Other songs in my head from A Streetcar named Desire

One of the themes in A Streetcar Named Desire is music.  Blanche has flashbacks to

a particular barn dance, complete with musical accompaniment...

the Varsouviana Polka.
Let's give a nod to Weird Al and enjoy a little accordion music.
You can give it a few seconds here...

 

But this is catchy little tune is NOT what has been stuck in my head

since watching the movie (thanks for the viewing schedule tip, Mrs. S.!) and reading the play.  Nope!

 

 

Of course, some of you might be able to guess why I am partial to songs about "Moons."  I bought a Natalie Cole album released right before my high school graduation, where Natalie sings the songs of her famous father, Nat King Cole.  Now my daughter also loves the album, and though she is, in every way, a very modern thirteen year old with Facebook and texting and whatnot, she can also sing along every word to this classic song featured in our Tennessee Williams play...

Paper Moon. 

 

 

Lyrically, it is pretty much Blanche's life anthem.  The whole song is about fake sets of cardboard, and how the fake doesn't matter if the people in the relationship pretend it isn't fake!
However, that is STILL not the song stuck in my head! (It is lovely though, isn't it?)

 

 

Nope... Blanche tries to pretend she is pure and innocent with lines like "What you are talking about is brutal desire—just—Desire! The name of that rattle-trap street-car that…brought me here!" (from scene four).  We learn later what a sneaky little diva she really is, and nowhere is it more obvious that in scene six, when she graphically tries to seduce Mitch... but gets away with it because her words were in French and uneducated Mitch

(am I the only person who sees him more as Mr. Cellophane, from the musical Chicago?)

is not bilingual.  Blanche says,

 

 "Voulez-vous coucher avec moi ce soir?"
(Literally, in English... "Do you want to sleep with me tonight?")

gasp!      scandal!     pearl clutching!
Now I've never taken a French class.  But I know a Patti LaBelle line when I read one!  This may be most of the French words I know that are not about food!  Because I love all things cheesy-musical related, I just have to share this clip from the Moulin Rouge soundtrack, where Christina Aquilera, Lil' Kim, Mya, Pink, and Missy Elliot remake the LaBelle classic.  (Quick warning- there's a lot of underwear in this video.  But hey, that whole musical takes place in a brothel, ya know?)

 

 

So thanks, American Literature class. 

I've been thinking about Ewan McGregor all week,

and that is not really a disappointment at all. Photo credit

(Dear God, please let there be a religious allegory left in this semester

so I can justify adding a bunch more Moulin Rouge links to my blog. Amen.)

A Book is a "Part of Your Living Self"

I read the most delicious poem today.  It was posted in a homeschool forum, and I wanted so much to share it with you. Technically, Edgar Guest was born in England... but I do think most people consider him an American poet.

 

A Book

by Edgar Guest

“Now” - said a good book unto me -
“Open my pages and you shall see
Jewels of wisdom and treasures fine,
Gold and silver in every line,
And you may claim them if you but will
Open my pages and take your fill.

“Open my pages and run them o’er,
Take what you choose of my golden store.
Be you greedy, I shall not care -
All that you seize I shall gladly spare;
There is never a lock on my treasure doors,
Come - here are my jewels, make them yours!

“I am just a book on your mantel shelf,
But I can be part of your living self;
If only you’ll travel my pages through,
Then I will travel the world with you.
As two wines blended make better wine,
Blend your mind with these truths of mine.

“I’ll make you fitter to talk with men,
I’ll touch with silver the lines you pen,
I’ll lead you nearer the truth you seek,
I’ll strengthen you when your faith grows weak -
This place on your shelf is a prison cell,
Let me come into your mind to dwell!”

 
I love that last couplet.  Don't leave books on the shelf!  I devour them... I eat them and the words on the page attach to the nodules like calories on my hips.  The books become a part of me, and they influence my thinking.  Even when I disagree, I find myself affected, understanding the opposite view at a deeper level, even if I reject it as false.
 
I have a friend, a clever preacher who frequently says, "Let's not confuse "buying" books with "reading" books."  It makes me wince every time, because I collect books like one of those episodes of Hoarders.  There's never too many books!