Beastie Boys - Brass Monkey/Flogging Molly - Drunken Lullabies

Wednesday Club.........Uncle Alex

My first one today!

BEASTIE BOYS - Brass Monkey (Live)


Uncle Alex was one of my father's 10 brothers and 2 sisters. Alex was an alcoholic, he died of cirrhosis of the liver, the classic alcoholics death.

When I was young I went to a place called Alness, I loved the place but it was spoiled by my Uncle Alex. When he was sober he was kind, generous and funny. All you would want and expect from an Uncle. When he was drunk, he was loud, violent and terrifying. I am sure Robert Louis Stevenson got his inspiration from someone he knew, who was an alcoholic.

My Aunt Nan asked my parents if I could go to Alness for Christmas and New Year.  I was happy as I loved the place and I usually only went in the Summer.  It did not take me too long to discover that I was only there as a buffer for my Aunt, who was terrified of Alex when he got drunk over the festive period.

It was the day before New Year when he came home from the pub and he was raving, he tried to hit my Aunt and I stood in his way. I was trembling with fear. I was only 10 or 11. He got a walking stick and hit me hard several times, I never moved or cried.  My Aunt was crying and screaming and after the 4th hit, he threw the stick down and stormed out and he was not seen until the next day.

When he returned the next day, he was sober and acted as if nothing happened. I wonder if he even remembered what he did.

I  never told my parents, in fact, I never told anybody. This is the first time I have aired the story.

My Aunt asked the following year if I would come.

No! That was it, I never went back again to stay in that house,  which held some great childhood memories. But had a dark undertone.

As a footnote, my uncle Alex fought in the Second World War and was captured by the Germans. He managed to escape the prison camp he was in with a friend. There was a brief chase, he found himself hiding in a ditch, when his friend had his head blown off. Alex was re-captured and spent the rest of the war in another prison Camp in Germany.

I think that may have made many people turn to alcoholism, but is no excuses for violence.

 

FLOGGING MOLLY - Drunken Lullabies


By Old Pa