Soul Music foreshadowing in Mort

 

From Mort, some foreshadowing and descriptions

"In short, Mort was one of those people who are more dangerous than a bag full of rattlesnakes. He was determined to discover the underlying logic behind the universe."

"YES? “Well, I think it was because you were up to your knees in horseshit, to tell you the truth.”

Death looked at him for a long time. Mort shifted uneasily from one foot to the other.

ABSOLUTELY CORRECT, snapped Death. CLARITY OF THOUGHT. REALISTIC APPROACH. VERY IMPORTANT IN A JOB LIKE OURS."

Ysabel :

"She had silver hair, and eyes with a pearly sheen to them, and the kind of interesting but impractical long, dress that tends to be worn by tragic heroines who clasp single roses to their bosom while gazing soulfully at the moon. Mort had never heard the phrase “Pre-Raphaelite,” which was a pity because it would have been almost the right description. However, such girls tend to be on the translucent, consumptive side, whereas this one had a slight suggestion of too many chocolates."

Susan :

"She was wearing a black lace dress of the sort worn by healthy young women who want to look consumptive, and had a raven sitting on her shoulder."

“GENERALLY I’M ONLY EXPECTED TO MAKE AN ACTUAL APPEARANCE ON SPECIAL OCCASIONS.

“Like a king, I suppose,” said Mort. “I mean, a king is reigning even when he’s doing something else or asleep, even. Is that it, sir?”

TP He was into folk and the big debate going around for ages was what he refers to directly (no allusion or hint even,  whether you should get paid for making music and whether you should get paid a living wage. I suppose there's a remote link there. I think it's fair to say that there was some considerable heated debate between the Musicians Union and all sorts of performers. Got nasty at times.  I can see both sides of it. He puts it very fairly. Glod wants to make a living, Cliff would like some luxuries including a heart shaped quarry, and Imp/Bud thinks music should be free. TP then shows his bias in that the Musicians Union want more control and are too expensive so have become a mafia (a very folk attitude). The point was they should have been able to negotiate on behalf of musicians to get fairer pay and wanted musicians to contribute properly to give them the welly. In fact the pro musicians union argument is that the band clearly can't negotiate for themselves and if clete and all had been less precious about themselves they'd have had some sort of entry scheme for non established musicians.

Some of the "pure"  folk  keenies said music belongs to the people and musicians should do it for the simple privilege. That's the Druid bit coming through.    

I agree with you about overuse of the phrase music with rocks in but I think it's a reference to his father who's in rocks and offered him a steady job doing it. Same as he overdoes Susan's stupids though the echo ones in other characters are just the right balance (I love it when DEATH echos her about looking down and seeing ants, and Ponder uses ants, TP's 3s again).  He's quite a 'cartoon comic' isn't he at times. Imp is rejecting druidic rock abuse, as lias sees it and looking at artistic use of rocks instead. Well, TP is messing around with words and ideas again anyway. I think this is the subtle side of word play your friend was looking for but it gets overshadowed by the flagrant cringe stuff. Will you tell him about Binky in the clouds after the first death - leaving a wake. (do you have 'wakes' where relatives gather after a death? and a boat leaves a wake)

Good point orpheus,  they perform in The Cavern club,  second gig,  same as the Beatles did when they got back to the uk.  

Orpheus,  again TP would go by Brewer not originals like you.  Explains why S as D falls for him.  Tho does say he's attractive in a dark curly headed kind of way,  ie very welsh like my dad or  Richard Burton or Tom Jones. 

lot of similarities with the Buddy Holly film too.