Musical epiphany involving Marky Mark
On Saturday night I finished the book All Souls, by Michael Patrick MacDonald. It was really good. It was also one of those books that renews my desire to go up to people who wax poetic about the American Dream, and how everyone, no matter what their circumstances, has an equal chance at pulling themselves out of whatever situation they're in and growing up to be rich and successful, and smack them in the head. The irony there, of course, is that Michael MacDonald did it. (Well, I'm not so sure about the "rich" part of that.)
What I really wanted to talk about, though, was an epiphany I had while reading the last portion of the book. In explaining why the Boston police were so eager to charge his little brother with murder, Michael referenced a case that had made big news a few years before. A middle class white man, Charles Stuart, called the police to report that a black man had carjacked him, killed his pregnant wife, and shot him as well. Eventually the police charged a black man who had been in and out of jail for various crimes in the past. And then it came out that Charles had faked the whole thing, killed his own wife, and shot himself to make it more plausible. The police had been merrily rearranging evidence and falsifying reports in order to charge the suspect. Charles ended up jumping off a bridge.
So I was reading this when suddenly - MARKY MARK AND THE FUNKY BUNCH! In 1991, Marky Mark (who grew up in Dorchester) and the Funky Bunch put out a song called "Wild Side" which borrowed liberally from the Lou Reed original. It featured four verses about corruption and violence, and the odds are good (ahem) that I owned the cassingle. I still remember most of the words. And the third verse was about this case! I'd never dreamed anything in the song was based in fact, but now I don't know what to believe! Were Annie and Ron and Tiffany real people too? Maybe the other verses are true!
Here's the verse in question:
Charles had everything going for him
A top paying job, a good life, a good wife
A baby boy on the way any day
A gentleman attitude is all he displayed
Carol was the wife he loved and adored
Her family and friends treated him like an ambassador
One night on the other side of town
A police dispatcher picked up a weird sound
Charles on the car phone asking for help
Claiming a burglar shot his wife and himself
His pregnant wife lay slumped over
Dreams corrupted and a young life over
Extensive searches throughout the projects
Put a lot of people through misery and wreck
Everyone a suspect til someone was found
Interrogated cause their skin was brown
Then there was Bennett, guilty until proven so
But soon as the case started moving slow
What do you know, sure as as sea gull is webbed toed
Charles was the culprit
The whole plot was an insurance scam
Charles and his brother came up with a plan
Kill Carol, collect a big check
Blame it on a black man, what the heck?
And just before the story was known
Charles had a feeling that his cover was blown
So he jumped offa bridge
Committed suicide
This is how it is - on the Wildside
Yeeeeeeah! Preach it, Marky Mark!
Truth!
What I really wanted to talk about, though, was an epiphany I had while reading the last portion of the book. In explaining why the Boston police were so eager to charge his little brother with murder, Michael referenced a case that had made big news a few years before. A middle class white man, Charles Stuart, called the police to report that a black man had carjacked him, killed his pregnant wife, and shot him as well. Eventually the police charged a black man who had been in and out of jail for various crimes in the past. And then it came out that Charles had faked the whole thing, killed his own wife, and shot himself to make it more plausible. The police had been merrily rearranging evidence and falsifying reports in order to charge the suspect. Charles ended up jumping off a bridge.
So I was reading this when suddenly - MARKY MARK AND THE FUNKY BUNCH! In 1991, Marky Mark (who grew up in Dorchester) and the Funky Bunch put out a song called "Wild Side" which borrowed liberally from the Lou Reed original. It featured four verses about corruption and violence, and the odds are good (ahem) that I owned the cassingle. I still remember most of the words. And the third verse was about this case! I'd never dreamed anything in the song was based in fact, but now I don't know what to believe! Were Annie and Ron and Tiffany real people too? Maybe the other verses are true!
Here's the verse in question:
Charles had everything going for him
A top paying job, a good life, a good wife
A baby boy on the way any day
A gentleman attitude is all he displayed
Carol was the wife he loved and adored
Her family and friends treated him like an ambassador
One night on the other side of town
A police dispatcher picked up a weird sound
Charles on the car phone asking for help
Claiming a burglar shot his wife and himself
His pregnant wife lay slumped over
Dreams corrupted and a young life over
Extensive searches throughout the projects
Put a lot of people through misery and wreck
Everyone a suspect til someone was found
Interrogated cause their skin was brown
Then there was Bennett, guilty until proven so
But soon as the case started moving slow
What do you know, sure as as sea gull is webbed toed
Charles was the culprit
The whole plot was an insurance scam
Charles and his brother came up with a plan
Kill Carol, collect a big check
Blame it on a black man, what the heck?
And just before the story was known
Charles had a feeling that his cover was blown
So he jumped offa bridge
Committed suicide
This is how it is - on the Wildside
Yeeeeeeah! Preach it, Marky Mark!
Truth!
Labels: books, Boston, Marky Mark
posted by BeeKay at 5:23 PM
2 Comments:
So true. So true.
Preach it Marky....and say hi to Donnie for me!
My grandmother was obsessed with the Charles Stuart case. When we went to Boston for Trish's graduation, we even had to take her past the restaurant he had owned. True-crime tourism, so very classy.
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