sweet Chariot' at the ruggers next!

[SuperBacon]

Reminds me of this belter from my old man, who does indeed love the rugby. The fact that he says 'Exeter Chefs' makes it even funnier.

Silly sod.

[lanky316]

It's fine though, they've swapped it for a man with onions around his neck, carrying a baguette and with a chefs hat on. That'll teach those wokes.

[Thunderplex]

This has resulted in Delilah playing non stop in my head now, thanks a fucking lot.  Thankfully I don’t know enough Beautiful South to have them brain fucking me.

[Keith Houchen]

“Let’s go and break the news to Tom Jones we won’t be using his song anymore. I think he’s in this office”

opens door and strolls in without knocking

“Tom, bad news. We….”

”Not now, boyo”

[Factotum]

By the way Lamar's twitter feed is absolutely brilliant for songs. Miss that guy on the radio and TV

[Keith Houchen]

9 minutes ago, Factotum said:

By the way Lamar's twitter feed is absolutely brilliant for songs. Miss that guy on the radio and TV

Absolutely! There is also the Gods Jukebox playlist on Spotify!

[Spud]

8 hours ago, wordsfromlee said:

The bloody lefty wokerati snowflake brigade will be saying we can't sing 'Swing Low, Sweet Chariot' at the ruggers next!

I may have missed the sarcasm here but, if  not, this has sort of already happened. In 2020, the RFU (apparently) conducted a review of the song’s context and Martin Offiah, while he didn’t want it banned, said he wanted people to learn about its origins. Brian Moore, on the other hand, hates the song and the other viewpoints in that second article are interesting but none of them necessarily want it banned. Whether that’s actually their views or they’re being wary of fan backlash is another thing.

[Mr_Danger]

Wait until the big daft heads find out what the source material for Delilah is and how many people dig that problematic shit. Hopefully Songs of Praise gets cancelled.

[Factotum]

10 hours ago, Keith Houchen said:

Absolutely! There is also the Gods Jukebox playlist on Spotify!

Yeah, someone has compiled a huge Spotify playlist of every song he posts as well, it's glorious.

[theringmaster]

Surely the fans will feel encouraged to sing Delilah this weekend? It could end up an embarrassing moment if the fans are bellowing it out. 

 

(Reminds me of the time Chelsea sacked their physio then the next game a player went down and they had no physio so had to use the other teams spare, it had that massive 'This is only happening because of a choice you made' statement)

[Factotum]

1 hour ago, theringmaster said:

Surely the fans will feel encouraged to sing Delilah this weekend? It could end up an embarrassing moment if the fans are bellowing it out.

Well that's the thing. They could have easily quietly dropped it if they really did think it was offensive. Just seems like an embattled body trying to appear progressive who will end up with the whole stadium bellowing it.

[Slapnut]

Delilah hasn’t been part of the half-time playlist at the Millennium since 2015 and nobody was any the wiser. I dare say the timing of a statement like this is more to do with the recent misogyny scandal, because why make actual meaningful change when you can just announce a choir are no longer singing a song? The WRU have ended sexism!

Good riddance, anyway. I hate it.

Edited February 3, 2023 by Slapnut