Sequel Songs #9: Mrs. Avery

Here's one I've featured on this blog before... but time is tight, so you'll have to excuse me.

The original, of course, is a Shel Silverstein song made famous by Dr. Hook. To steal a chunk from my post on another famous Dr. Hook tune, which mentioned this in passing...

It turns out Sylvia's Mother is a true story too - Shel was in love with a woman called Sylvia Pandolfi, but she ran off with another man and ended up as a curator at the Museo de Arte Carrillo Gil in Mexico City. Shel tried desperately to rekindle that romance, but the only contact he had for Sylvia was her mum, and she wasn't having any of it. Nowadays, she'd probably report him as a stalker. I guess "Please, Mrs. Pandolfi" didn't quite scan, so Avery it was.

Yes, Mrs. Avery made quite the impression on us. So much so that she (or her Namesake... though surely there can be only one true Mrs. Avery) also shows up here...

Who are we to wonder, Mrs Avery

Who are we to wonder about Beverly

Evergreen girl

Beverly

Why did you leave me?

Why did you leave me in 1955?

Nick Nicely - Beverly

And here...

Back home on the street

After 10 at night

Mrs. Avery walks her dog

Checks to see what's going on

She doesn't lock the door

She lives here in good health

You don't hear the horn

When Mrs. Avery walks her dog

Meredith Brooks - My Little Town

And perhaps her final fate is revealed here...

You took me for a drive

And you said how Mrs. Avery died

The chilly golden sky

Seemed not to have been notified

Harrison Lemke - Going To Heaven

David Rotheray, former songwriting partner of Paul Heaton in The Beautiful South, produced a whole album worth of "answer songs" back in 2013, including this...

David Rotheray - Mrs Avery's Song (feat. Jackie Oates)

...though I have to confess, I'm not sure if there's any connection to the original there. More appropriate is this...

David Rotheray - Sylvia's Song (feat. Bella Hardy)

Likewise, I can't make out any direct continuation of the story here...

John Watt - Mrs. Avery

Our best hope for an official sequel to Sylvia's Mother comes from The Men They Couldn't Hang, on their 2009 album Devil On The Wind. Here, Mrs. Avery has to deal with the young man who kept pestering her over the phone in the original song. He's now camped out in her garden, bemoaning the disappearance of Sylvia, so Mrs. A has to call his dad to come sort him out... I'm not quite sure how she reacts when dad then puts the moves on her. But let's be charitable and hope for some kind of happy ending...

The United Kingdom of Song #33: Coventry

After sending my former boss (and nemesis) to Coventry in yesterday's post, I figured I'd go there myself today.

Coventry is the 12the largest city in the UK, according to iffypedia, and it was the birthplace of yodeller Frank Ifield ("I remember hi-im!"), Hazel O'Connor, Clint Mansell from PWEI, Julieanne Regan from All About Eve, The Primitives, Paul King, Pete Waterman and Lee Dorrian from Napalm Death. Probably the most famous musical sons of Coventry though are Terry Hall, Jerry Dammers and Neville Staple - The Specials. The Selector also hail from Coventry so there must be ska in the water (a ska spa?).

Oh, and Lady Godiva famously rode through the streets of Coventry NAKED, which proved very exciting to this particular Californian...

Grant Lee Buffalo - Lady Godiva & Me

She rides unclothed through the streets of Coventry

Upon a great cockhorse hair to her knees

I wore a Minotaur's Mask and I played the Moon Cow

I was the last to see her anyhow

...not to mention these Jamaicans...

Boney M - Lady Godiva

She's a lady, Lady Godiva

The hero of Coventry

L-L-Lady Lady Godiva

She rode into history

Beyond that, there's obviously the Coventry Carol. And then, these...

The Men They Couldn't Hang - Going Back To Coventry

Old Gray - Coventry

Van Morrison - Got To Go Where The Love Is

Sent to Coventry feels like hell

This ain't no place to get well

Sent to Coventry once again

Break out of this empty shell

If I were doing this job properly (like Alyson does), I'd now be explaining to you the origins of the phrase "sent to Coventry" rather than just directing you here. Instead, here's someone who can give even Van Morrison a run for his money in the grumpy stakes...

Elvis Costello - Luxembourg

They're smiling sweetly while they're looking daggers

Kick you where it really matters

Send all your friends to Coventry

And look for your name in last night's obituaries

But the winners today are the hometown crew. Although they don't mention their native city by name in their biggest hit, drummer John Bradbury (another Coventry lad) says it's where the inspiration came from...

"When I think about Ghost Town, I think about Coventry. I saw it develop from a boom town, my family doing very well, through to the collapse of the industry and the bottom falling out of family life. Your economy is destroyed and, to me, that's what Ghost Town is about."

Still manages to sends shivers down my spine, this, every time I hear it...