The Devil Rides Out. Paul O'Grady.
Paul O'Grady? Lily Savage?
O'Grady takes us back to life in the seventies and gives us a glimpse of his life from the age of 18. He presents us with a vivid and usually a sordid and seedy picture of the Birkenhead club scene followed by the equally sordid London scene, dens of inequity for a troubled soul whose lifelong ambition seems to be to get inebriated every night and wake up with a stinking hangover.
Vanity and hedonistic pleasure dominated his life. At 18 he had to be "friggin' gorgeous" dolled up in the tightest of garments to accentuate his sexuality and desirability before he could storm the club scene. His mother called it "tomcatting" and the expression "the devil rides out" is one of the phrases mother used for his clubbing, dressed up to the eyeballs and on the pull. Her prejudice was more evident when she called it "debauchery" and then lashed out at him with: "You fornicating, no-good, dirty big who-er."
Don't get the wrong impression. His mother loved him BUT also worried about him always getting into trouble, especially with the police.
At times the author allows us to see a vulnerable child, unsure of himself, immature and unable to face up to any kind of responsibilities. He was deeply affected by his father's sudden death and made to feel guilty because of his troubled sexuality that created un-necessary tensions in the family. Mother had just had a near-fatal heart attack and was not expected to survive. Father was so shocked that HE then had an instantaneous heart attack and died immediately afterwards. Mother was "numb with shock" and far too ill to be allowed to bury her own husband.
His father's death left a "raw gaping wound" and his guilt at causing his death was "growing heavier" as he quietly mourned the loss of his father's "reassuring presence."
Surprisingly for me, he had some girlfriends and seemed like any other heterosexual male. He slept with Diane who was one of his girlfriends who became pregnant with Paul's daughter. In between this "hysterical queen" act there was a parent trying to establish itself.
At 18, Paul was too immature and unable to face up to any responsibilities and he admitted that his blood ran cold when he saw the baby.
"Having sowed my wild oats, I'd prayed for crop failure." He was "going nowhere fast" or crudely put:"up shit creek without a paddle."
Another big surprise was to agree to an arranged marriage to a lesbian. On paper this lasted 28 years. Very strange.
The other side you don't hear about concerns the physical graft, caring for the disabled and the most vulnerable when he worked for Camden Social Services or at the Convalescent Home and School. Stephen was one of his favourites at the home. He was 12 and had muscular dystrophy. He would bellow "Move your arse, spaz." His head shook like a "bobble toy" but he was as mischievous and ruthless as the others in his abuse and insults.
Also we find out about Moya with Downs' syndrome who would "drop her drawers" indiscriminately to Paul's delight and to everyone else's horror!
Fraudster Robin was a conman "the type who would charm a maggot off a corpse." Then we had Shirley, an escort girl who was going to see her Saudi Prince Abdul to engage in a bit of sexual fantasy. O'Grady described her as "no clumsy slapper" but as a "seasoned pro." The Hilton was where the illicit sex took place. O'Grady's job was the same as a pimp but an upmarket one. His tip was £200.
"The wages of sin weren't death. Sin was extremely well paid."
As an interesting diversion we hear about the author's visit to East Berlin, Poland and Auschwitz with sobering recollection. This was riveting. In Manila we are exposed to abject poverty and sexual trafficking that appalled the writer.
It was a "dirty, sprawling, poverty-stricken metropolis" with a booming sex trade, reeking of exploitation.
The desire to perform on stage seemed to be a niggling need throughout this period of life and his ambition is realised when he returns to London to the Elephant and Castle the birthplace of Lily Savage. He called it a "persistent theatrical itch."
He longed for the "mayhem at the circus" a combination of the Weimar Berlin cabaret, the vaudeville, burlesque but also something that was "quintessentially" British.
To continue this interesting saga about O'Grady's phoenix you will have to read the third volume and discover the delights of Lily Savage for yourself!
Bantam Press. ISBN: 978-0593-064245
O'Grady takes us back to life in the seventies and gives us a glimpse of his life from the age of 18. He presents us with a vivid and usually a sordid and seedy picture of the Birkenhead club scene followed by the equally sordid London scene, dens of inequity for a troubled soul whose lifelong ambition seems to be to get inebriated every night and wake up with a stinking hangover.
Vanity and hedonistic pleasure dominated his life. At 18 he had to be "friggin' gorgeous" dolled up in the tightest of garments to accentuate his sexuality and desirability before he could storm the club scene. His mother called it "tomcatting" and the expression "the devil rides out" is one of the phrases mother used for his clubbing, dressed up to the eyeballs and on the pull. Her prejudice was more evident when she called it "debauchery" and then lashed out at him with: "You fornicating, no-good, dirty big who-er."
Don't get the wrong impression. His mother loved him BUT also worried about him always getting into trouble, especially with the police.
At times the author allows us to see a vulnerable child, unsure of himself, immature and unable to face up to any kind of responsibilities. He was deeply affected by his father's sudden death and made to feel guilty because of his troubled sexuality that created un-necessary tensions in the family. Mother had just had a near-fatal heart attack and was not expected to survive. Father was so shocked that HE then had an instantaneous heart attack and died immediately afterwards. Mother was "numb with shock" and far too ill to be allowed to bury her own husband.
His father's death left a "raw gaping wound" and his guilt at causing his death was "growing heavier" as he quietly mourned the loss of his father's "reassuring presence."
Surprisingly for me, he had some girlfriends and seemed like any other heterosexual male. He slept with Diane who was one of his girlfriends who became pregnant with Paul's daughter. In between this "hysterical queen" act there was a parent trying to establish itself.
At 18, Paul was too immature and unable to face up to any responsibilities and he admitted that his blood ran cold when he saw the baby.
"Having sowed my wild oats, I'd prayed for crop failure." He was "going nowhere fast" or crudely put:"up shit creek without a paddle."
Another big surprise was to agree to an arranged marriage to a lesbian. On paper this lasted 28 years. Very strange.
The other side you don't hear about concerns the physical graft, caring for the disabled and the most vulnerable when he worked for Camden Social Services or at the Convalescent Home and School. Stephen was one of his favourites at the home. He was 12 and had muscular dystrophy. He would bellow "Move your arse, spaz." His head shook like a "bobble toy" but he was as mischievous and ruthless as the others in his abuse and insults.
Also we find out about Moya with Downs' syndrome who would "drop her drawers" indiscriminately to Paul's delight and to everyone else's horror!
Fraudster Robin was a conman "the type who would charm a maggot off a corpse." Then we had Shirley, an escort girl who was going to see her Saudi Prince Abdul to engage in a bit of sexual fantasy. O'Grady described her as "no clumsy slapper" but as a "seasoned pro." The Hilton was where the illicit sex took place. O'Grady's job was the same as a pimp but an upmarket one. His tip was £200.
"The wages of sin weren't death. Sin was extremely well paid."
As an interesting diversion we hear about the author's visit to East Berlin, Poland and Auschwitz with sobering recollection. This was riveting. In Manila we are exposed to abject poverty and sexual trafficking that appalled the writer.
It was a "dirty, sprawling, poverty-stricken metropolis" with a booming sex trade, reeking of exploitation.
The desire to perform on stage seemed to be a niggling need throughout this period of life and his ambition is realised when he returns to London to the Elephant and Castle the birthplace of Lily Savage. He called it a "persistent theatrical itch."
He longed for the "mayhem at the circus" a combination of the Weimar Berlin cabaret, the vaudeville, burlesque but also something that was "quintessentially" British.
To continue this interesting saga about O'Grady's phoenix you will have to read the third volume and discover the delights of Lily Savage for yourself!
Bantam Press. ISBN: 978-0593-064245
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