'Hey nonny nonny no'

Reid and Brooker greet 'folks beyond the pale'

On 23 January 1998 the following greeting was added to the BtP guestbook

Illuminations (98-01-22 18:44:19)

Hello Sailors !
Krup's Last Tape
It's all up with Mr Krup
he wouldn't play the tune

Me 'n Keith are in a cyber cafe but don't know what to do except drink our butterscotch scnnapps ! (and coffee) so hello - shine on - and a hey nonny nonny no to folks beyond the pale. By the way, it's Peep the sot. Over and out.

Gary & Keith

We later learnt that Keith and Gary had met for the first time in many long months and, after five hours in a business-meeting, had gone off 'wandering in Soho' (London) in search of a cyber-café to try their luck on the world-wide web for the first time. Though 'neither of us had used those machines before' they were able to find their destination, 'Beyond the Pale', explore briefly, and leave their characteristic traces in the guestbook

Keith's admiration for Samuel Beckett may perhaps be detected in the playful allusion to Krapp's Last Tape. But any hope that the guestbook message might allude to a 'last tape' that he and Gary were working on was categorically quashed, as we note elsewhere. Conversely, Shakespeare's best known 'hey nonny nonny' is immediately followed by 'sing no more ditties', in (aptly enough!) Much Ado About Nothing (Act II scene iii).

As far as 'Peep the sot' goes, Jens and Roland have been hoping for some months to secure authoritative co-operation in revising the Reid words published on this website, and are pleased to announce that (with respect to officially-released songs) this process will shortly begin. That's not to say that it will shortly be completed, of course.