- Paperback: 608 pages
- Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd; Reprint edition (27 July 2000)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0141390018
- ISBN-13: 978-0141390017
- Product Dimensions: 21.1 x 13.5 x 4.6 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 541,217 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
Owning Up: The Trilogy
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More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
George Melly's three autobiographical memoirs - "Scouse Mouse", "Rum, Bum and Concertina" and "Owning Up" in one volume for the first time. An account of the author's life from childhood in middle-class Liverpool in the thirties, through national service in the navy as an ordinary seaman to his emergence as a connoisseur of surrealist art and his career as a jazz singer.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
18 of 18 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Wit, raconteur, art connoisseur, surrealist, lascivious jazzman, sexual athlete and wearer of some of the most dangerous suits in Britain, Melly's autobiography is every bit as provocative and bizarre as the man himself.
Written in reverse order but rearranged into chronological order in this edition, it's best to tackle the volumes that way round.
Scouse Mouse covers George's upper-middle-class childhood in Liverpool between the wars. This is a fascinating account of his family, the arts scene in Liverpool, and of a city and lifestyle now almost completely vanished; there are plenty of laughs along the way too.
Rum, Bum and Concertina describes Melly's spell in the Royal Navy, his burgeoning sexuality, and his contact and involvement with the London art world, in particular the Surrealists. Probably the weakest of the three, but again a fascinating portrait of two very different aspects of his life.
Owning Up sees George falling victim to the dreaded curse of Jazz, describing in scabrous, lip-smacking and often highly self-deprecating detail his torrid days with Mick Mulligan's band. At the end of this book he decides to forsake the jazz life for writing and broadcasting...
...but of course an afterword describes his subsequent jazz career with John Chilton ;)
George is a national treasure; his books are warm, acerbic, waspish, astonishingly perceptive and almost infinitely readable. A real treat.
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Owning Up remains the true highpoint for me with its loving evocation of a world that was already vanishing when George wrote it back in the early 60's. To anyone who still thinks the 50's were stuffy and conformist in Britain, such as Daily Mail readers for example, this book will provide the necessary corrective. The only difference with that decade and the 60's was that suddenly everyone was aware of the hedonism going on underneath the surface. Even if you're not a jazz fan, the book will rivet you with its graphic descriptions of Melly and partner in crime Mick Mulligan cutting a swathe through late night drinking clubs, provincial dance halls in such glamorous locations as Grimsby and Boston, (Birmingham's reputation never recovered from the battering George gave it in this volume) and scrubbers - always scrubbers! Is there something in the female psyche that pre-programs them to offer themselves sexually to otherwise physically-unappetising musicians? Whatever, generations of spotty adolescents in rock bands who wish to discover if the best form of willy-warmer is a supermodel's mouth are eternally grateful! Rum, Bum and Concertina shocked me when I first read it back in the 70's but remains an intriguing picture of George - a round peg in a square hole if ever there was one - somehow finding time to fit in National Service in the navy whilst attending art galleries, anarchists meetings, and homosexual orgies. There's even a guest appearance by the great Louis Armstrong - the man who ignited George's mania for jazz in the first place. Buy it. When they made George they threw away the mould - and clean forgot how to sculpt another one.
15 of 16 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Why has nobody reviewed this? Is it because Melly is perceived as a frivolous figure? Or is it, more likely, the silly titles of the first two vols (actually the last two published)? Anyway, it is pure joy, and not in a frivolous, moon's-a-balloon sense but as fascinating social history (like James Kirkup's 4 volumes of memoirs, unhappily not yet gathered together). And you don't need to (a) like jazz (b) think George can sing!
Most Recent Customer Reviews
'chutzpah'
George Melly was outragious ,vulgar,hilarious & witty he had a great appetite for life & this book follows the exploits of this larger than life character . Read more
Published 8 months ago by D. S. Sample
Fabulous writing
George Melly has an amazing memory for detail and interiors as well as a rollicking wit and enjoyment of life. I wish I could write like him. Read thse books years ago. Read more
Published 14 months ago by sue law
A good read on paper, less so on Kindle
George Melly's accounts of three phases of his own life are charming, humorous and fascinating. However, the transfer to Kindle format is less than wholly successful. Read more
Published 15 months ago by Henry B
Good time George, sadly missed
I read the original "Owning up" when it was first published in paperback in the early 70s and even though I'm not a jazz fan I thought that it was an absolutely wonderful book, and... Read more
Published 21 months ago by G. E. Harrison
Very good - enjoyable!
Thoroughly enjoyable book to read...... unfortunately, its made me titter out loud on the train whilst reading!!
Published on 5 April 2010 by LauraJane
Hilarious
This is a weighty tome incorporating all three of Melly's autobiographies from 1965 onwards. It is a wonderful book, beautifully written, with flashes of humour and perception in... Read more
Published on 28 Aug 2008 by Thomas N. Orchard
Best of British Eccentricity
I read George Melly's three autobiographies more than twenty years ago around the time of the Good Time George series on BBC 2 and his channel 4 quiz programme Gallery (where he... Read more
Published on 17 July 2007 by miss waspy
Good time George shares all
The first of the trilogies in this collection is especially good and evocative of the times (pre war Liverpool). Read more
Published on 2 Mar 2004 by Mr. K. B. Pell Pell
best biography i have read
This is the funniest ,most honest biography i have ever read,George has that rare ability to paint a picture with the minium of words and is not afraid to show his own... Read more
Published on 13 July 2003 by Roy Clarke
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