CCR - Down on the Corner/Norman Greenbaum - Good Looking Woman
OLD PA'S WEDNESDAY CLUB
BIG JIM
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| A PRAT! |
During 1970 I shared a flat in East Kilbride with other guys. Mostly I liked them and we all got on pretty well. There was this guy Big Jim, Big Jim for obvious reasons, he must have been six foot five if he was an inch. Jim was obnoxious and was really not a nice guy at all. He was a major disruption to what was as a harmonious existence as you could get when five young guys were living together and away from home for the first time.
He was untidy and never helped and he just thought that he had a natural right for anything he wanted, no matter how it affected others.
There are two stories I remember about Big Jim that always stick in my mind. The first one involved my friend Stan whom I have featured before. We were all out drinking one Friday night and Jim challenged Stan to a drinking contest. Now that was a very dangerous thing to do because Stan could drink with the best of them, believe me I knew.
They matched each other for some time. First a pint of heavy then a whiskey chaser. It got to the stage that things were getting silly when suddenly Big Jim's eyes rolled and I will always remember a little trickle of vomit appeared at the side of his mouth and run down his chin on to his new shirt. Then there was an explosion of vomit and Big Jim disappeared out the door and into the night.
We searched for a long time for him and eventually went home as Stan by this time was a bit worse for ware.
When we got up the next day there was still no sign of Big Jim until about mid-day he appeared. He had several bruises and had clearly pissed himself and there was a rip on his trousers from the bottom almost to the top. God only knows what happened to him as he had no idea.
Now that is what I call a result. A little lesson to you all, do not get involved in drinking competitions or you may well end up like Big Jim.
The second story is that one pay day Jim wanted to accompany Stan and I to the record shop as was our custom on pay day. He bought two albums, the first was Willie and the Poor Boys by Creedence Clearwater Revival and the other was Spirit in the Sky by Norman Greebaum. I hate to admit it but I loved both these albums and in fact the Norman Greebaum album is still in my top albums of all time. It is just a shame that every time I play anything from these albums I always remember the prat that was Big Jim.
Comments
I have to confess that, up to now, I've only heard the one song by Norman Greenbaum, this is ok though and it's always good to catch up with some classic CCR.
Great post Old Pa.