My 'freak' song is going to be about Mabel Stark, entirely based on a fantastic fictitious reimagining of her life by Robert Hough (which I heartily recommend - am currently reading it for the second time). She was a real and very famous tiger trainer and performer in her day - peak of fame in the 1920s, though she continued working with tigers til the 60s. What makes her freakish (and I guess this is entirely the supposition of Hough) is that she got a little too 'friendly' with her tigers - well one in particular that she raised from a tiny cub. And that she almost died numerous times from maulings of various grumpy tigers during her act - literally ripped to shreds on occasions. The cub she raised also became jealous of one of her husbands (she had 4 or 5 in all) and in all likelihood killed him. So my challenge is writing something that conjures up the themes of maternal/sexual love, violence and jealousy... It's all sounding a little Ancient Greek to me.
