When the Jerries finally won...at last!
by @bardo
I used to get the BBC 4 channel on my TV
There used to be a lot of interesting documentaries on it
About artists and arty people
On Friday nights they used to have music documentaries
One night a gay singer from the Eighties was on speaking about his youth
He said as a kid he grew up during the Glam rock music era in the UK
He spoke about how he loved Marc Bolan and T-Rex
And how he'd watch them on the popular UK TV show ‘Top of the Pops’
Then he spoke about seeing David Bowie performing the song ‘Starman’ on the show
In the middle of the song Bowie's attractive blonde guitarist Mick Ronson comes up to David’s microphone to share vocals with him
And David puts his arm around him
And then he sings the lyric
“I needed to ring someone so I picked on you”
And he points his finger directly into the camera wiggling his finger
The singer said he was greatly moved by this
It was like he was pointing right at me, speaking directly to me
I knew then, he said, I knew then I was different.
The funny thing was a few weeks later there was another gay singer on from the Eighties (80’s)
And he had pretty much the exact same story
He grew up during the Glam rock era
How he loved Marc Bolan and T-Rex
"He was so androgynous"
And then I seen David Bowie singing Starman
And he put his arm around Mick Ronson
And he pointed into the camera and said
I needed to ring someone and I picked on you
And I felt like he was talking to me…
I was thinking afterwards I grew up during the Glam rock period too
And I loved Marc Bolan and T-Rex too
Wanted to be like him when I grew up
I couldn't remember Starman though, was a great song
But it didn't stick out for me
A big pivotal song for me growing up was Sparks, the Mael brothers and their band doing “This Town ain't big enough for the Both of us"
Creepy Ron Mael with his Hitler moustache playing the keyboards
And his younger more glamorous brother Russell doing the vocals.
Y’see when you're very young identity plays a big role in your life
You're trying to survive in a seemingly crazy world, trying not to drown
Young kids inner lives aren't really appreciated/respected
Kids aren't taught it's OK to be their natural selves
In fact their usually taught the exact opposite
It's anything but OK to be your natural self
Their told You're dumb, You're stupid You're ignorant
It's only how the child does at school that really matters, in the eyes of the world
The child learns quickly then that the only things of any value lie outside of themselves
So to compensate for this they project outward into the world, outside of themselves
They look out into the world to see something or someone to latch onto
They have their favourite football teams, favourite bands/ singers, favourite books and TV shows with their favourite characters
And these become so important to them it's like they own them
It's like their their own possessions
Their whole identity becomes bound up with them
In my family I was the youngest of three boys in our house
Which meant of course that you were at a distinct disadvantage
As they were older than you and stronger as well
We'd always be fighting among ourselves and competing against one another
I remember as kids when Star Trek would come on
My eldest brother would announce “I'm Captain Kirk, my second brother would say”I'm Mister Spock “ and of course, I'd be left with the cranky less glamorous Doctor McCoy
When Thunderbirds (International rescue) would come on my eldest brother would say I'm Thunderbird One, my other brother would be Thunderbird Two whereas I had to settle for some other Thunderbird down the line
When the football/ soccer results would be coming in on a Saturday evening
We'd avidly watch it, my older brothers would have picked two of the best teams to support
Where I would have had to settle for a lesser team
If your team lost you would be mercilessly teased
You'd be sneered at and laughed at Your team is useless, a bunch of losers “Losers!” Losing! You're going down, you're going to be relegated (to a lower division), Ha! Ha!
You'd be almost in tears, you'd feel destroyed
As kids we also loved watching war movies
Now my first name is Gerard or Gerry (or Jerry)
So again you'd be mercilessly teased ‘cos the Germans of course were the Jerries (and I was a Jerry too)
And they always lost, were always getting blown up or shot or worse
You'd hear “Those rotten Jerries, kill those feckin Jerries, The Jerries are the Baddies, You're a Jerry!
Look! The Jerries are losing again! Losing! Losers! Useless Stupid Jerries Bunch of losers
Again Your identity would be mercilessly trashed, pummeled into the ground
But then…then one Thursday evening on Top of the Pops'…. like a revelation
Sparks! …Sparks appeared on Top of the Pops
And a lonely boy was amazed…astonished
They were like something from Outer Space
There was Creepy Ron playing the keyboards with his Hitler moustache, giving out bored and nonchalant creepy looks to the camera
And his more glamorous girly looking brother Russell with the nice scarf around his neck
Enthusiastically delivering these earnest urgent emphatic vocals
The song it starts off with a catchy keyboard intro and then this big riff cuts in and then Russell gets with the vocals
It swings back and forth between the two, the big riff and the vocals and the incessant driving catchy keyboard
In the middle of the song it really cuts loose , it goes wild, it goes nuts
There's the sound of bullets flying
The riff's broken loose and there's this crazy solo
In the middle of all this wonderful chaos
What does Russell do, he goes up to his brother
And raises his arm like in a fascist salute, over his brother Creepy Ron with the Hitler moustache
He does this several times
Feckin hell, I thought watching this, These boys are wild, these boys...these boys are my boys ...
It's the feckin Jerries and we're winning
For the first time, we're winning, we're flying up the feckin charts
It's amazing...incredible!...
Look! Now We're no.2 in the feckin UK charts
We're winning...I'm winning
Feckin' hell
I knew then, I knew then that I was was different too