A great take on The Man in a Purple Dress from E.L. Wisty

Click on the title to go to the originating page....

"Pete played two new songs which he had written recently. The first one was called 2000 Years. It was partly inspired by watching that Mel Gibson film The Passion of the Christ, partly by reading a book on the life of Mohammed. The song is about waiting for Jesus for 2000 years: people have been waiting for a man with a beard but actually missed the fact that Mohammed was the one, and probably have missed other returns. Pete played it on mandola, which is basically a mandolin but the difference between mandolin and mandola is the same as the difference between violin and viola. I hadn't even known that such an instrument exists but it sounded brilliant. The second song was called The Man in a Purple Dress, also came out of watching the film. Pete said he came out of it really angry about the pomposity of those in authority, those who sit in judgement, and the song is about how these figures so often wear absolutely ridiculous outfits: the pope, the Russian orthodox priests, the judges in the British judicial system...It was very interesting. Written in a folk song tuning, it sounded like a protest folk song of the early 60s, kind of like early Dylan. Surprisingly angry too: the lyrics started 'how dare you...' and he sang them almost like spitting the words out. It's a powerful comment. It's true that the uniforms, the outfits, are like costumes or masks, so when the figures of authority dress in these outfits they dress in the authority. And this often puts them out of touch with the ordinary people (those without power), precisely in terms of approach and attitudes."