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| Conquering the Champs Elysees |
I have been reading a boatload of Betty Neels this past week and came across this line:
…she walked as though she intended to conquer
the world…
This statement has become my motto for the year.
I may have to embroider it on a pillow or something.
Anywho...
I thought it might be fun for us to share some of our favorite Neels-isms - and let the other Bettys try and guess which book the quote/line/saying/whatever is from.
Go!
"'Blot. Escutcheon or landscape?' 'Landscape. We haven't got an escutcheon.'"
ReplyDeleteOooh, the one with the Blot--Blow Hot, Blow Cold! Love that one BvdB.
ReplyDeleteShouldn't you be having a baby about now?
DeleteNot yet! I have 13 more weeks (which really means more as my pledges of affection have a shocking lack of concern for the conventions of punctuality). Stunningly, I have only recently stopped being constantly ill. So, like the Duchess of Cambridge, I am keeping a low profile. (Feel free to imagine me in well-tailored suit dresses with an interestingly wan countenance if this rounds out the mental image...)
DeleteI have a friend who was sick almost every morning (and some afternoons) for all nine months of her first pregnancy. Perhaps not coincidentally, that offspring is an only child...
DeleteFortunes of Francesca.
ReplyDeleteB von S
F of F for the "she walked as though she intended to conquer the world"? Hmm. Francesca does seem to have an outsize sense of entitlement at times (I think she's rude). But I suspect Betty Debbie's quote is from an Olivia-type in a MoC. I nominate Eulalia, or Dearest Eulalia.
DeleteI know which book it is but I won't tell.
ReplyDeleteBetty Who Cheated Anonymous
B von S of Betty by the Numbers is always right -- Fortunes of Francesca. I liked this one a lot, and this was my very favorite line!
ReplyDeleteB von S is mentioned in Betty by the Numbers: Touring the Rest of the World> whose author is Betty van den Betsy.
DeleteHow can I read B von S and think Betty van den Betsy.......insomnia. About a 2-week run of 2-3 hours sleep/night. Thank you for correcting the errors of my my sleep-deprived and foggy foggy foggy brain!
DeleteI am grateful for the Metro; no way would I passengers and other drivers by getting behind the wheel in this foggy state.
Betty Debbie Conquering the Champs Elysees reminded me of a song from my childhood. Last year I saw it performed by Joe Dassin in the "original French".
ReplyDeleteJoe Dassin, Les Champs-Élysées
A few other versions you might like to watch on YouTube:
girl wearing a hat whose colouring reminded me of Betty Debbie in the picture – the girl’s colouring, not the hat‘s) LYandSO
Alice Tarran Banks (who would have to play the other woman in a Neels on account of displaying ... see for yourself! The quality of this version allows full screen viewing. If you can decipher the text...)
Darren Criss – Live
Orohena Sons, (polynesian trio)
Lucie Ait-Abbas – slower version
PinguFrosted, because I like his name. Reminds me of one of our politicians.
I always thought the song sounded so very French... Ha!
And then, today, I read "(P. Delanoë • Wilsh • Deighan)" at the beginning of this 1979 version of Joe Dassin’s Les Champs-Élysées. "Wilsh? Deighan?", I thought and started investigating. The original version of the song was in English and the title Waterloo Road takes us back to The Great Betty. Ha!
Hey, and while I was "hyperventilinking" this comment I saw somebetty from France online, from "Lambesc, Provence-Alpes-Cote d'Azur".
Dear Betty Anonymous: The original version of "Aux Champs Elysées" was written by a friend of Joe Dassin, Pierre Delanoë. The tune he borrowed was English, but the words were French, written by a Frenchman (whew!). You can read more here: [url]http://www.localnomad.com/en/blog/2013/03/08/aux-champs-elysees-song-by-joe-dassin-a-french-success-story/[/url]
ReplyDeleteThank you, Betty Janet. I did not know that Joe Dassin and Pierre Delanoë were friends. Thank you for the link. I probably should have clarified about the song sounding so very French to me. What I did mean was the melody. You see, when I was little I always heard the song in German, but I thought, quite erroneously as it turned out now, that the melody was French. Not that it makes a difference to the song, it was a huge success.
Delete