Bedsit

Three bar orange glow

Corn chip crumbs in white sour cream

Bedsit lonely night

Parkstreet

3 Beats, 2 Hearts - Song Lyrics

A friend of mine says he believes firmly in the institution of marriage, because he gets high paying gigs out of it. On the whole I agree with him, and having played at enough weddings I find the entire fiasco disturbing more often than not. The one moment that always makes me happy is the waltz, when the couple dances in front of the crowd, then are slowly joined by family, then friends. Symbolic and beautiful. I always imagine that men and women approach that dance from very different places.

This song is, of course, a waltz. When I record it I'll start it mellow, guitar and voice, gradually bring in the full skiffle band, double bass, stand up drum kit, fiddle, piano accordion, trumpet, until it is wailing, a triumphant declaration of eternal love.

3 Beats, 2 Hearts

He never danced a waltz in his life,
He has to tonight now he's taken a wife.
The people are watching,
The couple who're waltzing,
Dancing for the first time as husband and wife.

She's only waltzed with girlfriends for laughs,
Been saving this dance for her other half.
The people are watching,
The couple who're waltzing,
Dancing for the first time as husband and wife.

Every year on this night,
Like this moment sublime,
They'll hold each other tight,
And dance in three four time.

Dance in three four time together.

She glows like a bride, his chest fills with pride,
Three beats, two hearts, 'til death do them part.
The people are watching,
The couple who're waltzing,
They're dancing for the first time as husband and wife.

Every year on this night,
A moment sublime,
They'll hold each other tight,
And dance in three four time.

The people are watching,
The couple who're waltzing,
Dancing for the first time as husband and wife.
So get up and join them all you family and friends,
For this is the dance that never ends.

Every year on this night,
As this moment sublime,
They'll hold each other tight,
And dance dance dance.

Ad lib.
They'll dance in three four time,
Dance in three four time together.
'Cos it's a wedding dance, an anniversary dance,
A dance of friendship, so get up on the dance floor all you people.
It's a dance of life, a dance of love.
And it goes one two three, one two three,
Yeah, that's how it goes.




Parkstreet

Terrace, Song Lyrics

Terrace

In my Fitzroy terrace the floorboards creak,

In the kitchen the lean-to leaks,

It's been raining for a week,

You're not here to make my floorboards creak.

I'm staring out at the Melbourne rain,

Will I see you again?

Staring out at the Melbourne rain,

Will I see you?

The bed where we have lain,

The mirror where you were vain,

Beside the door a leadlight pane,

But all that knocks is the Melbourne rain.

So I'm staring out at the Melbourne rain, 

Will I see you again?

Staring out at the Melbourne rain,

Will I see you?

(chorus)

It was your house then I moved in.

We lived together in joyous sin.

Your stuff's still here, it all looks the same,

But the rooms ring empty when I scream . . . your name.

Pull on my old woollen beanie,

Catch a tram into Pellegrini's.

Strong hot coffee and I talk with strangers.

I feel better, but nothing changes.

Just staring out at Bourke Street at the pouring rain,

Will I see you again?

Staring out at the Melbourne rain,

Will I see you?

Parkstreet

Ko-Fi

The Ghost Of Richard Brautigan

Last night the American Gothic cathedral that is Richard Brautigan visited me in my sleep. With the enchantment of his words he turned me into a watermelon and floated me across the Pacific Ocean. 

Together we walked around the Haight Ashbury. Well, I walked, he floated. We both tried our darndest to love the tourist trash that now own that sacred ground. He took me back in time, showed me his apartment, where he worked, where he refused to do anything but what his talent demanded. I understood.

We walked and floated in silence, the silence of ourselves. At first I was a little disappointed, being in the company of the great writer I was expecting to see words glistening in the California sun like trout in a stream, occasionally leaping into the air for the sheer delight of jumping. I would have been happy if he'd just shown me a sign, the words "trout stream this way". I guess I was hoping to impress him, surface like a whale and blow him away with a salty spout of cleverness, but I felt that no words was part of the lesson.

He showed me a woman so beautiful that she caused traffic accidents wherever she went. I understood.

As morning approached his words turned my blood into wine, bottled me and sent me home. I awoke with the taste of California on my lips, and the only words that he spoke out loud all night whispering in my mind.

"Find your place, then live in it."

I understood. Trout stream this way.





Parkstreet

Ko-fi

Wayne Thiebaud, lithograph, 1994

Trout Fishing In America

Bigger Than Lincoln’s

O Captain!

Not my Captain!

There’s static

On the wheelhouse radio,

All the old man hears 

Is threats.

He pulls his whistle madly,

O the piteous tweets,

And swears he’ll crash

The ship of state 

Unless we all agree

His shores a-crowding

Are bigger

Than Lincoln’s.

Parkstreet

Ko-Fi

A Brief History Of Time

Big Bang
Toast or cereal?
Heat death

Parkstreet

Ko-Fi

Transient

Escalator

From underground platform

To daylight.

Pretty girl smiles,

Passing,

From daylight

To underground platform.

A marriage,

‘til death do us part.

Transient love.

Parkstreet