Ska-d for Life

This is a companion piece to a similarly-themed article on Pete’s site which, all things being equal, should be published at roughly the same time.

When Pete said this week’s playlist was Ska, I thought that meant Madness and suchlike cheery kinda stuff. Thus I am not afraid to reveal my ignorance of a genre that could be described as cheerful blues. However, as the whole point of blues is to express misery, there is absolutely no point at all in Ska.

I suppose it has its place; namely, played live in a beer garden by the Danube in the afternoon when you should be working. Not that I ever enjoyed such a thing when in the vicinity of the Danube, because at the time I was usually miserable in the knowledge that a pleasant afternoon was likely to drag on into the night, probably without food, until all the money was gone. So now this music reminds me of a time when I felt obliged to try to match my companion’s drink consumption just to reduce the amount he could have; that is, I was a sour nagging wife who never wanted to have any fun, simply because I didn’t find it fun to drink and drink and drink until I can’t see. Once he took me to a casino with his friends and then demanded the housekeeping money from my purse. When he had lost it all, we didn’t have enough money for a taxi home, and it was 5am. I used to collect small change from where it rolled under the bed when he dropped his clothes on the floor, so I could buy food.

In conclusion, Ska sounds like cheerful blues, but is actually extremely depressing.

Next week, The Tindersticks. The book says they are mournful, or something.