Drink, Politics and stuff

JULIUS CAESAR  ACT III  SCENE II (Mark Antony’s funeral speech By Billy Shakespeare – the Grammatically correct version)

Antony:     Hi biy’s, fella’ Ulstermeyn, c’mere de a tell yis.  Jist listin’ t’ m’I'm here te bery Ceasar, nat te bum an’ blow about’m.

Win pe’pil are bawd win thir livin, ye remember it win thir dead.

Ye niver remember if thiv dun good things.

The same with yer maun here.  Good oul’ Brutus towl’ yis that Ceasar hawd a wee bit’ove a wire about himself.

If that wis right, it wis a bit of a failin’ and well, he’s bloody well paid fer it.

Anyway, with Brutuses an’ his mates permission, ‘Cause Brutus isina bawd fella’, and so’s his mates, all of them aren’t bawd fellas, I’m here to give Ceasar a bit of a sendaff.

He wis a good oul’mate of mine, nivir let m’ down an’ wis a fair minded mawn, mind you in my opinyin;

But Brutus say’s he hawd a wee bit’ove a wire about himself, an’ Brutus isina bawd fella.

He took a lot’ive prisners back here te , gettin’ a bit’ive money fur the cumyunity frum ransims n’ all; wis that the acshin of a somebody with a wire about thimselves?

Win poor pe’pil wir cryin’, Ceasar wis bloody well waypin’;

If yiv a bit of a wire about yerself yid think y’ wudn’t b’ such a big pansy;

But Brutus say’s he hawd a wee bit’ove a wire about himself;

An’ Brutus isin a bawd fella.

All’ive yis saw m’ at the parade w’in three times I tried te make ‘im lead!

An’ the three times he toul mi’ te git away from about him.  Wis that somebody wi a bit of a wire about himself?

But Brutus said he hawd a wee bit’ove a wire about himself, an’ sure Brutus isina bawd fella’.

I’m not here te call Brutus a liar, I kyin only say what I know.

Yis all thought he wis a great fella’ not so long ago, an’ well ye might’ve thought that.

What, then is stapin’ yis frum mournin’ him?<-!>

Sure the wile animals must have all the judgemint, an’ men have lost her wit

Bear with m’;

Ach, houl’ on to a gather m’self, a keep thinkin’ about yermaun in the box, there, an’ a have te try to stap.

1 Pleb:     Y’ know, he might b’ right there.

2 Pleb:     Aye, if ye think about it, a think pe’pil’ive bin a wee bit hard on oul’ Ceasar

3 Pleb:     Houl on, ye boy ye!  I think thir might be worse t’ come after’m

4 Pleb:     Have y’ bin listnin’?  He didn’t wan te be head’ove the parade an’ I don’t think he hawd a wire about himself atall.

1 Pleb:     If that’s right, somebody will have te pay fer it.

2 Pleb:     Look at that poor fella’ up there, his eyes are raw with cryin’.

3 Pleb:     There’s not a better fella’ in than yer maun Antony, up there.

4 Pleb:     Houl yer wisht!  Give my head peace! He’s startin’ to spake again.

Antony:     Yistry what Ceasar said wud’ive bin heard all over the place, an’wud’ive bin lisin de, an’ now he’s in a bax, so he is.  An’ thir’s nobody wi’a good word’ove’m.

Look, if I wis here to turn yis, ad be doin’ Brutus an’ Cassius a bawd service, so a wud, an’ thir not bawd fellas, as yis know.

A wudn’t turn yis ag’inst thim, I’d rather spake bawd of the dead, an’ indaid’ove m’self an’ yerselves, than spake bawd of such great fella’s.

But a have a wee bit a’ paper here in Ceasars han’ writin’, it wis in his wardrobe, a’ll tell yis, thisisis will.

If any’ove yis cud see what he has on it, but a’m sorry a’m not goin’ t’ read it t’yis by the way, yis wud all go an’ kiss Ceasars cuts, an’ yis wud dip yer hankies in his holy blood, an’ b’lookin’ t’ have a bit of his hair for te remember him with, an’ win youse wud die yis would leave it to yer childer, so yis wud.

4 Pleb:     Go on yerself, read it Mark Antony.

All:  Read the will!  We wanna hear Ceasars Will!

Antony:     Houl on, lads, fer play te ye, but I can’t read it.  It wudn’t be right fer yis t’ know the good word’ove yis Ceasar hawd, so it wudn’t.

Yis aren’t made’ove wood, or stones, yis are flesh an’ blood, an’ if yis were t’ hear  Ceasars Will, yis wid go aff yer heads!  Hones te God, yis wud go mad!

Yis don’t need to know that yis are benifishyuries, fir if yis did, I cudn’t tell yis what wud happen.

4 Pleb:     C’mon fukyi’!  Tell us what’s in Ceasars Will.

Antony:     Houl’ on a minute.  A shud’ve kept m’bake shut, ave bin slabberin’ too much.  A’m givin them boy’s a bit of a bawd doin’, hem there boys that stabbed Ceasar, so a am.

All:  The Will!  The Will!

2 Pleb:     They’re a bunch’ive murderin’ bastards; read the bloody thing!

Antony:     So yis want me t’ read the will, do yis?  Will c’mere round Ceasars body in a circle an’ take a look at the man what wrote this.  Will a come down there?  Is that all right?

All:  Come on down!

2 Pleb:     Aye, come on down.            Antony comes down.

3 Pleb:     Aye, it’s all right.

4 Pleb:     C’mon everybody, get in a circle.

1 Pleb:     Git back frum the hearse, keep back a bit frum the body.

2 Pleb:     Stan’ back a bit, give the fella’ a bit’ive room.

Antony:     Stap pushin’ mi, fer fuksake.  Get back a bit.

All:  Git back a bit, c’mon make a bit’ive room!

ANTONY READS THE WILL

END.

I’m reading a book about Dean Reed.  Dean Reed was a Rock’n’Roll star – perhaps, arguably, the most well known rock star in the world.  He recorded for Capitol Records, the label who had such artists as, Nat King Cole, Bobby Darin, Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and the Rat Pack, Peggy Lee, The Beach Boys and the Beatles, amongst others.

Reed was friends of some of the icons we know from the 50’s, 60’s, 70’s and 80’s – including Joan Baez, Pete Seeger and Victor  Jara and quite a few others of the 60’s peaceniks.  He had been making records as long as Cliff Richard and was much more “credible” than Richard became – he was still being mobbed by teenagers up until the mid eighties.

Dean Reed was found dead in a lake near his home in June 1986– some say it was suicide and others – including his family – say he was murdered.

From the little piece I have written here, I am sure you can tell, Dean Reed was no Elvis, eating his way into oblivion via greed and sitting in front of banks of TV’s watching crap programmes.  Dean was known as “the Red Elvis”, but I feel this does not do justice to whom and what he was.

Those who were mobbing Reed, tearing a little piece of him as a memento,  were screaming and fainting in Red Square and East Berlin as well as Chile, Brazil, Argentina, Honduras and many other non-western countries.

Reed had travelled through South America in the 50’s whilst an up and coming star.  He had had a huge hit in South America with “Our Summer Romance” and toured the continent.  Like so many people possessed of social conscience at the time who visited the various barrios and indigenous settlements, he was tremendously affected by what he saw and pledged to change the world.  He also toured prisons and became a voice against the various right wing military regimes.  He promoted support for Cuba, was against Amer­i­can nuclear testing, and opposed the Vietnam War.  In 1966 the Argentinian military regime deported him and he wound up in Italy.  There, he made various spaghetti westerns and then did a tour of the Soviet Union where he became a huge star and signed up to the soviet recording studio, Melodyia.  He also made TV specials called “A Man From Colorado” in the GDR.  He fought as a fedayeen in the Lebanon and had hobbies such as sky diving and motorcycle racing.  He was a real Red Action Hero.

At the time of his death he was reportedly thinking of coming home to fight for socialist freedom in his birth country.  He was thinking of helping to start a socialist party in the US – one that with the help of his celebrity, could have made some inroads. 

Towards the end of his life, he had critcised some of the dictatorships in the Soviet Union, but advocated socialism – apparently suggesting to the Soviet Authorities that they adopt a two party system like America, though instead of two capitalist parties, there should be two socialist parties.  Until his death, Reed was a Marxist internationalist.  He never gave up his citizenship of the country he loved, even though he hadn’t lived here for twenty-five years.

On a return to the states in the seventies, he had taken part in a hunger strike after being arrested in Delano, Buffalo, after taking  part in a protest in support of local farmers. 

He had been thrown off a Denver talk show after an angry exchange over the causes of poverty in Ethiopia. During the argument, Reed had said that the host Peter Boyles sounded “just like the neo-Nazis that killed Berg.”  Radio talk show host Alan Berg, one of Boyles’ close friends, had been shot dead in front of his Denver home 2 years previously.

Reed befriended those Americans who took part in the 1973 Sioux uprising in Wounded Knee, South Dakota .  He never completed the movie about the uprising, “Bloody Heart,” but the theme song was eventually released with the title “ Wounded Knee ’73 .”

Some say the KGB killed him, others the CIA.  Most who may know are not talking.

The book I am reading is Reggie Nadelson’s “Comrade Rockstar.  It is enjoyable – and illuminating, but I have some criticisms of it.  Nadelson has been quoted as saying,  “I think he was pretty pleased with himself and he was a tremendous politically naive.

“I think he didn’t get it and never got it and saw things exactly as he saw them for 20 years. I think he was very stubborn and very set in his ways.” 

Nadelson is a product of middle class radicalism, having grown up in Greenwich Village, New York .  She states quite early in her book that she had “got over” her lefty roots.  I guess as a well paid journalist and author and someone the system was working for, she could not see beyond her circumstances to see that Reed was a genuine voice of the oppressed.  He sought celebrity, yes – like many young Americans in the 1950’s – but when he found celebrity, it was with the oppressed peoples of South America – people oppressed by the country he was from and he wanted to do something about it.  Politically niaive?  I would say a cosseted middle class reporter from Greenwich Village could be accused of that.

I would also say that Reed, who physically fought for and was jailed and deported for his revolutionary beliefs; was slandered and reviled by the right wing in the US, used his celebrity not to feed his face or ply himself with drugs, but to help free his fellow men from the slavery and oppression that is capitalism. 

Unfortunately the rights of the movie of his life have been bought by none other than Tom Hanks.  Again, I think the treatment of this icon of socialism will be harsh.  Few of these self enriching stars and personalities criticise each other for greed and over indulgence (see the reverential treatment of the destructive, right-wing ‘patriot’ Elvis).  However, prepare yourself to see a movie about a niaive and self promoting proponent of the crumbling Soviet system – something, in my opinion, that could not be further from the truth.

Reed said of himself, “‘ South America changed my life because there one can see the justice and injustice, or poverty and wealth. They are so clear that you must take a stand. I was not a capitalist, nor was I blind. And there I became a revolutionary.’

Dean Reed’s official website with some downloadable mp3’s:

http://www.deanreed.de/deutsch/index.html

DVD on Reeds life:  http://www.customflix.com/Store/ShowEStore.jsp?id=208088

Dean Reed peace prize, Colorado University :  http://www.colorado.edu/cwa/1_Dean%20Reed_Release_2005.pdf

http://www.thriftshopxl.co.uk/

Good fella’, James.

More of my writings can be found here…

http://www.celtchat.elmacdezign.co.uk/