pic by elliott landy
i heard arcadia boss, philip green on the radio yesterday saying that despite the fact that his disposable heroes of topshophrecy had continued to return record profits over a poor summer on the high street, that he felt the british public would start to realise that money was getting expensive.
which might seem like a glib comment but is a pretty succinct way of summing up the throw-away world of consolidation loans and mortgage/remortgage adverts which proliferate cable tv commercial breaks and tumble out of weekend colour supplements. money’s been terrifically cheap, and getting cheaper.
more bang for your buck and more bucks to the pound.
so while the latest supermodel-endorsed, designer-diffusion range might be a great bargain, the money we’re being encouraged to spend on it is starting to cost us more. and while ultimately that’s a good thing, it is bound to leave plenty of people in the doldrums; locked into a horrid situation of surface affluence, used to constantly refreshed wardrobes, new cars, latest ipods and flatscreen tvs but with a complete lack of foundation. all dressed up with nowhere to go.
perhaps if we have to think about what we’re spending we’ll start to think about what we’re buying too. and things will change. and this monologue is as much for me as ‘those people’.
still, i’ve been looking for a reason to post this track for the past year or so.
here it is, a song i find infinitely captivating. musically it’s catchy as hell; shuffling maracas, plodding kickdrum, bar-room piano, easy bassline. unsurprisingly the lyrics are stone cold genius and the laconic post-desire dylan drawl which sometimes grates belies a resigned, befuddled old man; mildly amused, slightly defiant and a little wiser.