A to Z of Progressive Rock Keyboard Players

W

here possible, I have tried to concentrate on progressive rock specialists, but found it difficult to leave out influential players and other cross-over genres like avant-garde, melodic, AOR, psychedelia and jazz-rock. Since starting this post I have made a number of amendments, deletions and additions. This is it so far, but it is far from complete. 

I would appreciate it if someone more knowledgeable could indicate the non-specialists and multi-instrumentalists (who may or may not be specialists).

A

Don Airey (Rainbow, Ozzy Osbourne, Deep Purple)

Verden Allen (Mott the Hoople)

Jim Anderson (Home)

Rod Argent (The Zombies, Argent)

Tony Ashton (Ashton, Gardner and Dyke, Family)

Brian Auger (Trinity)

B

Tony Banks (Genesis)

Hugh Banton (Van der Graaf Generator)

Richard Barbieri (Porcupine Tree)

Peter Bardens (Camel)

Peter Baumann (Tangerine Dream)

John Beck (It Bites)

Roy Bittan (E Street Band)

Tim Blake (Gong)

Tomas Bodin (Flower Kings)

Emmanuel Borghi (Magma)

Roddy Bottum (Faith No More)

Tom Brislin (Spiraling, Yes)

Gary Brooker (Procul Harum)

John ‘Rabbit’ Bundrick (The Who)

Joseph Byrd (United States of America)

C

Jonathan Cain (Journey)

Tony Carey (Rainbow)

Jon Carin (Pink Floyd, Roger Waters)

Wendy Carlos

Gonzalo Carrera (Landmarq, Karnataka, Galadriel, Infusion)

Tim Cashion (Grand Funk Railroad)

Bill Champlin (Chicago)

Chick Churchill (Ten Years After)

Julian Colbeck (ABWH, Steve Hackett)

Chick Corea (Return to Forever)

Michael Cotton (The Tubes)

Kenny Craddock (Lindisfarne)

Vincent Crane (The Crazy World of Arthur Brown, Atomic Rooster)

David Cross (King Crimson)

Burton Cummings (The Guess Who)

Mike Curtis (Crazy Horse)

D

Rick Davies (Supertramp)

Dennis DeYoung (Styx)

Del Detmar (Hawkwind)

Francis Descamps (Ange)

Thomas Dolby

Geoffrey Downes (Buggles, Yes, Asia)

Anne Dudley (Art of Noise, Jaz Coleman, David Gilmour)

George Duke (Frank Zappa)

E

Jonathan Edwards (Karnataka, Panic Room)

Keith Emerson (The Nice, Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Emerson, Lake & Powell, 3, Emerson, Hughes & Bonilla)

Brian Eno (Roxy Music)

John Evan (Jethro Tull)

F

Donald Fagen (Steely Dan)

Larry Fast (Nektar)

Graham Fields (Rare Bird)

Eric Drew Feldman (Captain Beefheart)

Matthew Fisher (Procol Harum)

Alan Fitzgerald (Gamma, Night Ranger)

Christoph Franke (Tangerine Dream)

Taff Freeman (Nektar)

Edgar Froese (Tangerine Dream)

Mitchell Froom (Gamma)

Craig Frost (Grand Funk Railroad, Silver Bullet Band)

Magne Furuholmen (A-ha)

G

Don Gallucci (Touch)

Jem Godfrey (Frost)

Lawrence Gowan (Styx)

Alan Gowen (Gilgamesh, National Health)

Dave Greenfield (The Stranglers)

Dave Greenslade (Colosseum, Greenslade)

Jim Greenspoon (Three Dog Night)

H

Jan Hammer (The Mahavishnu Orchestra)

Peter Hammill (Van der Graaf Generator)

Herbie Hancock (The Headhunters)

Mike Harrison (Spooky Tooth)

John Hawken (Renaissance, Strawbs)

Greg Hawkes (The Cars)

Isaac Hayes

Zeus B. Held (Birth Control)

Ken Hensley (Uriah Heep, Blackfoot)

Tim Hodgkinson (Henry Cow)

Roger Hodgson (Supertramp)

Tuomas Holopainen (Nightwish)

Nicky Hopkins (The Rolling Stones, Jeff Beck, Quicksilver Messenger Service)

Simon House (Hawkwind)

Garth Hudson (The Band)

Thomas Hughes (Nektar)

Gary Husband

I

Doug Ingle (Iron Butterfly)

J

Jean-Michel Jarre

Dave Jarrett (Quiet Sun)

Keith Jarrett

Karl Jenkins

Iain Jennings (Mostly Autumn)

Eddie Jobson (Curved Air, Roxy Music, Jethro Tull, Frank Zappa)

Billy Joel

Jens Johansson (Yngwie Malmsteen, Stratovarius)

Clive John (Man)

Elton John

John Paul Jones (Led Zeppelin)

Howard Jones

Booker T. Jones (Booker T. & the M.G.'s)

Nick Judd (Audience)

Seth Justman (J. Geils Band)

K

Dabe Kaffineti (Rare Bird)

Volker Kahrs (Grobschnitt)

Tony Kaye (Yes, Badger)

Mark Kelly (Marillion)

Larry Knechtel (Bread)

Steve Knight (Mountain)

Al Kooper (Blood Sweat & Tears)

Igor Koroshev (Yes)

L

Robert Lamm (Chicago)

Allen Lanier (Blue Öyster Cult)

T. Lavitz (Dixie Dregs)

Dave Lawson (Greenslade)

Peter Lemer (Baker Gurvitz Army)

John Lennon (The Beatles)

Geddy Lee (Rush)

Jerry Lee Lewis

Milcho Leviv (Billy Cobham)

Little Richard

Kerry Livgren (Kansas)

Jim Lochart (Horslips)

John Locke (Spirit, Nazareth)

Jon Lord (Deep Purple, Whitesnake)

Robin Lumley (Brand X)

Billy Lyall (Pilot)

M

Ian MacLagan (Small Faces, Faces)

Dave MacRae (Matching Mole)

Jean-Luc Manderlier (Magma)

Mark Mancina (Yes)

Manfred Mann (Manfred Mann, Manfred Mann's Earth Band)

Richard Manuel (The Band)

Ray Manzarek (The Doors)

Chris Marion (Little River Band)

Tommy Mars (Frank Zappa)

Bob Mayo (Peter Frampton)

Lyle Mays (Pat Metheny Group)

Paul McCartney (The Beatles, Wings)

Ian McDonald (King Crimson)

Goldy McJohn (Steppenwolf)

Ian McLagan (The Rolling Stones, The Faces)

Freddie Mercury (Queen)

Mic Michaeli (Europe)

Max Middleton (Jeff Beck)

Steve Miller (Caravan)

Kerry Minnear (Gentle Giant)

Francis Monkman (Curved Air, Sky)

Kevin Moore (Dream Theater)

Patrick Moraz (Refugee, Yes, The Moody Blues)

Malcolm Morley (Man)

Neal Morse (Spock's Beard)

N

The Nocenzi Brothers (Banco)

Clive Nolan (Pendragon, Arena)

Christopher North (Ambrosia)

O

Ryo Okomoto (Spock's Beard)

Martin Orford (IQ)

P

David Paich (Toto)

David Palmer (Jethro Tull)

John ‘Poli’ Palmer (Family)

Lou Pardini (Chicago)

Alan Park (Beggar's Opera)

Ian Parker (The Hollies)

Alan Parsons (The Alan Parsons Project)

Alan Pasqua (Bob Dylan, Billy Squire, Giant, Damn Yankees)

Bill Payne (Little Feat)

Victor Peraino (Arthur Brown)

Danny Peyronel (UFO, Heavy Metal Kids)

Greg Phillinganes (Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson)

Mike Pinder (The Moody Blues)

Steve Porcaro (Toto)

John Povey (Pretty Things)

Billy Powell (Lynyrd Skynyrd)

Roger Powell (Todd Rundgren, David Bowie)

Flavio Premoli (PFM)

Billy Preston (The Beatles)

Alan Price (The Animals)

R

Lutz Rahn (Novalis)

Mike Ratledge (Soft Machine)

Rob Reed (Magenta)

Billy Ritchie (Clouds)

Peter Robinson (Quatermass)

Falk Rogner (Amon Duul II)

Gregg Rolie (Santana, Journey)

Bruno Ruder (Magma)

Jordan Rudess (Dream Theater, The Dixie Dregs)

S

David Sancious (E Street Band, Santana, Sting)

Irmin Schmidt (Can)

Ralph Schuckett (Clear Light, The Peanut Butter Conspiracy, Utopia)

Klaus Schulze (Klaus Schulze, Ash Ra Tempel, Tangerine Dream)

Derek Sherinian (Dream Theater, Planet X, Alice Cooper, Yngwie Malmsteen)

Ton Sherpenzel (Kayak, Europe, Camel)

David Sinclair (Caravan)

Rikard Sjoblom (Beardfish)

Trey Spruance (Mr. Bungle)

Chris Stainton (Joe Cocker's Grease Band)

Mark Stein (Vanilla Fudge)

Dave Stewart (National Health)

T

Richard Tandy (Electric Light Orchestra)

Graeme Taylor (Gryphon)

Benmont Tench (Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers)

Keith Tippett (King Crimson)

Isao Tomita (Tomita)

John Tout (Renaissance)

Pete Townshend (The Who)

McCoy Tyner (John Coltrane Quartet)

U

Matthias Ulmer (Anyone's Daughter)

V

Thijs Van Leer (Focus)

Vangelis (Aphrodite’s Child, Vangelis, Jon and Vangelis)

W

Oliver Wakeman (Yes)

Rick Wakeman (Yes)

Steve Walsh (Kansas)

Harry Waters (Roger Waters)

Blue Weaver (Amen Corner)

Vince Welnick (The Tubes, Grateful Dead)

Mark Westworth (GLD, IQ, Darwin's Radio)

Benoit Wideman (Magma)

Pete Wingfield (Colin Blunstone)

Bobby Whitlock (Delaney & Bonnie, Derek & The Dominos)

Edgar Winter (The Edgar Winter Group)

Steve Winwood (Spencer Davis Group, Traffic, Blind Faith, Go)

Eric Woolfson (The Alan Parsons Project)

Stuart ‘Woolly’ Wolstenholme (Barclay James Harvest, Maestoso, Mandalaband)

Gary Wright (Spooky Tooth)

Richard Wright (Pink Floyd)

Reese Wynans (Captain Beyond)

Y

John Young (Greenslade, Asia, Quango, The Strawbs, Fish, Jon Anderson)

Z

Joe Zawinul (Weather Report)

Thanks to members of Progressive Ears

Originally posted on Sunday, 27 March 2011

Diary of a Surviving Supply Teacher: a Flat Battery

Tuesday, 22 March 2011

I

t is just as well I was not offered work as my car would not start this morning, due to a flat battery, after standing for five days. When I called the AA Home Start, the mechanic told me there was nothing draining the power, the alternator was working and the problem was due to a faulty battery. Having bought a new one only five months ago, I left the engine running and phoned the retailer to ensure they had a replacement. They confirmed this, but claimed they needed to check the battery themselves. Eventually, one of their staff confirmed that surprisingly it was as much as 95% charged. This indicates that something is indeed draining the power. The following the morning, the ignition worked immediately, but I phoned an auto-electrician, to have the vehicle checked, as I do not want to find myself in the position where I am offered work, but cannot get there because the engine will not start. He returned my message the next day, but said he could not get to me until next Tuesday am 29^th March. There was an outside chance he would call at 5:00pm on Friday. Fingers crossed!     

Wednesday 23rd March 2011

Rt. Hon. George Osborne, Chancellor of the Exchequer, announced in his second budget speech that the tax-free mileage allowance will be raised from 40p a mile to 45p a mile on the first 10,000 miles. The rate for mileage beyond 10,000 miles will remain at 25p. This applies to contractors operating through an umbrella company such as Key. Mr Osborne’s increase in mileage allowance is the first since 2002, when the 40p figure was established, although I do not know the exact time and date when it takes effect. The Chancellor has also stated that Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC) will focus on tax avoidance and, according to Danbro accountants, “He has highlighted schemes that have become prevalent in the contracting market.”

The personal tax free allowance from April 2011 will be £7,475 rising by £630 to £8,105 from April 2012.

http://www.danbro.co.uk/blog/

The budget brought to mind that the agency workers regulations (AWR) are set to be enforced in October 2011.

Thursday, 24 March 2011

My agency phoned at 4:30pm to offer a day’s work at a local school for next Wednesday. She did not know the year group, but understood that the school intended to cover the day with ‘their own person’, who was no longer able to do so. Her voice was difficult to follow, because she sounded as if she had a cold. When I commented, she said, “I’ve got the dreaded lurgy. Schools are germ filled places.”

 

The origin of the term ‘dreaded lurgy’ can be found here:

http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-dre1.htm

Friday 25^th March 2011

“Injured? Have you been left to cope with the costs? The NASUWT personal injury service will get you the right compensation for free?”

So says the leaflet, about making a personal injury claim, which I received today from my trade union. While this may, or may not, be useful to me as a supply teacher, I cannot help thinking there are more important things with which the union should be concerned. Employment law and agency practice spring to mind.

Originally posted on Saturday, 26^th March 2011

Diary of a Surviving Supply Teacher: a Monkey on the Moon

Wednesday, 16 March 2011

N

o matter how much thought one gives to a situation, there are times when it is difficult to understand the circumstances. While writing my name, I scanned the page of the signing-in book and noticed that the manager of my agency had visited the school yesterday morning. I could not help wondering why she would tout for work, knowing there was so little. A technical query, regarding the new electronic time sheets, also seemed unlikely. When I first started supply teaching, a friend, who was already a supply teacher, advised me to trust no-one. While this seemed a bit dogmatic, at the time, it was probably good advice and my experience of agencies is always to assume the worst.       

I braced myself for another spell with Mrs Strident. Mercifully, it was just the morning. As usual the instructions were given as though I were a stupid child and in a way which defied me to deviate from them. When I asked if we were still working on ‘Mr Majeika’, she answered, as though I were retarded, “We don’t spend more than a week on anything in this class.” The rest of the school appear to spend weeks on the same literacy tasks. Trying to pour oil on troubled water, I said, “Some of the children are pretty good aren’t they?” Mrs Strident launched into a strange diatribe about how she was looking for a spark and did not want the class to sit nicely, she just wanted them to write sentences with a connective. She needed them to understand, “You won’t get praise for sitting nicely, but you will for using an adjective in a sentence.” I wondered if this was aimed at me, because I spend so much time on telling children how to sit and rewarding them for doing so properly. As a teacher on a contract, perhaps this was how I had been; less concerned with sitting than with the children’s ability to achieve what they were expected. Now, as a supply teacher this has been reversed, so that I spend so much time on sitting, listening and co-operating. If the children do not listen, how can I teach them anything, never mind sentences with connectives? I have a friend who believes all teachers should spend their first year as supply teachers.

English was LCWC (look, cover, write, check) and a starter in the back of the children’s books in which they had to improve a sentence, ‘Baboon ate his breakfast’. Next we had to discuss what they had seen so far of an animated video called Baboon on the Moon by Christopher Duriez, followed by covering the screen and listening to the remainder. The class were supposed to describe the events combining their previous knowledge and the noises on the soundtrack. In between was the inevitable sentence work of identifying adjectives and improving with similes, connectives, adjectives, adverbs and more powerful verbs. Finally, the writing task was to describe how the baboon gets the Moon to work by considering what he does, what sounds he hears, what he looks like, how he feels and what he might say to himself. Actually, he pours Moonshine into a machine and pulls a lever!

During the register, Miss Blonde appeared at the door saying that her projector was not working, so would I mind if she brought her class into our room and led the start of the lesson? Her approach did not match my instructions because her class were slightly ahead of ours, but I kept quiet. I felt increasingly uncomfortable as she gave information I was specifically told not to mention and showed the stage precisely beyond where the video was to be switched off. Interestingly, she praised the two classes with, “Year 4, you sat and listened very well.” Later, she told them they were sitting beautifully. 

By the time we were involved in the writing task, five children had been to the toilet and I had received a secondhand complaint from an LSA about their behaviour in the corridor. Three of the same children decided this was a good time to sharpen pencils and one turned round in her seat to declare, “I don’t know what to do.” The class were chatty, argumentative and some tutted when addressed.

Maths meant giving a brief explanation of division for fractions and working through examples. Mrs Strident demonstrated her method, which coincided with mine:

Step 1: ¾ of 24 =

¼ of 24 =

24 divided by 4 = 6

Step 2: 6 x 3 = 18 (¾)

She told me, “The methods of division are established and this is why.” I could not get to the bottom of whether they needed to show working out. The class worked reasonably well, but it was clear they had difficulty taking the second step.

After break, I was with Miss Blonde’s class. She wanted them to continue with the same maths. After that I was to read the story for RE. She was vague about the lesson, so I was to spin out the maths and discuss the story. This was no problem as I overran on the maths and had to read the story quickly to fit it in before lunch. Miss Blonde asked how the class had been to which I replied, “They were good as a class, but I had to speak to individuals about sitting. They gave me funny looks when I did so.” This, she put down to them claiming to have done nothing wrong or nerves. She is normally OK, so I did not read anything into her comments.

Thursday, 17 March 2011

When we went down to collect the class, we were to take them to the end playground where the whole school was to sing the Red Nose Day song, Entertain. Children dressed in red, including makeup and wigs, stood in huddles so it was impossible to give out the song sheets to the right class. At the front was Mrs Untidy doing her full West-End musical performance, while amidst the bewildered children were singing and dancing teachers also dressed in red. Staring at the assembled chaos, from behind Mrs Untidy, were various parents – not singing at all as usual. Registration involved counting the number of items each child was wearing and the highest total was sent on a ubiquitous post-it note to the deputy. I put off collecting 50ps until just before break, when it was sent down to the office. Even then, according to the secretary, we were the only class to have done so. Fortunately, the classroom assistant and the teacher next door, Mrs Pretty, job sharing with Mrs Untidy, were prepared to help.

The first part of the English lesson was reading part of a text on Looking After Your Puppy in order to extract the relevant parts of instruction writing such as ‘bossy verbs’. Next we watched and discussed the stages of a video on halter training an alpaca, so the children could continue writing their instruction leaflet on Caring for an Alpaca. I modelled most of the paragraph on halter training and asked them not to copy it word-for-word. To give the class credit where it was due, they did work hard to vary the writing. There were other videos, but we ran out of time. In the middle of this lesson we went to the hall, as a year group, to put money (coppers) in a hoop on the floor.

Maths was to continue adding in columns by carrying in the traditional way. The sheet took the form of word problems, but this was not the objective. Lastly, they were asked to create three of their own.        

After play, the children headed straight into the hall for a Red Nose Day assembly, led by Mrs Strident, who spoke in a quiet monotone. A video of starving children in Uganda was followed by prizes of Easter eggs being given to those wearing the highest number of red clothes. Apparently year 5 had put the most money in their hoop. In the remaining half an hour, I tried to continue with maths, but the children seemed disappointed that they did not have ‘activities, whatever they were. 

For science in the afternoon, the learning objective was to look at how vibration causes sound. It took most of lunchtime to set up the activities, which were to be undertaken by a rotation of small groups:

(i)                   a rubber band guitar to make the pitch higher or lower;

(ii)                 blowing across the tops of half a dozen glass tubes, filled with graduated amounts of water, to find which has the highest and lowest pitch;

(iii)                using string telephones to find how they work;

(iv)               twanging a ruler on the edge of the desk and altering the position;

(v)                 musical instruments - using the glockenspiel to see which note has the highest pitch. Drawing a cello and violin, which meant sending a child to the library to find a text book;

(vi)               which tuning forks have the highest/ lowest pitch and immersing them in water to watch vibrations; and

(vii)              I was not sure how the beaker, elastic bands and rubber ‘corks’ were supposed to work. 

I tried to explain each task and the recording before starting, but, on my own, this number of activities and groups was difficult to manage. The children, including the more able, did not work quickly enough mainly on the recording. I could anticipate Miss Conscientious being disappointed that the children did not finish all of the tasks, in her overloaded plan, as usual. Towards the end of the lesson, the class were taken to buy cakes in the hall from a sale run by Mr Shouty and year 6. There was also another assembly before home time. After school, Mrs Pretty asked how the lesson had been, to which I explained the number of tasks were difficult to manage and that the class, “Were a bit unsettled by the Red Nose Day events.” Her response was, “You were lucky they were only a bit unsettled.” She was not being completely glib, as her class is tougher.

Monday, 21 March 2011

The last few weeks, I’ve been visiting the TES supply teachers forum. So far, the visitors appear to fall into two main groups, (i) those experienced teachers like me, whose experiences are similar to mine, and (ii) newly qualified teachers having a torrid time due to their inexperience. The first group are reassuring in making me feel that I am not alone, but depressing in reflecting how the situation seems almost universally bleak. Around nine years ago, when I joined the local authorities’ supply register, newly qualified teachers were not allowed to join until they had taught for two years. So, while, on the one hand, I sympathise with their predicament, I do not, on the other, believe that inexperienced teachers should be working as supply teachers.

 

Originally posted on Friday, 25^th March 2011

Cecil the Caterpillar

Cecil

A Nursery Rhyme

1

Cecil was a caterpillar, Cecil was my friend
The last time I saw Cecil he was *this* big
fingers about an inch apart
I said "Ooh, Cecil! What have you done?"
And Cecil Said
"I've eaten all the cabbages in the garden"

2

Cecil was a caterpillar, Cecil was my friend
The last time I saw Cecil he was *this* big
Hands about six inches apart
I said "Ooh, Cecil! What have you done?"
And Cecil Said
"I've eaten all the cabbages in the street"

3

And so on,

until Cecil is so big that you have to run across the circle to indicate size,

and Cecil's eaten all the cabbages in the Universe

4

Cecil was a caterpillar, Cecil was my friend
The last time I saw Cecil he was *this* big
fingers about an inch apart
I said "Ooh, Cecil! What have you done?"
And Cecil Said:
"I've been sick"

Originally posted on Tuesday, 15 March 2011

The Walrus and the Carpenter

The Walrus and The Carpenter

By Lewis Carroll

From Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There (1872)

1

The sun was shining on the sea,
Shining with all his might:
He did his very best to make
The billows smooth and bright--
And this was odd, because it was
The middle of the night.

2

The moon was shining sulkily,
Because she thought the sun
Had got no business to be there
After the day was done--
"It's very rude of him," she said,
"To come and spoil the fun!"

3

The sea was wet as wet could be,
The sands were dry as dry.
You could not see a cloud, because
No cloud was in the sky:
No birds were flying overhead--
There were no birds to fly.

4

The Walrus and the Carpenter
Were walking close at hand;
They wept like anything to see
Such quantities of sand:
"If this were only cleared away,"
They said, "it would be grand!"

5

"If seven maids with seven mops
Swept it for half a year.
Do you suppose," the Walrus said,
"That they could get it clear?"
"I doubt it," said the Carpenter,
And shed a bitter tear.

6

"O Oysters, come and walk with us!"
The Walrus did beseech.
"A pleasant walk, a pleasant talk,
Along the briny beach:
We cannot do with more than four,
To give a hand to each."

7

The eldest Oyster looked at him,
But never a word he said:
The eldest Oyster winked his eye,
And shook his heavy head--
Meaning to say he did not choose
To leave the oyster-bed.

8

But four young Oysters hurried up,
All eager for the treat:
Their coats were brushed, their faces washed,
Their shoes were clean and neat--
And this was odd, because, you know,
They hadn't any feet.

9

Four other Oysters followed them,
And yet another four;
And thick and fast they came at last,
And more, and more, and more--
All hopping through the frothy waves,
And scrambling to the shore.

10

The Walrus and the Carpenter
Walked on a mile or so,
And then they rested on a rock
Conveniently low:
And all the little Oysters stood
And waited in a row.

11

"The time has come," the Walrus said,
"To talk of many things:
Of shoes--and ships--and sealing-wax--
Of cabbages--and kings--
And why the sea is boiling hot--
And whether pigs have wings."

12

"But wait a bit," the Oysters cried,
"Before we have our chat;
For some of us are out of breath,
And all of us are fat!"
"No hurry!" said the Carpenter.
They thanked him much for that.

13

"A loaf of bread," the Walrus said,
"Is what we chiefly need:
Pepper and vinegar besides
Are very good indeed--
Now if you're ready, Oysters dear,
We can begin to feed."

14

"But not on us!" the Oysters cried,
Turning a little blue.
"After such kindness, that would be
A dismal thing to do!"
"The night is fine," the Walrus said.
"Do you admire the view?

15

"It was so kind of you to come!
And you are very nice!"
The Carpenter said nothing but
"Cut us another slice:
I wish you were not quite so deaf--
I've had to ask you twice!"

16

"It seems a shame," the Walrus said,
"To play them such a trick,
After we've brought them out so far,
And made them trot so quick!"
The Carpenter said nothing but
"The butter's spread too thick!"

17

"I weep for you," the Walrus said:
"I deeply sympathize."
With sobs and tears he sorted out
Those of the largest size,
Holding his pocket-handkerchief
Before his streaming eyes.

18

"O Oysters," said the Carpenter,
"You've had a pleasant run!
Shall we be trotting home again?'
But answer came there none--
And this was scarcely odd, because
They'd eaten every one.

Originally posted on Tuesday, 15 March 2011

Lady Eleanor

by Alan Hull 1970

1

Bashee playin' magicians sittin' lotus on the floor
Belly dancing beauty with a power driven saw
Had my share of nightmares didn't think there could be much more
Then in walked Rodrick Usher with the Lady Eleanor

2

She tied my eyes with ribbons of a silken ghosty thread
I gazed with troubled vision on a notebook posted bed (old four poster bed)
Where Eleanor had risen to kiss the neck below my head
And bid me come along with her to the land of the dancing dead

But it's alright, Lady Eleanor
Alright Lady Eleanor
I'm alright where I am

3

She gazed with her love and beauty like a mother to its son
Like livin', dyin', seein', bein', all roll into one
Then all at once I heard some music in my bone
Same old song I'd heard for years reminding me of home

But it's alright, Lady Eleanor
Alright Lady Eleanor
I'm alright where I am

4

Then creeping on towards me, licking lips with tongues of fire
A host of golden demons screaming lust and base desire
And when it seemed for certain that the screams could get no higher
I heard a voice above the rest screaming 'you're a liar'

But it's alright, Lady Eleanor
Alright Lady Eleanor
I'm alright here in your arms

Originally posted on Tuesday, 15 March 2011

The Owl and the Pussy-cat

By Edward Lear 1871

1

The Owl and the Pussy-cat went to sea
    In a beautiful pea green boat,
They took some honey, and plenty of money,
    Wrapped up in a five pound note.
The Owl looked up to the stars above,
    And sang to a small guitar,
'O lovely Pussy! O Pussy my love,
      What a beautiful Pussy you are,
          You are,
          You are!
What a beautiful Pussy you are!'

2

Pussy said to the Owl, 'You elegant fowl!
    How charmingly sweet you sing!
O let us be married! too long we have tarried:
    But what shall we do for a ring?'
They sailed away, for a year and a day,
    To the land where the Bong-tree grows
And there in a wood a Piggy-wig stood
    With a ring at the end of his nose,
          His nose,
          His nose,
With a ring at the end of his nose.

3

'Dear pig, are you willing to sell for one shilling
    Your ring?' Said the Piggy, 'I will.'
So they took it away, and were married next day
    By the Turkey who lives on the hill.
They dined on mince, and slices of quince,
    Which they ate with a runcible spoon;
And hand in hand, on the edge of the sand,
    They danced by the light of the moon,
          The moon,
          The moon,
They danced by the light of the moon.

Originally posted on Tuesday, 15 March 2011