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Life’s stories are always prone to disruption and digression, thwarting the neat storybook narrative we love so much.Almost all of our stories follow the same basic pattern: beginning, middle, end: exposition, action and climax. It’s a neat and tidy way of telling a story. But life’s not like that, is it? Life is not neat and tidy, it doesn’t obey the rules. Life’s stories—like the stories told here in But, personal and impersonal, historical and contemporary—are punctuated by disruption, derailment, and digression.
Stories where the good guys lose. Stories where the bad girls win. Stories that just stop in the middle. Stories that fizzle out or simply never get going. Stories that don’t make sense. Stories that start where they should end and end where they start. Stories that go round in a cyclical loop, forever. Unfinished stories. Unstarted stories. Stories that stutter and mumble, that cough and splutter.
That’s what we have here in this book: real stories, that do all of the above. That’s why this book is called But. Because the but is there to disrupt the easy normality of the way we tell our stories. This book is a collection of stories about real lives, real people, and real life. Stuttering, wayward, disjointed, funny, ridiculous, and unplanned.
List of contents
Introduction
Disrupters 1 – Welfare State
Lines
The Iranian Wedding Pianist
Adrian Henri's Funeral
Art, Yachts and Crayons
The Decisive Moment
Ziggy Visits Sabden
Peru
Verdun
Perfect Story Structure
Disrupters 2 – Andy Roberts
Jah Wobble, Davey Graham and Hoover
Dorothy Wordsworth's Socks
Leeds Leeds Leeds
Money Money Money
Motivational Sports Quotes
Likely Lads
Writing
On The Road
Two Blackbirds
Disrupters 3 – Dick & Louise
Hmmm,Talking to Danbert
An Activist's First Duty is to have Fun
So It Goes
Comic Sans Walks Into a Bar
Upside-Down
On The Bus
Lieteller
What The Folk?
Disrupters 4 – Crass
Gimme Some Truth
Marginalia
Pissing It Down
Shhh
The Guitar
Disrupters 5 – Lou & Alice
But I Digress
From A to
Liminal Space A
Liminal Space
Liminal Space B
B
Storyboard
When Two Lads Meet
Some Words You Can Use Instead of But
4'33"
These Hills Are –
Wonder
With Hidden Noise
Disrupters 6 – Casey Orr
Inger and the Lucky Dog
Copyright Notice
The Devil's Interval
The Good Lord's Resolve
Hollywood Ageing Cream
Hope
Good Idea, Bad Idea
Disrupters 7 – Rod Dixon
Making It Up As You Go Along
That's My Story and I'm Sticking to it
A Lovely Mess
A Man Walks Into A Library
Weather Events
Epilogue
About the author
Boff Whalley is one of the founding members of the anarchopunk band Chumbawamba. In more recent years he has been a playwright and the founder of Commoners Choir, which combines political activism with singing. He is the author of four books, including Run Wild, about his experiences as a fell runner. He lives in Leeds, UK.
Summary
Life’s stories are always prone to disruption and digression, thwarting the neat storybook narrative we love so much.
Almost all of our stories follow the same basic pattern: beginning, middle, end: exposition, action and climax. It’s a neat and tidy way of telling a story. But life’s not like that, is it? Life is not neat and tidy, it doesn’t obey the rules. Life’s stories—like the stories told here in But, personal and impersonal, historical and contemporary—are punctuated by disruption, derailment, and digression.
Stories where the good guys lose. Stories where the bad girls win. Stories that just stop in the middle. Stories that fizzle out or simply never get going. Stories that don’t make sense. Stories that start where they should end and end where they start. Stories that go round in a cyclical loop, forever. Unfinished stories. Unstarted stories. Stories that stutter and mumble, that cough and splutter.
That’s what we have here in this book: real stories, that do all of the above. That’s why this book is called But. Because the but is there to disrupt the easy normality of the way we tell our stories. This book is a collection of stories about real lives, real people, and real life. Stuttering, wayward, disjointed, funny, ridiculous, and unplanned.
