From The Mind of Merc - Priorities

 Sometimes I find my mind wandering over various eclectic topics and occasionally I am inspired to write some of them down. Today given the recent emergence of yet another variant of coronavirus which once again threatens our Christmases, I was thinking about the UK government's prioritising of their bank balances over everyone else's has undeniably contributed the longevity of the pandemic.

When our leaders are more focused on the money they can make from the situation than actually dealing with the situation itself in any sort of effective way in order to protect the lives of the people it is meant to represent - as demonstrated not only by the numerous highly questionable 'donor deals' that have taken place since the outbreak but also by the disinclination of our illustrious leader to bother to turn up to COBRA meetings for the first few months of the crisis - it should come as no surprise that our ability to overcome or at least subdue the rampant nature of the virus is considerably and interminably delayed.

To demonstrate this in cartoon form, here's one I made earlier. (And I effectively only had to change 1 letter.)

Alternate Six Lyrics - Catherine Parr

And the final song of Six:

I Don't Need Your Love not (entirely) from Six

[Catherine Parr:]
You know I love you, boy
In every single way
Though I love you, boy
I'll miss you every day
Oh I love you, boy
I wish that I could stay with you
And keep the life I made with you
And even though this feels so right
I'm holding back the tears tonight

It's true I'll never be over you
'Cause I have built a future in my mind with you
And now the hope is gone
There's nothing left for me to do

You know it isn't true
But I must say to you
That I can’t have your love, no, no
I can’t have your love, no, no
It cannot be the way that it was, no, no
‘Cause I can’t have your love, no, no

I've got no choice
With the King I stay alive
Never had a choice
Been a wife twice before, just to survive
I don't have a choice
If Henry says "It's you", then it's you
No matter how I feel
It's what I have to do
But if, somehow, I had that choice
No holding back, I'd raise my voice

I'd say "Henry, yeah it's true
I'll never belong to you
'Cause I am not your toy, to enjoy till there's something new
As if I'm gonna give up my boy, my work, my dreams
To care for you"

"Ha, darling, get a clue
There's nothing you can do
I don't want your love, no, no
No, I don't want you love, no, no
There's nothing left to discuss, no, no
But I don't want your love, no, no"

But I can't say that
Not to the king
So this is goodbye
All my love
Catherine

So I sent that letter to my love
Got married to the king
Became the one who survived
I've told you about my life
The final wife
But why should that story
Be the one I have to sing about
Just to win? I'm out
That's not my story
There's so much more

Remember that I was a writer
I wrote books and psalms and meditations
Fought for female education
So all my women could independently
Study scripture
I even got a woman to paint my picture
Why can't I tell that story?
'Cause in history
I'm fixed as one of six
And without him
I disappear
We all disappear

[Ensemble:]
So we had no choice
But now it's us alone
So we've got no choice
No, we've got no choice
We're taking back the microphone
I'm gonna raise my voice
They always said:
"We need your love"
But it's time for us to rise above

It's not what went down in history
But tonight I'm singing this for me

Henry, yeah, I'm through
Too many times it's been told
And I have had enough
Love stories to get old
And you might think it's tough
But I've got to let your love run cold
We're taking back control (we're taking back control)
You need to know

I don't want your love, no, no
No, I don't want your love, no, no
Can't let it get the better of us, no, no
I don't need your love, no, no
I don't want your love, no, no
No, I don't want your love, no, no
I don't want your love, no, no
I don't want your love

We don't want your love

Alternate Six Lyrics - Catherine Howard

Time for the fifth Six song (trying saying that 10 times fast):

All You Wanna Do not (entirely) from Six

[Ensemble:]
All you wanna do
All you wanna do, baby

[Katherine Howard:]
I think we can all agree
I'm the ten amongst these threes

[Ensemble:]
All you wanna do
All you wanna do, baby

[Katherine Howard:]
And ever since I was a child
I'd make the boys go wild

[Ensemble:]
All you wanna do
All you wanna do, baby

[Katherine Howard:]
Take my first music teacher
Henry Manox
I was young, so true
But very soon I knew

The only thing you wanna do is...

Broad, dark, sexy Manox
Taught me all about dynamics
He was twenty three
And I was thirteen
Not even flirty

We spent hours strumming the lute
Striking the chords and blowing the flute
Tried to pluck my strings all the way to G
Go from major to minor
C to D

Tell me what you need
What you want
It won’t help to plead
Just don’t feel
The chemistry
I don’t want you
You won’t get me but

Maybe this is it
He just cares so much
It feels legit
Is there a connection
Could it be this guy’s different

'Cause
All you wanna do
All you wanna do, baby's
Touch me, love me
Can't get enough, see

All you wanna do
All you wanna do, baby's
Please me, squeeze me
Birds and the bees me

Run your fingers through my hair
Tell me I'm the fairest of the fair

Playtime's over
The only thing you wanna do is

But then there was another guy, Francis Dereham

Serious, stern and slow
Gets what he wants and he won't take no
Passion in all that he touches
The sexy secretary to the dowager duchess

Helped him in his office had a duty to fulfill
He even let me use his favourite quill
Spilled ink all over the parchment
My wrist was so tired
Still I came back the next day
As he required

You see, I'm all you need
All you want, you don't need to plead
'Cause I feel the chemistry
Like I get you and you get me and

I know, this is it
He just cares so much
This one's legit
We have a real connection
I'm sure this time is different

'Cause
All you wanna do
All you wanna do, baby's
Touch me, love me
Can't get enough, see

All you wanna do
All you wanna do, baby's
Please me, squeeze me
Birds and the bees me

You can't wait a second more
To get my kirtle on the floor

Playtime's over
The only thing you wanna do is...

Yeah, that didn't work out
Because I got summoned to the royal court
And you'll never guess who I met

Tall, large, Henry the Eighth
Supreme head of the Church of England

Globally revered
Although you wouldn't know it from the look of that beard

Made me a lady in waiting, hurled
Me and my family up in the world
Gave me duties in court and he swears it's true
That without me he doesn't know what he'd do

You see, I'm all you need
All you want, we both agree
This is the place for me
I'm finally where I'm meant to be

Then he starts saying all this stuff
He cares so much, he calls me 'love'
He says we have this connection
I guess it's not so different

'Cause
All you wanna do
All you wanna do, baby's
Touch me, love me
Can't get enough, see

All you wanna do
All you wanna do, baby's
Seize me, squeeze me
Birds and the bees me

There's no time for when or how
'Cause you've just got to have me now

Playtime's over
The only thing you wanna do is...

So we got married. Woo

With Henry, it isn't easy
His temper's short and his mates are sleazy
Except for this one courtier
He's a really nice guy just
So sincere

The royal life isn't what I planned
But Thomas is there to lend a helping hand
So sweet, makes sure that I'm okay
And we hang out loads when the King's away

This guy, finally
Is what I want, the friend I need
Just mates, nothing more see
I get him and he gets me

And there's nothing more to it
He just cares so much, he's devoted
He says we have a connection

I thought this time was different
Why did I think he'd be different
But it's never, ever different

'Cause
All you wanna do
All you wanna do, baby's
Touch me, when will
Enough be enough, see?

All you wanna do
All you wanna do, baby's
Squeeze me, don't care
If you don't please me

Bite my lip and pull my hair
As you tell me I'm the fairest of the fair

[Ensemble:]
Playtime's over
Playtime's over

[Katherine Howard & Ensemble:]
Playtime's over

[Ensemble:]
The only thing
The only thing

[Katherine Howard:]
The only thing you wanna do is...

From The Mind of Merc - (Political) Life Imitating Art

(Bit late with my monthly post this time so it's just a short one).

Sometimes I find my mind wandering over various eclectic topics and occasionally I am inspired to write some of them down. Today I was thinking about the similarity or appropriateness of quotes from and to completely different situations.

Case in point - who said this?

"If nothing else works, a total pig-headed unwillingness
to look facts in the face will see us through."