A Verbal Fig Leaf · Track 26 · middle
Mount Pleasant
Mount Pleasant (1740s) — An agreeable hill. There are three in England and they're all on maps. VOLUME: III. THE TAVERN, 1700–1899. THE DODGE THIS ERA: The dodge becomes CLASS. Grose writes the Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue and suddenly there are two vocabularies: the one for the parlour and the one for the taproom. The joke is which room you are in. Sing the AVOIDANCE, never the anatomy.
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Lyrics
[Intro] [Verse 1] Mr. Rocque’s new folio, three shillings from the Strand, Spread across the mahogany, perfectly to hand. You trace the copperplate ink with a clean, gloved fingertip, While I watch the tea-smoke rise and carefully bite my lip. We are charting a northern route, away from the muddy streets, Looking for a gentle elevation where the country meets. [Chorus] And we settle on Mount Pleasant. Such an agreeable incline, such a respectable name. I nod and keep my focus on the frame. For there is one word for the taproom, and another for the tea, And the art of the afternoon is remembering where you be. A beautiful view from Mount Pleasant. [Verse 2] Last night at the Lion, the fellows were loud and deep, Mapping this same geography, though not for polite upkeep. There’s a flinch in the vocal cord before the syllable breaks, The throat remembers the tavern, but the collar corrects the stakes. I must not smile at the china, I must not look at your hem, I must speak of the rolling pastures and completely forget about them. [Chorus] While we talk of Mount Pleasant. Such an agreeable incline, such a respectable name. I nod and keep my focus on the frame. For there is one word for the taproom, and another for the tea, And the art of the afternoon is remembering where you be. A beautiful view from Mount Pleasant. [Bridge] The joke is just a border line drawn in the London dust. What the alehouse claims as conquest, the drawing room takes on trust. You remark on the lovely gradient, entirely unaware, That the gentlemen of the alleyways have already been up there. It is all the same patch of earth. We just dress it in different worth. [Outro] So I pour another cup. I leave my finger resting on the hill. The parlour remains perfectly still. Mount Pleasant. Such a lovely cartographic curve. Just the map. Just the map.