Fortunate enough to escape the trend of studying this book at GCSE, it wasn't until I was doing my undergraduate degree that I first read Steinbeck's offering. I'd heard the tired moaning about Curley's wife's choice of dress, akin to the whole "the curtains are blue, this means sadness" trope. I was aware that the majority of people my age had INCREDIBLY negative feelings about the book. My own brother destroyed the book after passing his exam. But this text broke me in a way that only great art can.
I finished the book for the first time sat in my brother's room, a borrowed space, only for my mum to discover me sobbing a moment later. The second time, my tears appeared in the garden, the sun bearing down as if to mimic the world I had just closed. Neither mourning felt adequately private, neither one final.
Of course, the central tragedy of this book comes at the end. But the death of Lenny wasn't the only part of the text that had a great impact on me. Candy's dog is another victim of a world where those who don't fit in are removed. Where nuisance overrides compassion. Where convenience outweighs conscience. And the number of parallels I see with our world is sickening.
This image of the dead dog, the gunshot ringing out whilst Candy simply turns over in his bed, haunted me. And, returning to the normality of life, after each reading I found these images intertwined with the mundane, nestled into the celebratory, abhorrently inappropriate in their apparition. Against this background, it was a simple conversation at a party about dogs that sparked the lyrical basis of this song.
When the music stops, it stops good
And they're all outside in the wood
I wrote a song where the dog was shot
Something I read with a moving plot
Not that I'd say that in this conversation
But it's in my head
And the dog is dead and the dog is dead
When they go upstairs I feel safe
Keep the arm's length party away
I wrote a song where I found an end
Something I read borrowed from a friend
Not that I'd say that in this conversation
But it's in my head
And this dog is dead and this dog is dead
I know someone makes me feel good
Littered affectations of his manhood
[Chorus]
We're talking about dogs - and I don't mind
But there's a better way to spend your time on a Sunday
With drinks in hand
And a man with money and a plan
Who knows that one day
He'll succeed his dad
Get a big family house on a big family plot of land
And I stand there and I'm drawing a blank on a reply
Replaying images of dogs who get shot and die
[Chorus]
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