Torah / Bible “Genesis 11:9 attributes the Hebrew version of the name, Babel, to the verb balal, which means to confuse or confound in Hebrew. The first century Roman-Jewish author Flavius Josephus similarly explained that the name was derived from the Hebrew word Babel (בבל), meaning “confusion”.”

 

“Us and Them” (Pink Floyd song cover) performed by Lucia Lilikoi, lyrics: Up and down… and in the end It’s only round and round, and round. “Haven’t you heard it’s a battle of words?” The poster bearer cried

the opening page of Waking all the Finnegans, “Ordinary Men”

Here Comes Everybody

Pink Floyd “Us and Them” song lyrics:

Us and them
And after all
We’re only ordinary men
Me and you
God only knows it’s not what
We would choose to do

 

In November 1923 Joyce expanded the “Here Comes Everybody” sketch into a full-scale, albeit episodic, narrative of a carnivalesque HCE and his possible sexual malfeasance … and the gradual, farcical destruction of his reputation by malicious slander … In “Here Comes Everybody” HCE acquires his agnomen and in the extension he loses it. This section forms … the “kernel draft” of chapters 2-4 in Book I of Finnegans Wake. (Crispi & Slote 13)