Whilst in hospital I spent a little time exploring corners of the internet I don’t usually frequent. Here is some user-generated content I came across that I think powerfully illustrates the shared dislocation felt by certain populations in our late-modern era. It is this dislocation that, according to addiction theorist Bruce Alexander, can lead to substitute lifestyles such as addiction to alcohol and other drugs.
Click second image to expand to read text: worth it.
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Every time I come across ‘user generated content’, I see somebody claiming themselves to be the author of this piece of awful doggerel:
http://bit.ly/95yfVh
What I didn’t know, but recently learned, was that Peggy Seeger actually recorded a version on one of Euan McColl’s albums back in the 1980. It was somewhat arcane and outdated even then.
http://bit.ly/bvEZ7L
Though I’ve never actually heard it, I think I’d prefer the Joe Lee Kirkpatrick version:
http://www.wfmu.org/365/2003/355.shtml
And here’s three different people fighting over attribution here:
http://bit.ly/cgOLrW
Interesting stuff. I’m sure I heard the same poem read out in court by someone claiming it as their own. Can’t be sure, though.
There’s certainly a cultural pattern of depicting heroin as a feminine figure. “Lady heroin”/ “Miss heroin”/ “There She Goes” (if The La’s song is indeed about h.)