Shame on me! Two of the things I said I’d cover in my last post, I didn’t do. I just gave myself a slap on the wrist. So let’s get to those first.
Notah Begay was a Native American professional golfer. He is now a television commentator covering PGA events out on the course. He’s still Native American.
As for the song, here’s the link again: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HN9bcuIK70s
I’ll emphasize this is my opinion, and it doesn’t quite match those of others whose opinions can be found on the ‘net. Please keep in mind that not every word or even every line can necessarily apply to the interpretation.
First, “Master Jack” is a South African term for a shift boss in the mines, so it can serve here as a generic term for any boss. In this song, I think it applies to the national government of South Africa. The words, “take a colored ribbon from out of the sky” might reference the S.A. flag, and then the government has taught her to use it tie up all their problems and make them look neat—South Africa’s problem of Apartheid is “sold” as a good thing to the populace—the people in the street.
She could see how Master Jack was presenting to her the propaganda of Apartheid so that she would become an advocate, but instead she’s going to leave that idea before he can change her mind.
“You taught me all the things the way you’d like them to be” is the same thing. The proponents of Apartheid have represented it as a good thing because that’s how they want it to be, but she’d like to see if other people—the populace of other countries—agree with that sentiment.
And the chorus: “It’s a strange, strange world we live, Master Jack.” At this point the blacks had about 80% of the population, and the whites at 20% or less, yet all political and legal matters were decided by the whites. That is certainly pretty strange.
On the writing front, I’m making very slow but steady progress on Book 2 of Lying Swords. I think about it every day, establish what I want to write next, then do that for a half hour or more till I’ve put down what I had in mind, then get back to thinking. As I’ve said before, this is new to me. The other books all sort of wrote themselves.
I’ve decided to write a new beginning for Saving Atlantis to see if that gets a better response from agents and publishers.
I was allowed to reduce my hours at work from ten hours on Saturdays to 6 hours. My hip/leg pain has not improved much. Some mornings it’s not as bad as it was, but as the day goes on, the pain grows on. Ten hours on Saturday was just too painful.
Regarding my reading: I finished The Belgariad and then read Belgarath the Sorcerer. I’m now about half-way through Polgara the Sorceress. That will do it for the writing of David and Leigh Eddings for a while. Not sure where I’m going for reading after that. The library, probably. I’ll probably see if they have any Dean Koontz books I haven’t read yet. Or, I’ll finish The Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien.
This month’s trivia: An easy one: What do the letters SWAK mean?
Notah Begay was a Native American professional golfer. He is now a television commentator covering PGA events out on the course. He’s still Native American.
As for the song, here’s the link again: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HN9bcuIK70s
I’ll emphasize this is my opinion, and it doesn’t quite match those of others whose opinions can be found on the ‘net. Please keep in mind that not every word or even every line can necessarily apply to the interpretation.
First, “Master Jack” is a South African term for a shift boss in the mines, so it can serve here as a generic term for any boss. In this song, I think it applies to the national government of South Africa. The words, “take a colored ribbon from out of the sky” might reference the S.A. flag, and then the government has taught her to use it tie up all their problems and make them look neat—South Africa’s problem of Apartheid is “sold” as a good thing to the populace—the people in the street.
She could see how Master Jack was presenting to her the propaganda of Apartheid so that she would become an advocate, but instead she’s going to leave that idea before he can change her mind.
“You taught me all the things the way you’d like them to be” is the same thing. The proponents of Apartheid have represented it as a good thing because that’s how they want it to be, but she’d like to see if other people—the populace of other countries—agree with that sentiment.
And the chorus: “It’s a strange, strange world we live, Master Jack.” At this point the blacks had about 80% of the population, and the whites at 20% or less, yet all political and legal matters were decided by the whites. That is certainly pretty strange.
On the writing front, I’m making very slow but steady progress on Book 2 of Lying Swords. I think about it every day, establish what I want to write next, then do that for a half hour or more till I’ve put down what I had in mind, then get back to thinking. As I’ve said before, this is new to me. The other books all sort of wrote themselves.
I’ve decided to write a new beginning for Saving Atlantis to see if that gets a better response from agents and publishers.
I was allowed to reduce my hours at work from ten hours on Saturdays to 6 hours. My hip/leg pain has not improved much. Some mornings it’s not as bad as it was, but as the day goes on, the pain grows on. Ten hours on Saturday was just too painful.
Regarding my reading: I finished The Belgariad and then read Belgarath the Sorcerer. I’m now about half-way through Polgara the Sorceress. That will do it for the writing of David and Leigh Eddings for a while. Not sure where I’m going for reading after that. The library, probably. I’ll probably see if they have any Dean Koontz books I haven’t read yet. Or, I’ll finish The Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien.
This month’s trivia: An easy one: What do the letters SWAK mean?
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