Dear Daniel,
It was Bloomsday this week and it's the 105th anniversary of the original journey in Ulysses, if my maths is correct (and it was only vaguely correct between 1994 and 1997, so who knows how it is now...). I'm sure you would have been particularly interested in the translation lecture that was scheduled for last Monday. I never read Ulysses, largely thanks to a memory I have of you being vaguely scathing about it. Of course, looking back I now realise you were vaguely scathing about most things so I probably should have given it a whirl and made my own mind up...
To Cream, who were apparently on too many drugs back in 1968 to realise that, no matter how good he was at painting you album covers, your in-house artist shouldn't be relied on for lyrics...
Clapton admits that the song was heavily influenced by The Lovin' Spoonful, but it immmediately reminds me of the middle bit of Shangri-La by the Kinks which you posted at the start of the year. The original goes a little something like this (the middle section starts 3mins in).
Dear James,
I don't remember being vaguely scathing about Ulysses, but it's hard to remember amid so much scathing vagueness. I read it half way in the dark autumn of 98 before realising I hadn't understood a word. Tried again in 2005, didn't get past the first 100 pages. It's the kind of book you'd have on your bedside table, beneath many other books you've started and given up on.
I remember there's a Bloomsday here in Buenos Aires, somewhere in the bit where all the Anglo/Irish Argentinians live. They eat the three meals mentioned in Ulysses and spend the day reading the book. It would be nice to join them one day, but I don't know where they are and they're probably a boring bunch of old farts, but only in a vaguely scathing way.
PS. This is the 4th time you've mentioned Eric Clapton on the blog. Put a lid on it, yeah?
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