Kill Your Parents (2)

Part One of this review of Diana West's The Death of the Grown-up is coming at a later hour, (now below.) This installment is in progress.

When I'm lyin' in my bed at night
I don't wanna grow up
Nothing ever seems to turn out right
I don't wanna grow up
How do you move in a world of fog that's
always changing things
Makes wish that I could be a dog
When I see the price that you pay
I don't wanna grow up

I don't ever want to be that way
I don't wanna grow up
Seems that folks turn into things
that they never want
The only thing to live for is today…
I'm gonna put a hole in my T.V. set
I don't wanna grow up
Open up the medicine chest
I don't wanna grow up
I don't wanna have to shout it out
I don't want my hair to fall out
I don't wanna be filled with doubt
I don't wanna be a good boy scout
I don't wanna have to learn to count
I don't wanna have the biggest amount
I don't wanna grow up
Well when I see my parents fight
I don't wanna grow up
They all go out and drinkin all night
I don't wanna grow up
I'd rather stay here in my room
Nothin' out there but sad and gloom
I don't wanna live in a big old tomb on grand street
When I see the 5 oclock news
I don't wanna grow up
Comb their hair and shine their shoes
I don't wanna grow up
Stay around in my old hometown
I don't wanna put no money down
I don't wanna get a big old loan
Work them fingers to the bone
I don't wanna float on a broom
Fall in love, get married then boom
How the hell did it get here so soon
I don't wanna grow up.
Tom Waits/K. Brennan

I think it's possible that it took two people to write the lyrics above. It tells ya somethin'.

A bit of searching the Internet turns this up, for which you can thank me later:

C. Roark "tri-zeta"

(from under the floorboards and through the woods...)

Those vocals. Those lyrics. That mood. This was My first foray into Tom's world: a gift when I was 14. I haven't looked back. From the alpha (the thumping primitive drums of "Earth Died Screaming") to the omega (the howling chorus of guys and guitars finishing off "That Feel"), this CD is like nothing else on the planet. This is a macabre, twisted world: a vision entirely of Mr. and Mrs. Waits devising (Kathleen Brennan is his wife and they write together- what a team!)
http://www.amazon.com/Bone-Machine-Tom-Waits/dp/B000001DVZ

[O]riginally recorded by Tom Waits on his 1992 release "Bone Machine" later to be covered and made famous by the Ramones on their 1995 release "Adios Amigos".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Don't_Want_to_Grow_Up

"I Don't Wanna Grow Up" was the "hit" off this album, strangely enough & it's no surprise. Not only is it probably the most accessible song on BONE MACHINE, but it's truly one of Tom's best songs ever. MTV even gave the video a fair amount of airplay & the Ramones later covered it, creating one of their last great recordings.
[See amazon above.]

Meanwhile, back at the Anglican Church in Ottawa, the capitol city of Canada:

"Ven. Christine Piper spoke about a blessing her family received after her ex-husband had a sex change operation. The ceremony provided all the members with a healthy way of accepting this new version of a father and former husband."

Enough preamble, this is part two of my review of Diana West, The Death of the Grown-Up.

There will be those who don't care for this kind of book, and they might rather turn to Gay Family Values. I'll stick with West, a book that should be 'easy reading', meaning it's low on the Fogg Index, short, pithy sentences, clear and vivid examples, conversational tone, explicit and concrete argument laid out plainly. I'm finding it one of the most difficult books to read that I've encountered in years. I have to put the book down every page or so and try to catch my breath, to look around me to reorient myself in the present, in what I naively take to be the real world of normal and decent people. A few pages of West's book make me feel like I'm swimming in a sewer. This is very difficult reading. "Party with your children" leaves me feeling ill. Page after page.

I'll return with something more concrete as the day goes on. Please feel free to preempt anything good I might write later.