Beauty Has Laid Siege to the City
Writer - Tennant/Lowe
First released - 2024
Original album - (none)
Producer - James Ford (?)
Subsequent albums - (none)
Other releases - bonus track with CD 1 of the "New London Boy"/"All the Young Dudes" double-A single
The title of this song, released as a bonus track on one of the CDs for the double-A single "New London Boy"/"All the Young Dudes," originated with the late Victorian English illustrator and author Aubrey Beardsley (1872-1898), who in his brief life became a major figure in the aesthetic movement of which Oscar Wilde was also a part. His illustrations, usually in black and white, proved extremely influential in the burgeoning Art Nouveau style. Impressed by the highly artistic advertising posters he observed while visiting Paris in 1892, upon his return to London he submitted an article for the July 1894 issue of The New Review in which he predicted that "London will soon be resplendent with advertisements" of this type. He then added, "Beauty has laid siege to the city, and telegraph wires shall no longer be the sole joy of our aesthetic perceptions."
While the Boys derived the title from Beardsley, their song has nothing to do with late Victorian advertising posters. Following a lengthy atmospheric introduction reminiscent of the opening of Gat Décor’s 1992 progressive house classic "Passion" (not to be confused with the Bobby 'O'/Flirts track of the same name, which was highly influential on the early PSB sound), it ruminates on urbanites repeatedly referred to as "The beautiful," occupying and dominating the city after dark. While we might include those of all sexual persuasions among these "beautiful people," you don't have to be Alan Turing to discern that "beauty" and "the beautiful" seem specifically to be code-words for the LGBTQ+ community. Neil drops all sorts of clues, including references to "the stubbornness of spinsters" (perhaps a quaint, quasi-Victorian way of referring to defiant lesbian activists), being "all of a flutter," having "nostalgia for the gutter" (a perverse fascination for a time when homosexual activity was more widely considered contemptible?), "boys that dive from Chelsea Pier," "an army of lovers," and, most tellingly of all:
The ugly are fighting back
Passing laws enforced by bores
Beauty is under attack
Nevertheless, "beauty" continues to flourish and spread ("their numbers have increased"), despite opposition and disparagement ("Some say it isn't worth tuppence").
In short, it's a statement of support, even defiance, in the face of continued opposition.
Annotations
- "One finds them in the park wandering by the roses, often after dark" – A line that strongly suggests gay cruising. Coming in the song's opening verse, it sets the tone for everything that follows.
- "In Knightsbridge they're all of a flutter" – Knightsbridge is an affluent retail and residential district of London. Its name dates back to Old English Cnihtebricge, meaning "bridge of the young men." Although it had previously been infamous as a dangerous area known for its high crime rate, by the Victorian Era it had been transformed into a fashionable district with many popular retail establishments. An exhibition of Japanese culture at Humphreys' Hall in Knightsbridge provided the inspiration for Gilbert and Sullivan's The Mikado, which even includes a comic reference to Knightsbridge. In the context of the song, the reference to people there being "all of a flutter" seems to carry perhaps stereotypically "gay" connotations.
- "nostalgia for the gutter" – A line that makes me think of a cartoon that I saw circa 1980 in the U.S. gay magazine The Advocate that showed two young men under the sheet in bed, obviously post-sex, looking wistfully at the ceiling, with one of them sighing, "It was more fun when it was unnatural." Invoking the famous Oscar Wilde line (from Lady Windemere's Fan), "We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars," it also vaguely suggests Wilde's quote (from De Profundis), "It was like feasting with panthers; the danger was half the excitement." In other words, some gay people strangely feel that something has been "lost" in the wake of their greater acceptance in modern culture.
- "The Boys that dive from Chelsea Pier" – A slightly ambiguous reference, most likely (in the context of the song) to the fashionable Chelsea Harbour Pier on the Thames in London, but also possibly to the Chelsea Piers of Manhattan in New York City. Not only has the Chelsea Piers area of NYC long had a strong gay presence, but nearby Christopher Street pier was particularly notorious during the post-Stonewall, pre-AIDS era of the 1970s as a popular gay cruising area. In fact, activity there went well beyond mere cruising, with a great deal of nudity and public sex, especially at night.
- "Floating down Piccadilly" – Piccadilly is a world-famous street of London. The reference to "the beautiful… floating" (my emphasis), like the preceding reference to being "all of a flutter," carries (shall we say) lightweight connotations that again suggests a somewhat stereotypical view of homosexuals, or at least of a certain type of homosexual. The song contains several such allusions to lightweight things, such as roses and scents, which bespeaks of the aesthetics of beauty. Certain stretches of Piccadilly are also apparently notorious for gay cruising and "rent boy" pickups.
- "An army of lovers invades" – Another barely veiled gay reference. The phrase "army of lovers" has been used since ancient times (originating with Plato's Symposium) to refer to the Sacred Band of Thebes, an elite military battalion of 150 male couples who were long undefeated in battle until they were wiped out in 338 BC by Phillip II of Macedon, the father of Alexander the Great. The theory behind such a band of warriors is that male lovers would fight to the death rather than show cowardice in the presence of their beloved; they would both inspire and protect each other. Plato suggested that such an army could conquer the world. Of course, the Swedish dance-pop band Army of Lovers, including bisexual Alexander Bard and gay Jean-Pierre Barda, and best known for their 1992 hit "Crucified," took it as their name.
- "Some say it isn't worth tuppence" – The word tuppence is a traditional variant in British English of "twopence," a coin worth two pennies. So to say something "isn't worth tuppence" is to suggest that it's of little if any value. In the context of the song, it expresses a dismissive attitude held by some (the "ugly") toward "the beautiful" (that is, LGBTQ+ people). Neil's rhyming of "tuppence" with "comeuppance" is both wildly awkward and just as wildly ingenious.
List cross-references
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