Cinderella’s downfall

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Cinderella’s downfall

when I’m drinking you go from prince to king
when I’m steaming I’m shouting your name out loud
the drink I think it goes to my head
’cause drops of it fall from my eyes
hah-ah-ah-ah-ah

too many stories of Snow White and sweet Cinderella
have twisted my thinking, I’ve never been one of their kind
but you’d like me to be sweet ’n’ small
but I swear like a soldier and I’m miles too tall
ha-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah

don’t waste your time
mmm, I may be a clown
one thing I’ve found
too many like me
believe all they read on those well-meaning knees

ding-dang-dang...
ding-dong-dong...

don’t waste your time
I may be a clown
one thing I’ve found
too many like me
believe all they read on those well-meaning knees
ee-ah-ee-ah-ee-ah

last order’s ringing, I throw myself down the stairs
this night air is colder than ice, but I really don’t care
November chills can’t freeze the heart

this girl

so I’m going round your house now
gonna kick the door down
I feel like Robert Mitchum and I’m...
spinning you around

ah, spin you around
and shake you down
shake you down

ah, where d’ya live? where d’ya live now?
gonna take you and spin you round
ah-ah-ah

A wonderfully allusive playing with fairy story elements to describe a relationship. I think this is the sort of songwriting that Eddi missed in Mark E. Nevin’s practical, one might almost say prosaic, work. One guesses that this was one of the factors which led to the break-up of Fairground Attraction when Mark wanted to be serious all the time!

In addition to the named Cinderella and Snow White, there are also references to: “prince to king” (any number of tales); “drink” (Alice in Wonderland?); soothsaying (...); the “soldier” (Hans Christian Andersen in particular); “miles too tall” (Alice in Wonderland again); a reference to putting a “spell on you” and finally “spinning you around” (the merest hint of Rumplestiltskin?).

I’d really like to know where the verse about “throw[ing] myself down the stairs” and “this night air is colder than ice” and the subsequent reference to Robert Mitchum, fit in, so if you’ve any ideas please send them to me.

On a completely tangential note, if you are interested in modern re-interpretations of fairy tale elements, you can do a lot worse than track down a great novel by the comic fantasy writer Tom Holt. His Snow White and the seven samurai (London: Little Brown, 1999; paperback from Orbit, 2000, ISBN 1-85723-988-1) is an hilarious confusion of fairy stories, started by three human children who hack into the wicked witch’s computer operating system (Mirrors 3.1 of course!) and accidentally corrupt the fairy tales’ database. Highly recommended.