If Paul McCartney had known the rat race today, Penny Lane, would he still composed his famous ballad, nostalgic sharing memories of his childhood in Liverpool? Would he have told the same story of this barber, who collects photos of all those he has encountered? And the banker who never puts a raincoat while it’s pouring rain, or the fireman who spends his time cleaning his truck with the glowing?
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“Penny Lane stays in my ears and in my eyes/There beneath the blue skies of the suburbs/I sit and I step back and” sang naively ex-Beatles in 1967 in the famous song from the album Magical Mystery Tour. It is perhaps this decline which could well need in this moment all those who want to re-christen the name of this road to the south of Liverpool, because it would be related to James Penny, the owner of a slave ship out of the Eighteenth century.
“Penny Lane stays in my ears and in my eyes/There beneath the blue skies of the suburbs/I sit down and I take a step back” sang naively Paul McCartney in 1967 … If he knew… AFP.
So, four street signs have been painted over to the bomb and the term “racist” has been inscribed on the wall above one of them. They were cleaned on Friday. These degradations occur at the time when the movement of protest against the references to the colonial legacy swells in the United Kingdom, in the wake of the outrage the world caused by the death of George Floyd, who was killed by a white policeman in the United States.
The controversy raging these last few days in Liverpool, but according to its mayor, Joe Anderson, there is no evidence that the street has been so named to make reference to the merchant of slaves James Penny. According to a spokesman for the international slavery museum of Liverpool, the debate exists, “but the evidence is not at all conclusive.” A local elected representative, Richard Hemp, ” says that the name of the slave to be written Penney, and that this street has existed “for more than 500 years, before Penney, before slavery.” According to him, “it has nothing to see.”
The mayor of Liverpool so will refuse tooth and nail to change the name of the street Penny Lane, even after being made aware of these allegations. In the Daily Mail , Joe Anderson said that there was now “no evidence” supporting the assertion that the Penny Lane made famous by the Beatles ‘ road is related to James Penny, this merchant and anti-abolitionist who acquired his wealth by being pro-slavery.