it is a mad mad world

it is a world where privilege and power is more hereditary than height; it is a world where a homeless man can sing "Jesus blood never fail me yet" and yet not come to collect the royalties.    

 

it is a mad world.

 

PS:

1. Quite enjoyed how Andrew Ford calls it "a work which either moves you to tears or drives you mad" - it was clearly driving me mad - I ended up having a small car accident while listening to it!

 

2. The presenter on the radio accidentally called it "Jesus blood never SAVED me yet" which I thought was interesting. She also mentioned that Gavin Bryars tried to find the homeless man to share the royalties, but he couldn't find him - the article on Wikipedia mentions the homeless man was already dead - I am not sure what happened and it what order. Just to confuse the issue, the interview with Andrew Ford mentions that Gavin Bryars himself did not earn royalties out of it. Anyway!!

 

3. I should of course quote from Alice in Wonderland here:

"But I don't want to go among mad people," Alice remarked.
"Oh, you can't help that," said the Cat: "we're all mad here. I'm mad. You're mad."
"How do you know I'm mad?" said Alice.
"You must be," said the Cat, "or you wouldn't have come here."
(Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Chapter 6)     

 

4. and while we are at it, Dickens as well:

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way – in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.