To make sure it becomes the stuff of legend, Samuel L. Jackson has recorded the audiobook
In a world of sequels, remakes, reboots, reinterpretation and reimaginings, in a society that celebrates the mediocrity of celebrity and thrives on judging the judgements of TV judges, we really have far too much media chaff to wade through before we even get a whiff of wheat.
The same can be said of emails, specifically Fwds: and viral links/attachments. We all get a lot of rubbish sent to us but every now and then something good arrives in our inboxes. A couple of weeks ago, an illustrator friend of mine sent me an email with an attachment. I opened it with a lacklustre click and prepared for half a minute of prosaic chaffing. But it turned out to be a pleasantly wheaty moment.
The attachment was a PDF of a new ‘children’s’ book, written by Adam Mansbach and illustrated by Ricardo Cortés. Essentially, it is a lullaby, written with a familiar, melodic lilt that is designed to be read out loud and encourage the little folk to drift away to dreamland. However there’s slightly more to it as the opening verse below demonstrates:
The cats nestle close to their kittens now.
The lambs have laid down with the sheep.
You’re cozy and warm in your bed, my dear.
Please go the f*ck to sleep.
You’ve guessed it (I hope). This book’s for the parents and definitely not for the children. Titled Go the F*ck to Sleep, the book has been a huge success already. And now, just to make sure it becomes the stuff of legend, Samuel L. Jackson has recorded the audiobook. Speaking as someone who was rocked by the release of the uber cool (although not sure if it’s so uber cool to say uber cool these days) script and direction of Pulp Fiction as a teenager and has now fallen into the world/trap of marriage and babies, I feel I am the target audience for the book and Mr Jackson’s eloquent cursing. I can’t sing, I can’t dance or organise a decent dinner party, but I’m quite good at reading and listening.
Quite frankly, I love it. But what I love more than anything is the ethos behind it. I doubt it is a truly original idea but it’s different enough and clever enough to put a genuine smile on my face. It’s not only a bit of a chuckle, it will be a cathartic remedy for anyone who has suffered, or is suffering, the almighty challenge of getting a nipper to sleep through the night. Equally well, I’m looking forward to the inevitable backlash, which has already begun, from parents who will regard this as a crude lament on childhood and protesting, in the words of Father Ted, ‘down with this sort of thing’.
A knitting group of neo-Mary Whitehouses are no doubt forming an army to march on the Internet as we speak. They will probably berate its presence on the planet and clamour for more child-friendly products such as another series of Dancing with Babies or Come Dine With What My Kids Cooked. But for now, I’m celebrating this welcome break from banality and eagerly keeping my eyes and ears prepped for the minions of ‘outraged from Tunbridge Wells’.