Portrait of a Sleeping Man
£500.00 Sold Out
‘Portrait of a Sleeping Man’, 2023
100 x 100 cm
Acrylic and oil paint on canvas
This painting was inspired by the lyrics and music of The Waterboys’ song ‘Old England’, in which Mike Scott the singer and songwriter personifies the British Empire and critiques it’s role in modern times.
“Old England is Dying comes from the Waterboys’ 1985 album This Is The Sea. The song takes its title from a line in James Joyce’s Ulysses, and the phrase “You’re asking what makes me sigh now / What it is makes me shudder so” comes from the WB Yeats poem Mad as The Mist and Snow. Mike Scott wrote Old England is Dying in protest at Margaret Thatcher’s social and economic policies, which Scott saw as feeding a growing sense of despair among England’s young and poor, and giving rise to increasing levels of substance abuse and heroin addiction.” - Donal O’Keefe
Man looks up on a yellow sky
And the rain turns to rust in his eye
Rumours of his health are lies
Old England is dying
His clothes are a dirty shade of blue
And his ancient shoes worn through
He steals from me and he lies to you
Old England is dying
Still he sings an empire song
Still he keeps his navy strong
And he sticks his flag where it I'll belongs
Old England is dying
You're asking what makes me sigh now
What it is makes me shudder so well
I just freeze in the wind and I'm
Numb from the pummelin of the snow
That falls from high in yellow skies
Down on where the well loved flag of
England flies
Where homes are warm and mothers sigh
Where comedians laugh and babies cry
Where criminals are televised politicians
Fraternize
Journalists are dignified and everyone is
Civilized
And children stare with Heroin eyes
Old England!
Evening has fallen
The swans are singing
The last of sunday's bells is ringing
The wind in the trees is sighing
And old England is dying
- Mike Scott
Exhibited at the Take Courage Gallery, January 2023
