08 :: The Word That She Wanted Was "Destination" :: A Slow Drag with "20% Amnesia"

Today's slow drag is with 20% Amnesia. The songwriting is credited to Elvis Costello's birth name.

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Appreciation written, produced, and narrated by Remedy Robinson, MA/MFA

Twitter: @slowdragremedy

Email: [email protected]

Podcast music by https://www.fesliyanstudios.com

Rate this Podcast: https://ratethispodcast.com/slowdrag

References:

“20% Amnesia”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ljVEbHw2mg

Elvis Costello Wiki Resource Page: "20% Amnesia": http://www.elviscostello.info/wiki/index.php/20%25_Amnesia 

Strip Jack Naked: https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2008/nov/22/rules-card-games-beggar-neighbour 

“Beggar My Neighbour” Marc. M. Paulhus. Source:
The American Mathematical Monthly, Vol. 106, No. 2 (Feb., 1999), pp. 162-165
Published by: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. on behalf of the Mathematical Association of America https://www.jstor.org/stable/2589054

Boot Boy definition and examples from the Cambridge dictionary: https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/boot-boy 

A Hundred Years of Windsors but Still the Queen is partly German: https://www.ft.com/content/b80a9dde-f1f0-11e6-95ee-f14e55513608 

Tramp the Dirt Down: http://www.elviscostello.info/wiki/index.php/Tramp_The_Dirt_Down

How to Be Dumb: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Q7sFEe_H-o

Rich Hall QI quote: https://www.quotes.net/mquote/833502

The difference between destiny and destination: https://wikidiff.com/destination/destiny

Elvis Costello continues to sing “Tramp the Dirt Down” https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/news/tramp-the-dirt-down-elvis-costello-defends-decision-to-continue-singing-anti-thatcher-songs-8706270.html

Glastonbury Festival 2013 “Tramp the Dirt Down” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IaZ8PormR1w

Gorbachev and Cinderella and Major: https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/bs-xpm-1991-07-17-1991198031-story.html 

Pick up the phone! (90s adult sex chat line ad): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tKdlb5yv5xo

So, until next time, Adieu, my little ballyhoo

"20% Amnesia" Lyrics

"What is your destiny?" the policewoman said
20% amnesia
The word that she wanted was "destination," I'm afraid
20% amnesia
This is your future boy, this is your fate
20% amnesia
And you're obsolete and they can't afford to educate you
20% amnesia

In his bed-time boot-boy jersey
Ringing up some fantasy tart
Give me strength or give me mercy
Life intimidates art

Give me strength or give me mercy
Don't let me lose heart
From rage to anaesthesia
20% amnesia

Were you passed out on the sofa?
20% amnesia
While justice was bartered by a drunken oaf?
20% amnesia
This is all your glorious country thinks of your life
20% amnesia
Strip-jack-naked with a Stanley knife
20% amnesia

So the German Queen went home again
But she couldn't find forgiveness
They made a fist of the hand of friendship
But it's only business

Give me strength or give me mercy
Don't let me lose heart
From rage to anaesthesia
20% amnesia

The wine you drink has never seen a grape
And now your sci-fi suit has lost its shape
But its a dangerous game that comedy plays
Sometimes it tells you the truth
Sometimes it delays it

Think back, think back if you still can
When the trumpet sounded and the world began
Somebody said "We must have won"
So they started burying the bogeyman

Mister Gorbachev came cap in hand
20% amnesia
From a bankrupt land to a bankrupt land
20% amnesia
Mister Gorbachev and some other fella
20% amnesia
Were taken to a show called "Cinderella"
20% amnesia
It wasn't an accident, it wasn't a mystery
20% amnesia
It was calculated and the rest is history
20% amnesia

You don't have to listen to me
That's the triumph of free will
When there are promises to break
And dreams to kill

Give me strength or give me mercy
Don't let me lose heart
From rage to anaesthesia
20% amnesia