gentlemen.

bilby commented on the list gentlemen--1

Once I was a kind of young ambassador for my country. A group of 16 of us ponced around Indonesia doing 'cultural exchanges' where we did things like sing:

This is the story of Gentleman Jim

Somebody threw a tomato at him.

Now tomatoes don't hurt if they have a thin skin,

but this 'ere tomato was wrapped in a tin.

Haul away!

Haul away!

From Melbourne to Sydney's a bloody long way.

I wonder what the Indonesians made of that?

December 19, 2012

ry commented on the list gentlemen--1

songs like that are usually about a real person aren't they? So who was Gentleman Jim?

December 23, 2012

ruzuzu commented on the list gentlemen--1

That was a great question. Looking it up led me to the Marquess of Queensberry rules, which sounds an awful lot like something that would show up in a game of Mornington Crescent.

December 23, 2012

bilby commented on the list gentlemen--1

I wonder if Gentleman Jim might have been a sort of generic gentleman. Consider these lyrics from Hurricane:

You'll be doing society a favor

That sonofabitch is brave and getting braver

We want to put his ass in stir

We want to pin this triple murder on him

He ain't no Gentleman Jim.

- Bob Dylan.

Admittedly these two songs come from quite separate eras, with Haul Away being a folk song based on the laments of convicts transported by sailing ship from Britain to Australia in the 1800s. Although one suspects that in folk music a century or two might be skipped pretty quickly.

December 23, 2012