Frans Hals

Loads of portraits by the Dutch master, accompanied, appropriately, by the song Frans Hals, by McCarthy. All photos taken from Olga's Gallery - http://www.abcgallery.com/H/hals/hals.html

They calculate how much it takes to starve the rat
And send it out to me
Sleeping in the trap
Begrudging everything
They're keen to deal with me
So yesterday early this lad informed me

These are deadly days
They've stopped your money
There's no more money
We've heard you paint
You're making money
I said you're joking

The rich are out to get me
They want to see me hung drawn and quartered
You bastards gave me peat
And I will paint you drunk
It's not much to do
It's all I can do
But one day soon
The poor will deal with you

Make your will out mate
They know your names and they know your faces
Make your will out mate
They know your names and they know your faces
Really deal with you
They'll really deal with you

Category:

Education

Tags:

• Frans
• Hals
• McCarthy
• Tim
• Gane
• Malcolm
• Eden
• Olga's
• Gallery

[vegetubleman]

@MrGutley Thanks for the comment. I can't personally see what you mean in the portraits I've used. Some look a bit po-faced, yes, but hey! It's not easy being a Protestant LOL. And the song is a CLASSIC!!!

[vegetubleman]

That's great @Nazimova - another piece in the jigsaw!

[vegetubleman]

Glad you liked it, BPC.

[vegetubleman]

Thanks, meesterschilders. I had no idea there was so much art on Youtube - impressive!

[vegetubleman]

Many thanks to inshreds66 for supplying the lyrics.

[vegetubleman]

It's certainly had more visits than I expected. I've still got no idea what he's singing about!

[inshreds66]

This song is a work of art too. McCarthy genius.

[Rich27014]

One of the 80s finest bands, hugely underrated, but lyrically and musically outstanding.

[TheNeworder1]

What a great lost song, just made into the Peel festive 50 in the late 1980's, probably 1987?

[MrGutley]

@vegetubleman I get the impression that the artist believes he has been mistreated or ripped off by his wealthy clients. The artist takes revenge by painting them in an unflattering way (drunk). Also by publicly identifying his wealthy clients through his paintings, the poor will know who to attack when the proletarian revolution happens. Its still not a very good song though. McCarthy weren't a patch on Stereolab.

[LuckyST]

where can one buy the albums?

[nazimova1981]

@vegetubleman - Apparently the lyrics were inspired by the passage(s) on Frans Hals in John Berger's 'Ways of Seeing'. I've not got round to that yet, but keep meaning as this is one of my very favourite songs and I really want to understand it!

[BPCpresents]

Wonderful!

[meesterschilders]

placed into my playlist of Frans Hals, thanks