tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5959261.post6134071837523709529..comments2023-11-03T07:57:36.350+00:00Comments on Sarah's writing journal: Other Names no 2 - CLARESarah Salwayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08254413682817411906noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5959261.post-34782385995693868282008-06-17T13:44:00.000+01:002008-06-17T13:44:00.000+01:00Gordie, it's definitely sad when an innocent love ...Gordie, it's definitely sad when an innocent love of children is miunderstood through cynical eyes. And it makes no sense for there to be hysteria about stranger danger when the majority of child abuse is committed by people well-known to the children in question.<BR/><BR/>But if these lyrics were as dodgy as they sound, this would not be an example of stranger danger. And the fact is that child abuse is a widespread problem that was once swept under the carpet and largely denied, meaning that it could, and did, go widely unchallenged.<BR/><BR/>I have several friends who were abused as children. It shocks me how many. My own exposure to it (through friends - my own childhood was thankfully very happy) may make me hyper-sensitive to it, but awareness is a very good thing if it helps to identify cases and therefore save more children.<BR/><BR/>Ahem. Sorry for getting all serious there!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5959261.post-9379293347262970352008-06-16T21:30:00.000+01:002008-06-16T21:30:00.000+01:00I remember Gilbert O'Sullivan, and I never thought...I remember Gilbert O'Sullivan, and I never thought there was anything questionable about that song; it was just a literary device where the listener assumes (because of genre conventions) the singer is talking about his girlfriend, and then a surprise is sprung. Exactly the same device is used in 'Save Your Kisses For Me', by Brotherhood of Man, and that won Eurovision. <BR/><BR/>On the whole, I feel quite glad I had my childhood when people assumed that strangers would want to look after your children, rather than now when they are assumed to be paedophiles.Gordiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11847827252511368862noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5959261.post-70113993860769592792008-06-16T20:53:00.000+01:002008-06-16T20:53:00.000+01:00Yay for Clairs!Yay for Clairs!Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06359455170930329929noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5959261.post-4485259375148236982008-06-15T21:29:00.000+01:002008-06-15T21:29:00.000+01:00Ha, bless you for doing a post about this.And now ...Ha, bless you for doing a post about this.<BR/><BR/>And now you've reminded me of a whole new load of thoughts about my name! In Ireland, which is surely where the sign in your picture comes from, there are a county, a river and an island all called Clare. There's also a village called Clare somewhere down south - Surrey, I think - near the town called Sudbury, and a friend of mine once sent me a postcard of Clare, posted in - and therefore postmarked from - nearby Sudbury. There's also a Clare college in Cambridge, which I was once sent a postcard of.<BR/><BR/>And obliquely, this reminds me of a T-shirt someone once brought back from Canada for my aunt Carol, from "Camp Carol, Sudbury."<BR/><BR/>And finally... Gilbert O'Sullivan. Clare was in the charts when I was 5 or 6, and they showed a video on Top of the Pops where a soft-focus Mr O'Sullivan gambolled in a wildflower meadow with a little girl who seemed exactly my age. Consequently I half-believed the song was about me, and I still have the 7" of the single, in its torn red paper cover, which was the first record I ever owned.<BR/><BR/>I feel incredibly nostalgic whenever I hear it, and still play it every now and then. I played it once to some friends when in my mid 20s, in the small hours of the morning, after we'd been up all night doing the kind of things that make you feel all soft and snuggly at that time of the morning... and listened to the lyrics properly for the first time with an adult ear. And was rather shocked.<BR/><BR/>"I don't care what people say<BR/>To me you're more than a child"<BR/>...<BR/>"But why in spite of our age difference do I cry<BR/>Each time I leave you I feel I could die<BR/>Nothing means more to me than hearing you say<BR/>'I'm going to marry you<BR/>Will you marry me, oh hurray'"<BR/><BR/>[I'm not convinced it's 'oh hurray' there; I always thought it was 'Uncle Ray', not that it affects its potential dodginess]<BR/><BR/>In my less cynical moments I like to think it was all perfectly innocent, but it has definite potential for nastiness.<BR/><BR/>(In looking up those lyrics, I've been reminded that he actually spells it "Clair", but I connect it so intimately with myself, I always forget that)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5959261.post-19639273044533634752008-06-15T20:30:00.000+01:002008-06-15T20:30:00.000+01:00It's a long way from here to Clare - one of my fav...It's a long way from here to Clare - one of my favourite old Irish ditties!Kath McGurlhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02526923882402757423noreply@blogger.com