I hate to blow my own trumpet, so when I saw the prompt I decided I would write about a fictional character. That is when "Bob the Stupid" appeared in my head and started to tell his story. It's funny, but I usually have no sympathy with these "self-made" entrepreneurs (Alan Sugar makes me want to puke). But this guy's story seemed worth telling as it fit the prompt well and like my narrator I got picked on in school and was told I was a "no mark" by certain teachers. So some of this is autobiographical. But I am certainly not a successful capitalist myself, nor would I want to be.
Back in the 1980s I was a semi-pro folk singer-songwriter, so I was steeped in this trad ballad style and that "finger in the ear voice" just comes naturally to me :-)
Instrument Ashbury Mandola GDAE
BTW I was half an hour late starting I had had to take my MIL to the hospital ... a touch of anaemia... nothing too serious.
(A5) I surpassed my expectations
And (G) those of a few good (A5) friends
Plus all of my relations
That (D) saw me on my beam (A5) ends
"Bob the useless" they'd called me
In a (D5) tone far less than (A5) kind
But I had my own ambitions
And (G) didn't pay them any (A5) mind
All you need is dedication
Was my motto from the start
It's what a teacher once told me
Speaking from his heart
All it took was the faith of this stranger
To turn my world around
Once you've got the confidence on you
Opportunities abound
It started with a jumble sale
Selling all my old junk
Then went on to a market stall
With goods I brought in my trunk
"Money loves to make money"
Was what my granddad had said
I told him that I would make it
A promise made on his death bed
So now those mockers and doubters
Have had to eat humble pie
As they see a fleet of lorries
With my name on pass by
When they come my way a begging
A smile I'll have to repress
Who'd have thought that "Bob the Stupid"
Would ever be a success?
@sherrylynnlee Mar 2022
Great story-telling and the lyrics suit this genre well. You definitely got us rooting for Bob the Stupid, even if you don't typically relate with that archetype. Nice work!
@johnstaples Feb 2022
Well right away I am LOVING that pretty mandola and your sweet vocals! Your lyrics tell this story quite well! I totally enjoyed my listen!!!
@kadmad202 Feb 2022
Revenge story-telling at its best - troubadour style! Bob sounds like an upright kind of guy, so I'm glad you were able to tell his tale. Everything about this song works for me - the mando, the vocals, the under-valued Bob, his believing teacher, his wise grandfather, and his detractors, who get their comeuppance in the end. Lovely!
@br0th3rh00d Feb 2022
(They didn't tell me until A-level that when they tested my IQ in primary school -because I was apparently barely able to complete any work - it was 'above average superior' though when I was retested at A-level it was reassuringly down to just above average high - somehow no official diagnosis until last year in my forties despite my classic spiky profile. Anyway - success is just as stressful as failure and usually involves unlivable pressures, contradictions and hurting people according to the songs of many successful artists as well! Solidarity!!
@br0th3rh00d Feb 2022
I'm an autistic lefty myself, also with an anemic MiL who has recently been in hospital. I both empathise with but also despise the likes of Elon Musk and Boris Johnson - I want the critiques to be the right ones not the schoolyard and school teacher stuff. If you listen to & understand a poem like Them and [uz] by Tony Harrison, or read my Derbyshire grandfather's school books and the snotty teacher's comments on them, or pay attention to indigenous politics everywhere but especially in America and Australia it's plain that it's not just come from the kids and their families: 'education' has been a primary site of class war and cultural genocide.
Neurodiverse people often have wider solidarity - and I think about the pressure to do well and climb socially & financially on immigrants (and nothing to lose, perhaps disinhibition or lack of social ties that keep them 'in place') and different-but similar inspiration-porn and transference-based pressure put on people like me who aren't marginalised in that way exactly to do well or 'go save the earth' and the times that there is success that's building and the costs and the biteback - it all plays on my truculent lefty mind. As does the contradictions of my consistent failure to university level and 'even' on checkouts at Asda!
I do go the full woke and usually rail against words including stupid and all its ilk as they hit the old raw spots, amplified as a mum of kid with higher needs at special school and another academically top tier & also autistic. I did use the s-word in my song for this challenge too, as from the voice of 'mockers and doubters and the all-too needfully insouciant desperate climbers and exploited treadmill-ers: I also think about what 'stupid' means and it is all a bit nonsense.
I liked the folk format and voice! I spent a lot of my childhood going to blues and folk gigs on an irregular basis. Miner's benefits, village carnivals, family friends' performances and more.
@timfatchen Feb 2022
"finger in the ear"...never heard that before. But if course that voice carries, which was always the intent. Very much a trad folk song. That mandola tuning with the fifth ringing out over the top like a drone is highly effective. but you knew that! Great storyline and nothing wrong with success, not necessarily monetary.. Download!
@robynmackenzie Feb 2022
I like the folky feel, almost Celtic. The mandola sounds amazing! A compelling and classic narrative.
@scubed Feb 2022
Really like your mandola! This is a very creative take on the skirmishi prompt and definitely has the trad song sound - nicely done! For some reason, the movie playing in my head as I listened starred the late, great Bob Hoskins (who, as it happens, was written off as stupid in his youth).
@gubna Feb 2022
This is great! I feel like I'm sitting in a pub in the land of my ancestors, listening and holding my mug up cheering you on!
@sheilerk Feb 2022
I've known far too many "Bob the Stupids" who were underestimated to overlook them now! Your Bob told a great story here, and I love how it all turned out!
@wylddandelyon Feb 2022
Oh, nice mandola! The sound makes me want to play it. It goes well with your voice and this song, and I love the traditional feel of it. Like JTSteam, I hope "Bob The Stupid" isn't on all those lorries!
@musicsongwriter Feb 2022
Brilliant story telling. Love your vocals and playing. So fun and entertaining. It's a cool traditional style song which graps the attention from the start and holds it tight. I couldn't stop smiling while listening :)
@blindsheepdog Feb 2022
Big up Bob…. love it
@jtsteam Feb 2022
That's a very cool sounding instrument. I hope "Bob The Stupid" isn't what's written on the lorries :).
Also as a lefty I've been wanting to write a story that goes in the the other direction... one day I'll figure it out.
@ajna1960 Feb 2022
Love your trad style as always :) This didn't fail to please.
I love truly nice rags to riches tales. Too much nastiness from one person about another in this world :)
@jayjay Feb 2022
Oh I love this. Great storytelling and wonderful chord choices.
@keithcuts Feb 2022
i like this forrest gumpy tale of success
your use of the A5 adds intrigue in a skilled way to your song
your language command is astounding!
well done berni!
glad the hospital was not serious.
and glad you got it done. wouldnt be the same without a bernie entry