Slaves to the slave trade

June 5th – It seems that, no matter where you move to, you never part with where you’re from. In my case the saying;

‘You can take the boy out of the Black Country but you can’t take the Black Country out of the boy’

is true.

It’s a saying that’ll transpose to anyone from anywhere and it has to do with your roots, core, soul, whatever you want to call it. It allows you to recognise a kindred spirit in a crowd, the way they speak, intonate…and their sense of humour; no matter how international we feel, courtesy of Easyjet and BMI Baby, it’s one of the ways in which we confirm our localism and we can read the people from our area like a book.

James Cagney…anybody? 

OK, you know the drill by now, follow the instructions. Bend the elbows, forearms to the front, hold both hands limp, like you've just washed them and are looking for a non-existent towel, wobble them, pull a face like a guinea pig that’s just sucked on a lemon and repeat after me;

“Yoooo dirdee rat.”

That’s him! Brilliant! I heard you do that and thought he was in the room, honest! Cagney was renowned for his portrayal of gangsters, fighters, tough guys and that saying, “You dirty rat.” was his stock-in trade. Have a watch of Angles with Dirty Faces or White Heat or The Public Enemy and you’ll see what I mean; we'd got him taped. Trouble is he was so much more than that but, as is the way with Hollywood, they cast him, thought they knew all about him, saw where he made the most money for them and continued to churn ‘em out. The last thing they wanted was versatility from their stars; it only confuses the paying public.

Do you think that the Confederates have ever fully integrated into the U.S.A.? I mean, when General Lee surrendered after yet another defeat, this time at Sayler’s Creek, and the support and capability of the Southern Slave States collapsed, do we think, even after that defeat, surrender and integration that the rest of the U.S. have taken the Confederacy out of the Virginians? Probably not, certainly not after Lincoln was shot by a Southern sympathiser. Methinks the Southern core was alive and kicking. And if I may make so bold, as a descendant of an ex-colonial and so a loser in the War of American Independence 1781, as we all are in the UK (but I'm over it now, honest) that core is still a living, throbbing vein, particularly when it comes to Presidential elections. All this leads us where? Well, nowhere but here really; you should never judge a book. Take the song Yankee Doodle. 

This seemingly all-American song, a piss-take made up by the Brits about the Yanks, is now the Connecticut state anthem. Connecticut is one of the southernmost states and should have been, one would imagine given the demography, one of the staunchest supporters of the Confederate cause but which was, in fact, well on its way to abolishing slavery by the time of the Civil War and indeed that state supplied troops for the Lincoln cause. And Yankee Doodle is the centrepiece of the musical, Yankee Doodle Dandy which was made, starring Cagney, in 1942; this seeming one-trick-pony who could supposedly only play tough guys showed another facet of his talent by doing the song-and-dance routine that went with that song; and a remarkable piece of dance it is too.

All the above is apropos of nothing at all, just thought you’d be interested, and at least you can do a passable Jimmy Cagney impression now even if you've never heard of him; so all was not in vain.