Grey Gardens: question re: "Around the World" lyrics

[karen24]

Posted: 7/6/07 at 1:41pm

I saw Grey Gardens back in May and loved it, and I've been listening to my OBCR a lot lately. I realized that even after seeing the show and listening to "Around the World" many times, I don't quite "get" some of the lyrics. Maybe it's because I haven't seen the documentary yet? It's the part where Little Edie says:
It was mother's money
The Bouvier's.
And if mother spent it in crazy ways.
No one took care of her
Only me!
She was taken care of
Not sexually.
And if you infer that they were using her,
I will shove you under the god damn bed!

What does the reference to "mother's money...the Bouvier's" mean? Is Little Edie saying that it was her mother's money to spend as she pleased? But wasn't she a Bouvier by marriage, so it was really her husband's money?
Also--what does "She was taken care of/Not sexually" mean? I'm missing something here. I understand that Little Edie is saying she's been the one taking care of her mother all these years, but then when she says "if you infer that they were using her..."--who is "they"? Does she mean the rest of the family?
Sorry if I'm being dense!
Karen

Updated On: 7/6/07 at 01:41 PM

[logan0215]

Posted: 7/6/07 at 1:46pm

You're not being dense.

If you haven't seen the documentary, that section is a little confusing.

It was mother's money
The Bouvier's.
And if mother spent it in crazy ways.

Refers to her mother spending all of the remaining money they were left with after Mr Beale left them


No one took care of her
Only me!
She was taken care of
Not sexually.

This is a line from the documentary, but also refers to the fact that Little Edie was a constant care-taker as opposed to Mr Beale, Gould and Jerry who are temporary and "fly by night." It also comments on how her mother and father slept in separate rooms, so not even in her marriage was she "taken care of" in a sexual way.

And if you infer that they were using her,
I will shove you under the god damn bed!

This is a direct line from the documentary, the Maysles had asked about Gould and such and Big Edie went off on her usual rent. Little Edie got annoyed that they were inferring that Gould used her mother simply for her money and said "I will shove you under the goddamn bed!"

Updated On: 7/6/07 at 01:46 PM

[artscallion]

Posted: 7/6/07 at 1:51pm

She was not a Bouvier by marriage. She was born a Bouvier. She was a Beale by marriage. The only money she had came from a $300.00 a month trust/allowance from her father, Major Bouvier. It would have been much more, but as we see in the play, he disinherited her down to that amount. The only thing she got from her husband was the house. That's the reason he got a Mexican divorce; so he wouldn't have to give her alimony.

This bit of lyric is based on a compilation of some of Little Edie's irrational ranting in the documentary. It was in response to, what she thought was, a suggestion from one of the guys filming that Big Edie was being sexually satisfied by Gould and later some guy named Tom that lived with them.

[TechEverlasting]

Posted: 7/6/07 at 1:55pm

Since there are some experts available here, I'd like to ask another GG lyric question, this one from "Revolutionary Costume".

"And you can be with cousin Lee on Mr. Blackwell's list"

I get that cousin Lee is Lee Bouvier Radziwill, but who is Mr. Blackwell and what is his list?

[jrb_actor]

Posted: 7/6/07 at 1:56pm

Mr. Blackwell does the famous Worst Dressed List every year.

[bwaygal1]

Posted: 7/6/07 at 1:56pm

Okay:
here we go:
Edith WAS a Bouvier. She was a BEALE by marriage. It does get tricky, I know. (I've heard people who thought CE was playing Jackie, for pete's sake.)

When her father died, Edith probably got some of the money.

As for the being taken care of there was another man in Edith's life that doesn't come up in the musical: Tom Logan.
He was a musician. But, sticking to the musical: Edie was the one who met Edith's daily needs once she moved back in. Edith depended on her for food, etc.
THe last line you wrote is actually straight from the documentary. (And started a little flame when CE sang it on CBS.) Edie stated the obvious when she said Edith wasn't taken care of sexually: Gould was gay and therefore unable to return the feelings. Tom Logan we don't know about in the musical or anything else. Edith seems to have had a knack for picking up gay men, though.

Edie is protective of her mother, too, I think. This demonstrates that. She loved her mother despite everything that happened.

[wonderfulwizard11]

Posted: 7/6/07 at 1:57pm

Mr. Blackwell on Wikipedia

[ljay889]

Posted: 7/6/07 at 1:57pm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Blackwell

Mr. Blackwell is a fashion critic. And has a famous top ten worst dressed list.

[TechEverlasting]

Posted: 7/6/07 at 2:02pm

Thanks! This is probably a really stupid follow-up question, but is Little Edie then insulting Lee by implying that she would be on Blackwell's worst-dressed list? Was Lee Bouvier ever on that list?

[artscallion]

Posted: 7/6/07 at 2:07pm

Link below to all of Mr. Blackwell's lists. Lee appears in 1976 with the note "Did Lee's designer go down with the Titanic?"
Mr Blackwell's lists

[unckristen]

Posted: 7/6/07 at 2:09pm

He also lists the 10 best dressed -- it's just that the worst dressed gets more attention. I don't think Edie is insulting her cousin.

[artscallion]

Posted: 7/6/07 at 2:10pm

I think Edie embraced the idea of being a bohemian rebel, outside the constraints of expected fashion. Therefore, I think she might have seen being listed on Mr. Blackwells as a good thing.

[karen24]

Posted: 7/6/07 at 2:18pm

Thanks everyone; that does help a lot. And I KNEW Big Edie was a Bouvier and a Beale by marriage; I don't know how I forgot about that.
As for Mr. Blackwell, Lee R. was in fact on his list in 1976 (so I think the writers of the show must have been taking some artistic license, since doesn't the action of the show take place in the early 70s?) And Jackie made it on there as well, for that matter, in 1971: http://www.answers.com/topic/richard-blackwell

There was another line that was confusing me for a long time in "The Five Fifteen"--when Edith says "Reginaldo does our hair" and Gould says "That sounds promising!" I couldn't figure that out until I remembered that Gould was gay and so was making a little comment about hairdressers there. Correct?

[GYPSY1527]

Posted: 7/6/07 at 2:18pm

"When her father died, Edith probably got some of the money. "

When Big Edie's father died, it was documented that she was to be given none of the money and it was given to her two brothers, one of them being Jackie's father. Jackie's father actually tried to claim all of it for his two daughters as well.

[bwaygal1]

Posted: 7/6/07 at 2:20pm

As someone mentioned above, Edith got something-not much-but a little $300 a month allowance.

[best12bars]

Posted: 7/6/07 at 2:39pm

The (unseen) brothers and Jackie also helped pay some of the bills to support the Beale women.

[GYPSY1527]

Posted: 7/6/07 at 2:44pm

Good point Best. I believe in the "Beales of Grey Gardens" right after the fire scene, either Edie or Big Edie points out that the brothers (little edie's) pay the taxes on the house).

[munkustrap178]

Posted: 7/6/07 at 3:54pm

Yes. And Mr. Onassis paid for upkeep on the house, including a new roof that Edie talks about in the film.

[unckristen]

Posted: 7/6/07 at 4:06pm

I believe Jackie and Lee each sent money for repairs to the house.

[Scarywarhol]

Posted: 7/6/07 at 4:34pm

Thanks for the explainations, Logan, I wondered about that bit myself.

[jv92]

Posted: 7/6/07 at 4:36pm

These little things are why Mr. Korie's lyrics are so great. He puts so much depth into them. He's the best lyricist, I think, since Sondheim or Ebb came along.

[Rotel1026]

Posted: 7/6/07 at 11:54pm

The Mexican divorce, would that even be valid in the eyes of the law in the US? Or did Mr Beale stay in Mexico after the divorce and Edie not able to get a hold of any joint money because of that?

[SNAFU]

Posted: 7/7/07 at 12:19am

Big and Little Edie were devout Catholics. They didn't recognize the divorce whether it was legal or not. For Big Edie to have any sexual relations would be considered adultery. That is one of the reasons Little Edie goes nuts when it is suggested that Big Edie had a sexual relationship with anyone BUT Mr Beale.