Tubular.net :: Mike Oldfield Forums Discussion, news, reviews, fan music, and more.
	Search :: Members :: Help :: Guidelines

Question: Maggie Thatcher - Subversive comic moment... :: Total Votes:38 Poll choices Votes Statistics Maggie - a wonderful sequence in Amarok that pushes the envelope of music, provides comic relief, and a biting satire on the vague buzzwords and beaurocracy of Maggie's regime...! 29  [76.32%] Maggie - wot a waste of good decibels...truly pointless! 9  [23.68%] Guests cannot vote

[ Track this topic :: Email this topic :: Print this topic ]

ImAFoolAndImLaughing Group: Members Posts: 536 Joined: Feb. 2006 Posted: Mar. 07 2006, 12:22 Apologies if this has already been done... but I was interested in what others made of this bit of Amarok... Tony   -------------- "I was in this prematurely air conditioned supermarket and there were these bathing caps you could buy that had these kind of Fourth of July plumes on them that were red and yellow and blue and I wasn't tempted to buy one but I was reminded of the fact that I had been avoiding the beach." Back to top

Bassman Group: Members Posts: 548 Joined: Feb. 2008 Posted: June 06 2008, 17:32 I thought this deserved to be resurrected because the topic keeps coming up in other threads. I myself didn't vote because my feelings have changed about it, swinging from one side to the other.  For a long time I was enormously entertained by the mental image of the dear, pruney ol' banger highstepping herself into a collision with whatever lay off to the side (no offense intended to any Thatcherites).  That was borne out of a natural North American slight-unfamiliarity with her.  I mean, we are all certainly aware of her.  But she wasn't in our faces an iota as much as she was in our British MO comrades'.  That's sort of what made it so funny for me. Anyway, now I find a lot of you were right: it does date "Amarok" in a big way.  And I find myself wishing MO had gotten Viv S. to do the exact same lines.  I'll bet you the humor would have been much more timeless, and so much more in line with MO history.  I would have loved that! Back to top

Dirk Star Group: Members Posts: 1331 Joined: Sep. 2007 Posted: June 06 2008, 20:54 It`s one of those things that I just put up with really.I don`t find it amusing though I have to say.You know it`s a kind of warm dig at Maggie because deep down inside we all love her really.Well I`m sorry but that`s just not my sentiments at all.And the years that have passed by since her downfall have done nothing to soften my feelings towards her either.The only thing that saved it for me was that it was Janet Brown doing the impression of her,who I`ve  got nothing against at all.And above all else she was married to the late Peter Butterworth,who imo should`ve won an oscar for his performance in Carry On Up The Khyber...   So what I tend to do is just think yeah it`s Janet Brown.And within an instant I`ve somehow conjured up an image of her husband shouting "strawberry mousse,strawberry mousse" at the top of his voice whilst playing an imaginary invisible flute.Well it kind of works for me anyway. Back to top

raven4x4x Group: Members Posts: 1535 Joined: Jan. 2002 Posted: June 06 2008, 21:46 Personally I don't have a strong opinion either way. I love the album way too much to feel that it ruins the ending, but obviously it isn't the bit I'm hanging out for when I listen to it. -------------- Thank-you for helping us help you help us all. Back to top

Bassman Group: Members Posts: 548 Joined: Feb. 2008 Posted: June 07 2008, 15:51 I explained myself badly.  I didn't mean to say that I no longer found it funny.  It always will be for me.  I guess I was just lamenting the datedness of it... may as well have used a Nixon impersonator.  And, of course, simply missing Viv.  Showed my son Head Ballet last night, and some Rawlinsons stuff.  He didn't appear to get it.  But he gets Python, so it's still encouraging. Back to top

Ugo Group: Members Posts: 5495 Joined: April 2000 Posted: June 07 2008, 17:29 I have to say that I'm not too keen on British humour (except for Monty Python! ) and, not being British, I obviously can't fully appreciate the relevance of Margaret Thatcher on Great Britain's poilitics, so any satire made on her leaves me pretty much indifferent. However, I like Maggie's speech in Amarok just for what it is, i.e. one of the many elements of Amarok. I especially like the points when the "Sondela" choir composes itself over the stereo channels and submerges the speech. Just like Mike was saying that music is stronger than everything - much more so than politics, of course. -------------- Ugo C. - a devoted Amarokian Back to top

[ Track this topic :: Email this topic :: Print this topic ]

Forums | Links | Instruments | Discography | Tours | Articles | FAQ | Artwork | Wallpapers
Biography | Gallery | Videos | MIDI / Ringtones | Tabs | Lyrics | Books | Sitemap | Contact


Mike Oldfield Tubular.net