# Tim Minchin



## Chris Hobson (Nov 4, 2021)

Yesterday evening I went, along with my daughter Hannah, to see Tim Minchin at the Hull Bonus Arena. A good night was had by all, he put on an excellent show. Interestingly there was a sign language guy to the side of the stage. Tim introduced him at one point and it appeared that the hearing impaired people had been placed in the corner where they had a good view of him. It started out as a one man show with just TM and a Yamaha grand piano. About a third of the way in, a curtain was whisked away to reveal a live band and big screen. The band was made up of multi talented folk who mostly played several different instruments and sang vocal harmonies as well. The show contained old and new songs with jokes and chat in between. Being a bit of a fan I knew most of the songs. He didn't do Rock and Roll Nerd, which is one of my favourites but I can see why he would be tired of singing it by now. Slightly annoyed by audience members who don't take their seats on time or start the night in the bar and then have to wander to the bogs during the show. One guy mis timed his return and got a ragging for it. Definitely recommended, lots of stars.


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## Chris Hobson (Nov 5, 2021)

I think that I missed a trick when I didn't watch the sign language guy during the song Thank You God. The song is very wordy and even though I don't know sign language I think that a real time translation would have been really impressive. How wordy is the song?

I have an apology to make
I'm afraid I've made a big mistake
I turned my face away from you, Lord
I was too blind to see the light
I was too weak to feel your might
I closed my eyes, I couldn't see the truth, Lord
But then like Saul on the Damascus road
You sent a messenger to me, and so
Now, I've had the truth revealed to me
Please forgive me, all those things I said
I'll no longer betray you, Lord
How I'll pray to you instead
And I will say thank you, thank you
Thank you God
Thank you, thank you, thank you God
Thank you God for fixing the cataracts of Sam's mum
I had no idea but it's suddenly so clear now
I feel such a cynic
How could I have been so dumb?
Thank you for displaying how praying works
A particular prayer in a particular church
Thank you Sam for the chance to acknowledge this
Omnipotent ophthalmologist
Thank you God for fixing the cataracts of Sam's mum
I didn't realize that it was so simple
But you've shown a great example of just how it can be done
You only need to pray in a particular spot
To a particular version of a particular god
And if you pull that off without a hitch
He will fix one eye of one middle-class white bitch
I know in the past my outlook has been limited
I couldn't see examples of where life had been definitive
But I can admit it when the evidence is clear
As clear as Sam's mum's new cornea
(That's extremely clear!) Extremely clear!
Thank you God for fixing the cataracts of Sam's mum
I have to admit that in the past I have been skeptical
But Sam described this miracle and I am overcome
How fitting that the sighting of a sight-based intervention
Should open my eyes to this exciting new dimension
It's like someone put an eye chart up in front me
And the top five letters say I C G O D
Thank you, Sam, for showing how my point of view has been so flawed
I assumed there was no God at all but now I see that's cynical
It's simply that his interests aren't particularly broad
He's largely undiverted by the starving masses
Or the inequality between the various classes
He gives out strictly limited passes
Redeemable for surgery or two-for-one glasses
I feel so shocking for historically mocking
Your interests are clearly confined to the ocular
I bet given the chance, you'd eschew the divine
And start a little business selling contacts online
Fuck me Sam, what are the odds that of history's endless parade of gods
That the God you just happened to be taught to believe in is the actual one
And he digs on healing
But not the AIDS-ridden African nations, or the victims of the plague
Or the flood-addled Asians, but healthy, privately-insured Australians
With common and curable corneal degeneration
This story of Sam's has but a single explanation
A surgical God who digs on magic operations
Now, it couldn't be mistaken attribution of causation
Born of a coincidental temporal correlation
Exacerbated by a general lack of education
Vis-a-vis physics in Sam's parish congregation
And it couldn't be that all these pious people are liars
It couldn't be an artifact of confirmation bias
A product of groupthink, a mass delusion
An Emperor's New Clothes-style fear of exclusion
No, it's more likely to be an all-powerful magician
Than the misdiagnosis of the initial condition
Or one of many cases of spontaneous remission
Or a record-keeping glitch by the local physician
No, the only explanation for Sam's mum's seeing
They prayed to an all-knowing super-being
To the omnipresent master of the universe
And he quite liked the sound of their muttered verse
So for a bit of a change from his usual stunt
Of being a sexist, racist, murderous cunt
He popped down to Dandenong and just like that
Used his powers to heal the cataracts of Sam's mum
Of Sam's mum
Thank you God for fixing the cataracts of Sam's mum
I didn't realize that it was such a simple thing
I feel such a dingaling, what ignorant scum
Now I understand how prayer can work
A particular prayer in a particular church
In a particular style with a particular stuff
And for particular problems that aren't particularly tough
And for particular people, preferably white
For particular senses, preferably sight
A particular prayer in a particular spot
To a particular version of a particular god
And if you get that right, He just might
Take a break from giving babies malaria
And pop down to your local area to fix the cataracts of your mum.

That is how wordy.


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## rebrascora (Nov 5, 2021)

Well I very nearly gave up less than half way through being a bit of an atheist and then for some reason I persevered. Gave me a bit of a snigger but on the whole not really my type of lyric. You are right though, that would be a tough job for the signer!!


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## Chris Hobson (Nov 6, 2021)

It makes me think of Gilbert and Sullivan a bit. I am the very model of a modern major general.


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## mikeyB (Nov 8, 2021)

Yes, WS Gilbert had a similar facility with words, and sarcasm. Tim Minchin wrote the lyrics for the award winning musical Matilda


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