A Verbal Fig Leaf · Track 18 · middle
Master John Goodfellow
Master John Goodfellow (1650s) — Urquhart personifies it as a reliable gentleman caller and gives him a NAME. VOLUME: II. THE COINERS, 1600–1699. THE DODGE THIS ERA: The dodge became SPORT. Urquhart translating Rabelais invented dozens in an afternoon; nobody was hiding anything, they were competing. The richest century on the list, and the most useless for actually concealing meaning. Sing the AVOIDANCE, never the anatomy.
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Lyrics
[Intro] [Verse 1] The Paris quarto yields him just a single, lazy noun, To introduce the most reliable of guests we've found. I dip the cut quill, the iron gall is wet, But one short title is a failure of respect. My wrist twitches before the thought is fully dressed— How to announce a gentleman of such request? [Chorus] Call him Master John Goodfellow, Prompt to rise and quick to stand. Always knocks when he is needed, Always ready in the hand. Why use a common title when the lexicon is wide? I have forty better handles for the fellow at my side. [Verse 2] He is not just a neighbor, he's a soldier of the line, A magistrate, an alderman, a setter of the time. The apprentice shifts his boots against the frame, Waiting for the parchment, but I am finding twenty names. I will not be out-written by a friar in a cowl, Let the margins narrow, let the syllables prowl. [Chorus] For Master John Goodfellow, Prompt to rise and quick to stand. Always knocks when he is needed, Always ready in the hand. Why use a common title when the lexicon is wide? I have forty better handles for the fellow at my side. [Bridge] The light is running low, the afternoon is spent. There is no mystery to this capable gent. It isn't that I cannot write the blunt and heavy word— It’s that the short thing sounds a bit absurd. It doesn't bounce. It doesn't take the room. It doesn't have the stamina for noon. [Outro] Let him be the velvet usher, let him be the morning star. Let him be the sturdy advocate, stepping to the bar. Just fold the heavy paper, let the printer have his say. Master John is stepping out today. He'll be arriving... Well, he is always on his way.