Thursday 3 May 2012

THURSDAY I'M IN LOVE - Sisters of Mercy - 'Lucretia, My Reflection'

Thursday I'm in love....a chance for me to share some of my favourite paper rounds.



Sisters of Mercy - 'Lucretia, My Reflection' (1987)

I love this song. I will always remember it from the time I had a brief flirtation with being a Goth and even that only consisted of the Sisters of Mercy and a girlfriend who wore bright red lipstick and had a penchant for spiders (that's another story). I used to do a paper round when I was 13. It was a bit of a ball ache but necessary so I could splurge my earnings down the newsagent or treat the aforementioned girlfriend to a Wimpy. More importantly, the pain was numbed by the fact that I was able to listen to the latest top 40 as I did my tour - a ritual to many my age, as we'd 'tape' it religiously every Sunday. One problem I had was a house that was on my route which was supposedly haunted. It was a dark and decrepit house, a couple of the upstairs windows were smashed and the large unchecked Leylandii towered over the path, adding to the gloom. It just looked abandoned to me but apparently, according to the kids in the area, an old man lived there, kept children's teeth in a jar and wore their ears as a memento. A bunch of bullshit I thought, 'this ain't 'Nam it's a shitty London suburb near Heathrow, what's the worse that can happen?'

Sisters of Mercy....I think they might be Goths.
So, full of bravado, armed with my Walkman and David 'kid' Jensen for company, I set off into the  unknown with my bag full of the Heathrow Villager. I remember approaching 'the house' as 'Lucretia, My Reflection' came on. I wouldn't say I was terrified but it was a little unnerving as I stood in the drive. I was transfixed, I thought it an amazing song with it's driving bassline, dramatic chorus and Andrew Eldritch's dark and menacing vocals. It was a bit of a creepy song I felt and it was all adding to the uneasy atmosphere.

I don't get paid enough for this shit I thought but I couldn't just skip the house in case 'the suits' found out and fired my ass. The track ended and was followed by a new entry for the Bee Gees comeback single 'You Win Again', but that sure as hell wasn't going to tame my fear, in fact it probably exasperated the situation. As I got to the door, the curtains twitched and a dog snarled and snatched the paper from my hand as I lifted the letter box. I nearly shat my pants as I hurdled the fence out of there, before I could say 'goths up trees'.

I found out later that it was nothing more sinister than a lonely old man and his dog, bloody kids!

Here's another of their classics from Top of the Pops and worth it just for presenter, Gary Davies' jumper.....




Sisters of Mercy - 'This Corrosion' (1987, live on ToTP)

Sisters of Mercy Official Site

Check out some more of my favourite tracks....
or listen to them here on Spotify

Related Posts

THURSDAY I'M IN LOVE - Sisters of Mercy - 'Lucretia, My Reflection'
4/ 5
Oleh

2 comments

comments
avatar
C
3 May 2012 at 21:40

Ha - what a great story! I think there must be one of those houses in every neighbourhood. (I'll probably find out that mine is it...)
I flirted briefly with goth too - http://sundriedsparrows.blogspot.co.uk/2011/05/goth-but-not-forgotten.html - that early post-punk type goth; loved the Sisters, Bauhaus et al, dressed in black lace and leather etc. It all seems too earnest, looking back now, but was undoubtedly a part of just living through that time. I still have a penchant for spiders, btw.

Reply
avatar
4 May 2012 at 06:25

Hi C, thanks for the comment. Being a Goth would have never worked for me, I was too much into my Hip Hop and had a fear of spiders. Still the things you do for love.

Reply