Anthony Lane - Unchallenged


Oogie waits for just another day
Drags his bones to see the Yankees play
Bones Boy talks and flickers gray
Oh, they slip away

Once a time they nearly might have been
Bones and Oogie on a silver screen
No one knew what they could do
Except for me and you
They slip away
They slip away

CHORUS
  Don't forget to keep your head warm
  Twinkle twinkle Uncle Floyd
  Watching all the world and war torn
  How I wonder where you are

  Sailing over Coney Island
  Twinkle twinkle Uncle Floyd
  We were dumb but you were fun, boy
  How I wonder where you are
  Oo-oo

Oogie knew there's never ever time
Some of us will always stay behind
Down in space it's always 1982
The joke we always knew
Oo-oo
What's-a matter with you

C'mon, let's go
Slip away
Oo-oo

My friends are always mentioning this fellow Anthony Lane. Never heard of him. But then this girl I had been almost having sex with gave me this book. "Here. Now read this Anthony Lane essay," she said. At which point, I no longer had never heard of him. I read the essay. She moved to North Carolina.

Author's Note: This is my suggested alternative to 'The Sound of Music,' and if it were one hundred minutes long, it would someday have a showing at the Prince Charles Theatre too. Or not? I mean, this really is good.

Personal Note: Once I know what picture will go with the text, the desire to produce a workable draft suddenly doubles. A workable draft means I can place the picture in it, which means I can look at it while revising. It's the same for music. Once I know what music, it's like the song literally drives and shapes the text.

Afterlogue: I read this Anthony Lane essay from this book called 'greatest magazine writing of 2001.' The essay was about the phenomenon of people going to watch the sound of music (or Rocky Horror or whatever the local flavor is) and getting all threaded-up, and how funny it is, and why. Anthony Lane knows a lot about movies, and he knows the words 'New Yorker' readers long to read. But deep down, you and I know.








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