Sunny South Kensington: Issa's Sunday Service, #147

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This is Donovan's third appearance on the Sunday Service and this number is particularly evocative of another time (60s) and place (London). There's a bit of name dropping and it is Mr. Ginsberg's that makes the lit connection :

Sunny South Kensington

Come take a walk in sunny South Kensington
Any day of the week
See the girl with the silk Chinese blouse on
You know she ain't no freak
Come balloon soon down Cromwell Road, man
You got to spread your wings
A-flip out, skip out, trip-out, and a-make your stand, folks
To dig me as I sing
Jean-Paul Belmondo and-a Mary Quant got
Stoned to say the least
Ginsberg, he ended up drying and so
He a-took a trip out east
If I'm a-late waitin' down the gate, it's such a 'raz' scene
A groovy place to live
In the Portobella I met a fella with a cane umbrella
Who must've used a sieve
So come balloon soon down Cromwell Road, man
You got to spread your wings
A-flip out, skip out, trip-out and a-make your stand, folks
To dig me as I sing
Hmm, hmm, hmm
Come take a walk in sunny South Kensington
Any day of the week
Come see the girl with the silk Chinese blouse on
You know she ain't no freak
If I'm a-late waitin' down the gate, it's such a 'raz' scene
A groovy place to live
In the Portobella I met a fella with a cane umbrella
Who must've used a sieve
Jean-Paul Belmondo and-a Mary Quant got
Stoned to say the least
Ginsberg, he ended up drying and so
He a-took a trip out east
Hmm, hmm, hmm
Come loon soon down Cromwell Road, man
You got, you got to spread your wings, yeah
See the girl with the silk Chinese blouse on, yeah
You know she ain't no freak, hmm, hmm

One must be a certain age to know who Mary Quant was and that's a fact. It seemed, however, a good time, mid-December, to take a bright, cheery walk through the paisley-tinged streets of an old school memory.

So to trim up things neatly, here's an amazing reading by Allen Ginsberg at the 93rd Street Y, February 26, 1973, with Gregory Corso acting the igniter to Ginsberg's dynamite (incredible focus - Louis Ginsberg, Allen's poet father, gives it a bit to Corso - & Allen, too, ultimately, lovingly, gives it - all is love, hare krishna, hare krishna - and Charlie, calm the fuck down, don't touch the angel - hallelujah):

------------------------ 

well, well
pale purple, this year's color...
for young bamboo

 Issa

 translated by David G. Lanoue 

best,
Don 

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Go to the LitRock web site for a list of all 146 songs