Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Widdecombe inna Babylon

I did think of writing this piece (about a Jamaican version of the Bible) entirely in patois, but I'm old enough to remember the eat-your-own-teeth embarrassment that was 'Informer', by Snow:

I'll put my (prayer) cards on the table. I really like the King James Bible. It's something about the mouth-feel of the language, like a dark chocolate or a potent Armagnac, dense with begetting and smiting and howbeit and whosoever. If God were ever to make my acquaintance, I'd prefer that he spake unto me in sonorous tones, rather than having a quiet word. I'm the same with hymns; give me To Be A Pilgrim or Dear Lord and Father any day, over happity-clappity singalongs that Barney the Dinosaur would condemn for their crushing banality....

Go here for the authorised version.

While I've got you, I'm planning to post my no-holds-barred neo-Brechtian analysis of the final episode of The Wire at some point this weekend. If you get all the box sets today, and throw a sickie for the rest of the week, you should be up to speed in plenty of time.

6 comments:

Annie said...

Some intrepid soul translated the bible into LoLspeak from I Can Has Cheezburger.

What is this Wire that everyone keeps talking about?

Mapeel said...

Forget The Wire. NY Times news flash: Prince Charles turns down Russell T. Davies. Not very cricket of him. May we gave a comment please.

Anonymous said...

That Snow track always makes me laugh: there's no way someone who looks like that could make those kind of noises out of his mouth.

It would be like me lip-synching to Yo Majesty

garfer said...

The King James ain't bad considering it was put together by committee. It was even good enough to provide a title for a Rolling Stones album, if I recall rightly.

There was lots of begetting in it, which I approve of.

Fat Roland said...

I'm only on episode 11 of series 1, so when you blog about the final episode, I'll just put my fingers in my ears and go 'la la la la'.

Tim F said...

Annie: Think of it as Juliet Bravo with more swearing.

Mrs Peel: I think Charles is holding out for a cameo in the Blake's 7 remake.

I actually think that "oyebilly" could be a line from 'Informer'.

That's right, Garfer: "Get Your Ya-Ya's Out". It's from Zechariah, Chapter 15.

Roland; so you don't yet know about McNulty's sex change or Avon Barksdale jacking the whole thing in to become an astronaut?