What would they say on Bethnal Street?

[PLW (Peter)]

I looked up Bethnal Street on a few old London Street index (for a laugh!).

Nice to see that people can still make their own entertainment  

[Malcolm]

That's an interesting one that hadn't struck me. Another war? Or another child?

What do other people think?

Another child, for sure. The war was only the catalyst in the song for bringing out the pathos which is the central theme IMHO. (Blimey, that sounds erudite - a long time ago since I got my Eng Lit A Levels!!!!

 I remember Huw & Tony singing this at Cropredy in the 90's and saying that Rosemary was alive and living in Cwmbran at that time.

[RichardH]

Assuming Rosemary was younger than the unfortunate five year old sister, she would have been say 3 in 1940. So, by 1987 she'd be 50 and would know presumably that she had, or had not had, "another one". Assume that the song's set in say 1967, when she's 30 collecting the first child from school.

There was still at that stage considerable anxiety about the threat of nuclear war with the Soviets/China.

I stick with the war theory.

And I still wonder what they'd say on Bethnal Street.

[leahdon (Donna)]

Having re-checked the lyrics http://www.conniedover.com/lyrics/somebody/rosemarys_sister.shtml, I think this is about another war. Here's what the final verse says:

And sometimes in the firelight in the silence where she sits
Her mind goes back to Bethnel Street, the darkness and the blitz
And she hears if there's another one, then the end will be complete,
Well, I wonder what they'd say in the Bethnel Street

Why would she hear if there's another child?

On an unrelated subject, the page shows that Connie Dover's CD was called Somebody (Songs of Scotland, Ireland and Early America).  So, did she assume Huw was Scottish, Irish or Early American?

[Staffan]

The lyrics in the Connie Dover link, states Bethnel Street, but looking into the lyrics of Simon´s record, the street name is Bethnal. So there´s a misspelling in Connie Dover´s lyrics. I must admit that reading the lyrics through more closely now, I´ll agree that the another seems to indicate another war!

[Anna]

...And she hears if there's another one, then the end will be complete,...

Odd, I'd always heard it as "And she fearsif there's another one...

Either way.

I always thought it was leaning towards another war, of any kind, the thought being internal to Rosemary it wouldn't really matter whether it was conventional or nuclear, just another blitz really.  She's just not sure if she'd have the strength to pick up and start again.

Wayyyy too deep for my first post for a couple of weeks...  Good thread though - and good song.  One of my favourites.

[Ollie]

I thought it was 'and she KNOWS if there's another....' I think I'd go with the war idea. If you take the end of the two line together, it reads

Her mind goes back to Bethnal Street, to the darkness and the Blitz and she knows if theres another then the end will be complete.

So if there is another Blitz, then the end will be complete. Kinda a what goes around, comes around kinda thing.

Beautiful song, one of my favourites and I've just managed to get through the picky guitar bit at the begining without too many mistakes!  

[Anna]

You GIT Ollie, I've been trying to learn that for ages.  I can do about the first two bars!  Haven't got a hope of getting as far as where the tune starts!

Good on yer - one for the session at Croppers (if we can find it??!)

[Simon Nicol]

 

I know that there is some criticism of the line about the doodlebugs flying and the blitz being at its height - because the doodlebugs came after the blitz had finished  - but I always think its a  song not a blinking history lesson !

"The Blitz" being referred to is the second one, of 1944 when the V1 and V2 attacks were initiated. You'll have to research the comparative impact of this technology-driven assault against the nightly horrors of carpet-bombing by the Luftwaffe in 1940, but the damage to life and property was very real.... and led to Rosemary being evacuated to South Wales where she became friends with Huw's older relatives.

[Dave Russell]

You GIT Ollie, I've been trying to learn that for ages.  I can do about the first two bars!  Haven't got a hope of getting as far as where the tune starts!

Good on yer - one for the session at Croppers (if we can find it??!)

Guitarists tip:  It's quite hard to play it, as that clever Mr Nicol does, in D chord shapes and get the bass runs in.  Try C instead and shift the capo 2 frets higher - it's much easier!

Old bluffer.

[Jan_]

Dropped in to see my mother in law yesterday.  She doesn't remember a Bethnal Street but remembers Bethnal Green Road.  It got her reminiscing about her own experiences of the Blitz and eventual evacuation; the Misses Emily and Eveline who owned the village shop and delivering groceries for them on her bike.  What an interesting hour!  Living history.

Here's a photo (taken from a BBC pack) which I often use with the kids when I teach about the second world war.  I think it embodies the spirit ...



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[Harbottle (Martin)]

 

I know that there is some criticism of the line about the doodlebugs flying and the blitz being at its height - because the doodlebugs came after the blitz had finished  - but I always think its a  song not a blinking history lesson !

"The Blitz" being referred to is the second one, of 1944 when the V1 and V2 attacks were initiated. You'll have to research the comparative impact of this technology-driven assault against the nightly horrors of carpet-bombing by the Luftwaffe in 1940, but the damage to life and property was very real.... and led to Rosemary being evacuated to South Wales where she became friends with Huw's older relatives.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V-2_rocket

[Nikki]

I am not sure that I am correct, I remember Richard Digance doing a excellent version of this on an ITV programme, I think it may have been on "Another Digance Indulgence". The quality of the lyrics shone through and Richards delivery gave it a really Authentic feel. That's if I didn't just dream the whole thing!

[Anna]

Funny that Nikki - the first time I heard Simon's version I thought to myself "Digance does that one"...  My Mum agreed with me too, that she'd first heard it from Digance.  We can't all be wrong, can we?