Introduction: Fish (The Funny Farm Interview - July '95, Dick Bros) said: "I was going through a very bohemian element, you know. I remember hanging about this place called 'Rasputins', which was one of the famous German brothels, and I used to go along and just write there at night with the girls, and talk to the girls, sitting in the red light of the bar. Lady Nina [...] was written there."
'Lady Nina'
Club Lady Nina was - and apparently still is - a gentleman’s club in Berlin. According to Mick Wall’s Getcha Rocks Off podcast (ep 26), Tammy, who would become Fish’s first wife, and who starred in the videos for Kayleigh and Lady Nina, worked there as a hostess.
'Marks'
A pun on 'Deutsche Mark', the pre-Euro West German currency.
'Elizabeth Taylor'
1000 Great Lives (Magpie Books) says: "(1932-2011) US film actress born in Britain. Taylor, who had acted in films since the age of ten arrived in Hollywood as a child evacuee during World War II.
"By the age of 16 she had made ten films, the most famous of these being National Velvet (1944). A famous beauty and screen personality, she was been married eight times, twice to Sir Richard Burton. Her films as an adult include Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958), Butterfield8 (1960), Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf (1966), A Little Night Music (1976), and The Mirror Crack'd (1981). She later returned to the stage and campaigned for AIDS charities."
'Marilyn Monroe'
1000 Great Lives (Magpie Books) says: "Stage name of Norma Jean Mortenson (1926-62). US film actress who became internationally famous as a sex symbol. She grew up in orphanages and married at the age of fourteen. Her second and third husbands were the baseball star Joe di Maggio and the play write Arthur Miller respectively. Although she enjoyed great success, her real acting talent was frustrated by her Hollywood image as a 'dumb blonde'. Her films include The Seven Year Itch (1955), Some Like it Hot (1959) and The Misfits (1960). She died from an overdose of sleeping pills."
'Ich liebe dich, liebst du mich'
German for 'I love you, do you love me?'. This phase, along with the preceding line 'We believe it's for real' are in the lyrics given on the Marillion website. Perhaps it's my hearing, but as far as I'm concerned, they're either absent from the final version or mixed too low for me to pick up. Certainly there's no sign that they're there in the video for the song.
'Edith Piaf'
1000 Great Lives(Magpie Books) says: "(1915 -63). French Singer, born Edith Giovanna Gassion. Her small stature earned her the nickname 'Piaf', which is Parisian slang for 'sparrow'. She toured with her father, an acrobat, and at 15 began singing in the streets of Paris. She later became a cabaret star and in 1945 acted in the play Le bel Indifferent, which was written for her by Jean Cocteau. Her songs which often reflect the miseries of her early life, include La Vie en Rose (1945) and Non,Je Regrette Rein. She wrote the words and music to several of her famous songs and published an autobiography (1958). Her early death was caused by addiction to drugs and alcohol."
Songs with a link have explanations.
A pun on 'Deutsche Mark', the pre-Euro West German currency.
'Elizabeth Taylor'
1000 Great Lives (Magpie Books) says: "(1932-2011) US film actress born in Britain. Taylor, who had acted in films since the age of ten arrived in Hollywood as a child evacuee during World War II.
"By the age of 16 she had made ten films, the most famous of these being National Velvet (1944). A famous beauty and screen personality, she was been married eight times, twice to Sir Richard Burton. Her films as an adult include Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958), Butterfield8 (1960), Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf (1966), A Little Night Music (1976), and The Mirror Crack'd (1981). She later returned to the stage and campaigned for AIDS charities."
'Marilyn Monroe'
1000 Great Lives (Magpie Books) says: "Stage name of Norma Jean Mortenson (1926-62). US film actress who became internationally famous as a sex symbol. She grew up in orphanages and married at the age of fourteen. Her second and third husbands were the baseball star Joe di Maggio and the play write Arthur Miller respectively. Although she enjoyed great success, her real acting talent was frustrated by her Hollywood image as a 'dumb blonde'. Her films include The Seven Year Itch (1955), Some Like it Hot (1959) and The Misfits (1960). She died from an overdose of sleeping pills."
'Ich liebe dich, liebst du mich'
German for 'I love you, do you love me?'. This phase, along with the preceding line 'We believe it's for real' are in the lyrics given on the Marillion website. Perhaps it's my hearing, but as far as I'm concerned, they're either absent from the final version or mixed too low for me to pick up. Certainly there's no sign that they're there in the video for the song.
'Edith Piaf'
1000 Great Lives(Magpie Books) says: "(1915 -63). French Singer, born Edith Giovanna Gassion. Her small stature earned her the nickname 'Piaf', which is Parisian slang for 'sparrow'. She toured with her father, an acrobat, and at 15 began singing in the streets of Paris. She later became a cabaret star and in 1945 acted in the play Le bel Indifferent, which was written for her by Jean Cocteau. Her songs which often reflect the miseries of her early life, include La Vie en Rose (1945) and Non,Je Regrette Rein. She wrote the words and music to several of her famous songs and published an autobiography (1958). Her early death was caused by addiction to drugs and alcohol."
Songs with a link have explanations.
- Introduction
- Pseudo Silk Kimono
- Kayleigh
- Lavender
- Bitter Suite
- Heart of Lothian
- Waterhole (Expresso Bongo)
- Lords of the Backstage
- Blind Curve
- Childhoods End?
- White Feather
- Lady Nina
- FreaksClick to access album
"Deuchmark" - that would be deutsche Mark. ("deutsch" means "German" in German - that's why "Germany" is "Deutschland" in German)
ReplyDeleteApologies for my terrible spelling; now corrected.
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