I just finished watching "Before Stonewall" on netflix (you can watch it streaming online if you have a subscription at any level) and I do believe that I met myself in 50 years. "Lisa Ben" or Edith Eyde. My hero. She sings with a spanish guitar, and parodied this song
The Girl That I Marry
The girl that I marry will have to be
as soft and as pink as a nursery.
The girl that I call my own
will wear satins and laces and smell of cologne.
Her nails will be polished and in her hair
she'll wear a gardenia and I'll be there
'Stead of flittin' I'll be sittin' next to her
and she'll purr like a kitten.
A doll I can carry the girl that I marry must be.
But instead -- and I must tell you that I stopped the movie and went back so I could write it down -- she sang:
The Girl That I Marry
The girl that I marry will probably be
as butch as a hunk of machinery.
The girl I idolize ... will wear slacks with flat fronts*,
tailored shirts and bow ties
She'll walk with a swagger and wear short hair
And keep me entranced with her tomboy air
Instead of cruisin I'll be using
Her shoulder to lean on while snoozin
A faint hearted fairy, the girl I marry won't be!
clearly, an ode to butches. do you see how she's my hero? dana watched her singing so sweetly and said, "honey it's you!" we had a good laugh about it.
*flat fronts? I'm not sure about that, I had some trouble discernign that line.
Apparently I'm also channeling bell hooks because as I was introducing myself to my class (Literature by Women of Color in the Diaspora), my professor - the distinguished Dr. Gary Lemons, author of "Black. Male. Outsider" - said that as he was watching me speak, watching this white woman speak, he felt as though he was listening to bell hooks. She was actually his dissertation adviser as a Ph.D. student at (i think) NYU.
[edit] Originally I had written that it was ms Audre Lorde, but HussyRed is right in the comments, I had forgotten she passed away when I was just a wee lass. bell hooks will be visiting, though, and I'll be interested to see the comparison.
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5 comments:
Flat-front pants are exactly what they sound like: pants that are flat in front. In other words, they don't have pleats. I guess that was the height of butch fashion back in the day.
What an honor to be compared to Audre Lorde!
oh my gosh! i'm so glad you posted that song from "before stonewall." i absolutely love it. greasy, dirty, hunky machinery. butches are the swooniest.
also, i hate to have to be the bearer of bad news, but audre lorde died in the early 1990s. such an incredible loss and wow! such a huge honor to be compared to her! no doubt you're as super articulate and lovely as she was.
xoxo.
hussy red! You're right, it was bell hooks, not Audre Lorde! I've been mixed up this whole time :)
bell hooks i just as much of a compliment! she's fierce and a *wonderful* speaker. i'm so jealous you'll get to see her give a talk. i'm just in the midst of reading her "all about love" book and it's so heartbreakingly wonderful. you'll have to let us know what it's like to mingle with her :)
ooh, fabulous! i'd love to watch before stonewall again - i saw it in college, and can't say i remember it well. and, rock the bell hooks, honey!
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