All Tomorrow’s Parties

I was reminded recently of a song I became familiar with as a young man sharing a house with a group of other students during the mid-1970’s. We lived in Pinnox Street, in Tunstall, Stoke-on-Trent and my housemates were typical of the ‘Hippie’ students of that time and we listened to an eclectic mix of music. I remember living in that house in particular because at the time, the tiny rear garden backed onto an enormous ‘slag tip’, which rose like a mountain behind the house — a slag tip composed of literally millions broken dishes, cups and plates — the waste product of the ‘Potteries’. The ‘slag tip’ is now gone, but the memory of it remains with me.

The song of which I was reminded, ‘All Tomorrow’s Parties’, was by a cult band which did not last long and which was promoted by Andy Warhol during the mid to late 60s, the Velvet Underground.

Written by band member Lou Reed, this track was striking musically and featured a female German singer named Christa Päffgen, that Warhol had introduced to the rest of the band, and who sang under the stage name, Nico.

Having been reminded of the song, I revisited it on YouTube and found to my amusement that the words can be presented as a metaphor for the current state of British nationalism.

The words refer to a ‘poor girl’, representing our movement, or more specifically, those of a nationalist persuasion who currently remain un-aligned and who sit confused and idle, not knowing which way to go, or what they shall ‘wear’ to “All Tomorrow’s Parties”. And these title words can be interpreted as representing both; the nationalist political parties that perennially spring up and make futile attempts to gain electoral traction; and the elections they intend participating in – and in respect of which they are vexed, not knowing which ‘dress’ to wear.

Shall they present themselves honestly at the hustings, as “Thursday’s child”– as children of Thor; “when midnight comes around”; or shall they “turn once more to ‘Sunday’s clown’ — expounding a sanitised ‘cultural nationalism’, and reap nothing but bitter disappointment — “and cry behind the door”.

In making our choice, we nationalists have all too often turned away from ‘Thursday’s child’ and assumed the default position of ‘Sundays’ clown’, a default position demanded of us by the necessities of electoral politics that we are seen as ‘moderate’ and ‘respectable’; and in doing so, we have found ourselves reaping nothing but failure and disappointment, “a blackened shroud, a hand-me-down gown, of rags and silks, a costume fit for one who sits and cries, for all tomorrow’s parties”.

‘All Tomorrows Parties” was not of course intended to convey a message of this sort. Typical of much of the music of the 1960s and later, its purpose was to make our younger generations decadent, cynical and depressed.

Not wishing to end on a depressing note therefore, I was inspired to look at another of Lou Reed’s songs, this time from a later album entitled, ‘Berlin’, a song entitled, ‘Men of Good Fortune’ and here I found another which can be interpreted as a metaphor of our time.

The song begins by highlighting the disparity of fates between ‘Men of Good Fortune’ — those born into wealth and privilege, and those like most of us — of ‘Poor beginnings’.

“Men of good fortune, often cause empires to fall”, the song begins, “While men of poor beginnings often can’t do anything at all”. And here Reed addresses the sense of impotence that so many feel, that we lack the wherewithal needed to make any significant impact upon the life of our nation.

Reed is of course addressing here, the individual and personal ambitions that men have, we should not and don’t expect him to encompass a wider, less prosaic, more altruistic thought trajectory of any fundamental significance, however our interpretation of his words can do just that. And in this respect, I draw your attention to the alliteration in verse three:

“Men of good fortune
very often can’t do a thing
While men of poor beginnings
often can do anything”

Here we see an assertion that is analogous to our situation. Well intentioned ‘Men of good fortune’ are often made impotent by their bourgeois mentality and the need to retain their respectable position in society. While ‘Men of poor beginnings’, men who have nothing to lose and a driving will to achieve, can often do anything we set our minds to. Herein lies the kernel of hope for the future that we must focus our attention upon.

In verse six Reed focuses on money, with the truism, “It takes money to make money they say”, and having stated that, he returns to the familiar refrain from most songs of that era, “it makes no difference to me … I just don’t care at all”, but we must ignore this, because we do care, and if we care enough, we can make a difference. In the next two verses a second kernel of truth is inadvertently provided for the inspiration of those who are discerning:

“Men of good fortune
often wish that they could die
While men of poor beginnings
want what [the rich and powerful] have and to get it they’ll die

All those great things
that life has to give
they wanna have money and live”.

And herein lies the key to our predicament that will unlock the constraints holding us back.

We ‘Men of poor beginnings’, must as I have often urged, focus our efforts on acquiring the wherewithal needed if we are to ‘cause empires to fall’ – to bring down the rotten edifice of our current corrupt governments, and to build something new and wholesome in their place. And the most important factor here is the acquisition of ‘money’. Not for money’s sake or in order to gratify our own personal greed, but because, as I have often said, ‘money is power’ in the modern world and if we can create a nationalist movement with ‘money’, we will have a nationalist movement that will have ‘power’.

We “wanna have money”, so our people can live, and while we cannot rely upon ‘Men of good fortune’ to come to our aid, if we are determined enough and “want what they have” badly enough to be prepared to die in the service of our people, or at least devote our lives to the acquisition of the Six Prerequisites, then nothing can stand in our way!

“… Men of poor beginnings often can do anything”.

By Max Musson © 2015

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