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about
Ena Sharples was one of the founding cast of Coronation Street. She was considered a "working class battle axe" and has been described as looking like a "bull dog licking a thistle". In the show, she had an on-going feud with her co-character Elsie Tanner, who appears in the track as an indomitable sea leviathon called "Elesia Tannora". Ena Sharples was known for wearing rollers in her hair and wearing a hairnet. In the track, the natives of an East Pacific island dress their statues in rollers and hair nets and wear them themselves (the men too) to go out to the local discotheques and night clubs. To them, Ena is a goddess.
This track features the Bastard Balrog Bass which is part of the Mandrake Dynasty guitar collection which Ash developed during the Covid lockdowns. It also features the Baby Balrog Guitar which is has the same tuning as the larger bass, but is three octaves higher.
The opening bars of this track quote a tiny section of the Coronation Street theme tune (this is fair use, is wholly generated using my instruments and is NOT a sample lifted). In the last section of the track there are quotations of Ena Sharples dialogue from the Coronation Street show. (Once again these are for the purpose of parody and are fair use. They are spoken using my voice and are NOT samples taken from the show) In both cases, I expect there to be no issues of copyright.
Some background.
The character "Ena Sharples" was played by the actress Iris Carson, who's delivery of lines was impeccable and on a par with the performances of Anthony Hopkins. Iris also had a beautiful, classically trained singing voice. Iris was from a working class background and understood the character she played from having met authentic battle axe type characters while growing up.
She did actually travel to Australia, but the island mentioned in this piece is fictional, as is the story of the islanders worshiping Ena as their goddess.
I went to school at in Ordsall, Manchester, very close to the original "Coronation Street" which inspired the TV show. One Christmas, my class was taken to the Granada studios to have a party with the cast of the show. Ena had already left the show at that stage, but the party was wonderful and the cast were lovely.
credits
released November 16, 2023
Vocals: Ash Mandrake
Bastard Balrog Bass Guitar: Ash Mandrake
Baby Balrog Guitar: Ash Mandrake
Quotation of tiny section of Coronation Street theme and Ena Sharples dialogue does NOT make use of sampling are for the purposes of parody and are considered fair use.
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