Gaffa Tape?

[nvbaren@bio.vu.nl (Nico van Baren)]

...to add my (somewhat belated) two cents to the GAFFA thread...
While re-reading the Peter Gabriel biography by Spencer Bright (1989), I
stumbled on the following bit, in which singer Tom Robinson tells what
happened when Hammersmith Odeon in London was double-booked for both him
and Peter:

'Gabriel and Robinson agreed to meet to see of there was any common ground
for a joint concert. Robinson took the train to Bath. "This very shy
individual met me at the station in his car and drove me through the
streets of Bath, off to the little cottage where he lived at the time. I
was very struck by a children's swing which was in the garden, which was
stuck together by gaffa tape. Gaffa is used by roadies to stick everything
together on stage, it was nice to see it extended to the children's swing
as well."'

Well, what does this prove? As far as I can see, nothing whatsoever. It
proves that at least one author used the spelling "gaffa" (without
capitalisation), as opposed to "gaffer's" referring to the tape. However,
since Spencer Bright shows himself in this same book to be very sympathetic
towards KaTe, it is quite possible that he got his spelling from the song,
interpreting KaTe's song as referring to the tape.

Myself, I have always been more inclined to read Gaffa as a reference to
the biblical Jaffa (or Joppa, as it is spelt in some translations). There
is a story (Acts 9) in which a woman named Tabitha, who was the benefactor
of the entire community of Jaffa, gets ill and dies. The apostle Peter
brings here back to life again. It is interesting to interpret the song as
a description of the experience of 'death'; I personally don't think any of
this was in KaTe's mind when she wrote the lyrics (well, at least not
consciously), but this is one of the 'meanings' I hear in the song.

Well, that's it, more or less; back to lurk-mode

Nico

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*  Nico van Baren                                nvbaren@bio.vu.nl  *
*      ...our experiment in sound was nearly ready to begin...      *
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