A6 Rebooted

[babybird67]

Jim Hanratty, a working class hero?

Blessed are the murderers and rapists, for they shall inherit the ardour and love of the misguided, Ron.

[jimarilyn]

Yes, there were some great singers and songs .Personally I like "Working Class Hero" and "Imagine" of Lennon"s best of all.But Dylan still reigns supreme for me in terms of all round -everything---especially making such an art of the words and the music..

Can't argue with you about that Norma. From "A hard rain's gonna fall" to "Positively 4th Street" his output is prodigious. How any one musical genius is able to produce so much quality decade after decade is truly awe inspiring.

A nice touch from Dylan a few months back travelling incognito on the Beatles tour bus in Liverpool, which took in John's home on Menlove Avenue. His own little tribute to his friend John Lennon, another music great and sadly missed. My personal favourite of John's is "#9 Dream" followed very closely by "Imagine."

I wonder if John's documentary about the A6 murder will ever see the light of day ?

[Limehouse]

Blessed are the murderers and rapists, for they shall inherit the ardour and love of the misguided, Ron.

What rubbish!

[Natalie Severn]

Thanks Jim! I never knew that about Dylan. It doesn"t surprise me but how sweet of Dylan to visit John"s birthplace.What I loved about him recently was when he was asked who or what was his greatest inspiration and he replied that it was Robert Burns ,and especially his song,"My Love is Like a Red Red Rose".Robert Burns wrote some fantastic songs too.

Here is John again....imagining!


Imagine there's no Heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today

Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace

You may say that I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will be as one

Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world

You may say that I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will live as one

[Natalie Severn]

Have you ever seen John"s documentary on Hanratty Jim? I would like to know if its available anywhere.

[RonIpstone]

If we are all going to post pointless lyrics, then one of my favourite popular airs of the last fifty years is Spitting Images' Chicken Song.




Its the time of year

Now that Spring is in the air

When those two wet gits with their girly curly hair

Make another song for moronic holidays

That nauseate-ate-ate

In a million different ways

From the shores of Spain

To the coast of Southern France

No matter where you hide

You just can't escape this dance



Hold a chicken in the air

Stick a deckchair up your nose

Buy a jumbo jet

And then bury all your clothes

Paint your left knee green

Then extract your wisdom teeth

Form a string quartet

And pretend your name is Keith



Skin yourself alive

Learn to speak Arapahoe

Climb inside a dog

And behead an eskimo

Eat a Renault Four with salami in your ears

Casserole your gran

Disembowel yourself with spears



The disco is vibrating

The sound is loud and grating

Its truly nauseating

Let's do the dance again



Hold a chicken in the air

Stick a deckchair up your nose

Yes you'll hear this song in the holiday discos

And there's no escape in the clubs or in the bars

You would hear this song if you holidayed in Mars



Skin yourself alive

Learn to speak Arapahoe

Climb inside a dog

And behead an eskimo

Now you've heard it once

Your brain will spring a leak

And though you hate this song

You'll be humming it for weeks



Hold a chicken in the air

Stick a deckchair up your nose

Buy a jumbo jet

And then bury all your clothes

La la la la la

La la la la la la la

La la la la la

La la la la la la laaaaaaa

[jimarilyn]

Have you ever seen John"s documentary on Hanratty Jim? I would like to know if its available anywhere.

I can't say I have, Norma. What I did get to know is that it's some 40 odd minutes in length and was made around 1970/71. John and Yoko strongly believed in Hanratty's innocence and had just reason to do so.

[babybird67]

here's what Dylan thought of murder and murderers

"The Lonesome Death Of Hattie Carroll"




William Zanzinger killed poor Hattie Carroll
With a cane that he twirled around his diamond ring finger
At a Baltimore hotel society gath'rin'
And the cops were called in and his weapon took from him
As they rode him in custody down to the station
And booked William Zanzinger for first-degree murder
But you who philosophize disgrace and criticize all fears
Take the rag away from your face
Now ain't the time for your tears.

William Zanzinger who at twenty-four years
Owns a tobacco farm of six hundred acres
With rich wealthy parents who provide and protect him
And high office relations in the politics of Maryland
Reacted to his deed with a shrug of his shoulders
And swear words and sneering and his tongue it was snarling
In a matter of minutes on bail was out walking
But you who philosophize disgrace and criticize all fears
Take the rag away from your face
Now ain't the time for your tears.

Hattie Carroll was a maid in the kitchen
She was fifty-one years old and gave birth to ten children
Who carried the dishes and took out the garbage
And never sat once at the head of the table
And didn't even talk to the people at the table
Who just cleaned up all the food from the table
And emptied the ashtrays on a whole other level
Got killed by a blow, lay slain by a cane
That sailed through the air and came down through the room
Doomed and determined to destroy all the gentle
And she never done nothing to William Zanzinger
And you who philosophize disgrace and criticize all fears
Take the rag away from your face
Now ain't the time for your tears.

In the courtroom of honor, the judge pounded his gavel
To show that all's equal and that the courts are on the level
And that the strings in the books ain't pulled and persuaded
And that even the nobles get properly handled
Once that the cops have chased after and caught 'em
And that ladder of law has no top and no bottom
Stared at the person who killed for no reason
Who just happened to be feelin' that way witout warnin'
And he spoke through his cloak, most deep and distinguished
And handed out strongly, for penalty and repentance
William Zanzinger with a six-month sentence
Oh, but you who philosophize disgrace and criticize all fearsv
Bury the rag deep in your face
For now's the time for your tears.


That was a REAL miscarriage of justice. I wonder what he would write about Hanratty. And I wonder why the Lennon's suddenly went silent on the Hanratty case?

[babybird67]

lol Ron

*grabs hold of you and starts dancing*

do do do, come on and do the conga...choo choo choo a train across the floor.

Jen x

[Limehouse]

Dylan also recorded Joan Baez's Prison Trilogy
and the chorus is thus:

And we're gonna raze, raze the prisons
To the ground
Help us raze, raze the prisons
To the ground

[jimarilyn]

Blessed are the murderers and rapists, for they shall inherit the ardour and love of the misguided, Ron.

There shouldn't be a comma after misguided.

[babybird67]

There shouldn't be a comma after misguided.

Yes there should Jim. Back to school for you!

[babybird67]

Dylan also recorded Joan Baez's Prison Trilogy
and the chorus is thus:

And we're gonna raze, raze the prisons
To the ground
Help us raze, raze the prisons
To the ground

Yes I am sure he, like all the right minded, would want murderers, rapists and paedophiles walking our streets. Good call.

[Limehouse]

There shouldn't be a comma after misguided.

[Natalie Severn]

Babybird! I do like what you posted but I doubt very much indeed that Bob Dylan would have differed from John Lennon in his views about the trial of James Hanratty -had he known much about it .As far as I know Lennon never changed his mind at all about the case ----and don't forget he was murdered himself 30 years ago so he couldn"t very well continue to clear James Hanratty from the grave.