I loved you when you lost your raincoat, I'll love you when you lose your fear

[sovay]

I spent a portion of this afternoon and evening with my niece, who is five and almost-a-half and has just recently heard "Tea for Two" for the first time. She has her own lyrics:

We could have a little bird
And it would sing all of the time
We could have a little horse
And it would live in a stable outside the apartment building
We could have a little fish
And it would live in a rectangular tank
We would feed them all the food
And they would say
How happy we would be!

My mother has lent me her copy of H.F. Heard's A Taste for Honey (1941). At roughly the halfway mark, I can say it is by far the best novel I have ever read about Sherlock Holmes and killer bees.

Comments

[asakiyume]

Ahh, that is wonderful, just wonderful. Her line "We would feed them all the food" reminds me of a Leonard Cohen line from "Stories of the Street":

"grow us grass and apples there / and keep all the animals warm"

(But the overall cast of your niece's song is more cheerful than LC's)

[sovay]

"grow us grass and apples there / and keep all the animals warm"

Aw! I see why you thought of it.

(But the overall cast of your niece's song is more cheerful than LC's)

(This is kind of a characteristic of Leonard Cohen songs.)

[gwynnega]

Your niece's lyrics and the notion of Sherlock Holmes and killer bees are both delightful.

[sovay]

Your niece's lyrics and the notion of Sherlock Holmes and killer bees are both delightful.

I am in no way responsible for either, but I am glad they bring you delight!

[heliopausa]

I like the new lyrics very much. :)
As for the novel, that's damning with very faint praise.

[sovay]

I like the new lyrics very much.

I had them stuck in my head all night!

As for the novel, that's damning with very faint praise.

To be fair to the novel, it's worth reading in its own right. There's just the level on which it is, conceptually, nuts.

[thisbluespirit]

Aww, that's great. As are killer bees, obv. ;-)

[sovay]

Aww, that's great. As are killer bees, obv.

I enjoyed both!

[lemon_badgeress]

but it’s the ONLY WORTHWHILE CONTINUATION, sovay.

*squints at him*

[sovay]

but it’s the ONLY WORTHWHILE CONTINUATION, sovay.

Yeah, I wouldn't go that far. I did like it, though.

[drwex]

That Subject line was a sufficient stab in the brain to send me to the Internet searching it. I'd never heard that track before, somehow.

Thanks!

[sovay]

Thanks!

You're welcome! I'd never heard it before a couple of nights ago, either. It turned up on one of the music blogs I follow (Aquarium Drunkard).

[lesser_celery]

My mother has lent me her copy of H.F. Heard's A Taste for Honey (1941). At roughly the halfway mark, I can say it is by far the best novel I have ever read about Sherlock Holmes and killer bees.

This was one of the many Heard books I read many years ago when Anke and I were planning to write a literary review/bio of Heard. Doppelgangers, in spite of its wandering, unnecessary ending, is still my favorite piece of Heard fiction.

[sovay]

Doppelgangers, in spite of its wandering, unnecessary ending, is still my favorite piece of Heard fiction.

I will look for it. I'd never read anything of his before.