Great Lyricists of our time
Posted by Leedsboy on 10 April 2008 - 10:12am.
Listening to the new Chris Difford album on the way into work this morning reminded me of how few really good lyricists there are out there.
He manages to engage me immediately because I am interested in what is happening in the song. There are lyrics that make you smile and songs that bring tears to my eyes but my attention is grabbed. Then you start to pick out the melodies and arrangements.
So my vote goes to Mr Difford - who do you rate and why?
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Agree
Totally agree with you in regards Chris Difford and I would add Billy Bragg as well. Both's songwriting has aged with them, starting with songs about school crushes, getting drunk, relationships going wrong, having children and where they are now with songs about what its like to be a middle aged man with middle aged experiences.
Andy Partridge
For vivid imagery, witty wordplay that never crosses the line into smug cleverness, and a keen eye to the minutiae of everyday life, the bard of Swindon can't be beaten, I reckon. Good calls on Chris Difford and Billy Bragg, too. For sheer illogic and surrealism, though, Robyn Hitchcock's yer man. I generally pay more attention to the sound of the music than the words being sung, but when the songs of these four are playing, I always focus on the words.
Shoehorning
Hmmmm.... I think "talented" lyricists sometimes shoehorn good lines into ordinary song structures. Certainly guilty of this is the chap from Divine Comedy who basically has written 2 or 3 great songs, with lots of clever lyrics (only) in the rest of his work. Also, I have heard a few tracks on Chris Difford's album and these all seem to be good lyrics searching for a song.
Also guilty of this occasionally is Morrissey, who is clearly unrivalled as the greatest lyricist of all time, but whose last couple of albums have lacked truly interesting song arrangements and melodies.
This applies particularly to songwriters who have gone solo - they are lacking the push and pull of fellow band-members contributing to the quality of the song. EG Ray Davies's solo work is far inferior to his Kinks work.
Martin Simpson
Not only a sickeningly good guitarist but a wonderful lyricist too - listen to "Never Any Good" from his latest album and agree. It's about his late father; the title is a quote from Simpson's seemingly quite cold-hearted mother ("He was never any good with money").
You could go on and on
Because we all know The Top 10,20,30 etc top lyricists and the ones that spoke to us as we found our way.
As I mentioned previously two nights ago my good lady and I poodled off to see Reverend and the Makers who have Jon McClure as frontman and and lyricist.
And I can tell you I thought he was one of the best and clever wordsmiths I've heard it quite a while.
These quickly come to mind
I really like Lloyd Cole's "Rattlesnakes" album. It's got a lot of clever lines in it and he sings in an appealingly sing-song talky way. Which then leads to Suzanne Vega (similar vocal style) and The Long Blondes (similar pop cultural name drops in the lyrics).
And towering over them all is Roger Waters of Pink Floyd. As a New York DJ once said, "It's as if he unscrewed the top of my skull and said exactly what I'm thinking."
Obviously Bob Dylan can be great. And I enjoy the Hammer horror storylines of Iron Maiden which are written by all band members.
I like, not love, Radiohead but I feel the lyrics are pretty poor. Way too abstract for its own good.
Morrissey when he's funny is imperious
"Spending warm summer days indoors, writing frightening verse to a buck toothed girl in Luxembourg"
My favourite opening line:
"Trudging slowly over wet sand back to the bench where your clothes were stolen"
I also have a soft spot for Gruff Rhys, from his pretty romantic lyrics to his funnier stuff - like "We'll go to Miami, take old friends and party - does Will Smith lie? Does he ever cave in and cry?"
The greatest lyricist still working is....
Morrissey.
The others might come up with a jumble of words that fit music rather well, but Mozza is lyricist supreme. He often wins it on the song title alone. And throw in the supreme interviewee title while you are at it as he always gives good (the best)copy. Oh and he's also pretty brilliant at inter-song comments, too.
Long live the cheerful one!
Song Titles
Sorry Dolly but the best song titles are by Half Man Half Biscuit. Song titles included here http://cobweb.businesscollaborator.com/hmhb/records/index.htm
On their new album coming out this month they have a track called "Took Problem Chimp To Ideal Home Show". You've got to love them haven't you? ;)
Most overrated lyricist still working is......
Bobby Dylan
Leave a monkey long enough with a computeryou will get King Lear.
Throw enough excrement at a wall some will stick
Invest your songwords with as many images as you can, somebody will find significance.
Listen to the interviews, talk to the fellow, listen to the radio show. Stylised, over full, over pompous, drivel most of it.
Couldn't agree with you there dolly
Wait for the "Slings and Arrows". They are surely coming your way !!
Which comment?
The litigeous one being the greatest lyricist ever (hahahahaha) or Dylan being no good as a lyricist (hahahahaha). We're all entitled to our own opinions however bizarre they are.
The Overrated Dylan one.
Just don't agree with that or even that he's not on fire at the moment, considering that "Modern Times" is just a classic as far as I'm concerned, but bizarre opinions are ok with me.
Once a lifetime ago I did see a lot of merit in the litigeous ones lyrics. Actually thats probably unfair. I put on "The Queen is Dead" a few weeks ago and you just can't fault that.
Dolly, Springer,
Fill yer boots;
http://www.wordmagazine.co.uk/content/deal-dylan
Names that spring to mind; Neil Finn, Justin Currie, James Taylor, Chris Collingwood and Adam Schlesinger (Fountains of Wayne), Joni, Jackson, Lucinda Williams, Patty Griffin. All lyricists that can take your breath away with one line or phrase.
And yes, Mozzer, but twenty years ago.
this is indeed the modern cultural dilemna
its all been done before...only better!
i'd actually put dylan and elvis costello together in the same bag*. both spew out words in song and most of those words are good to listen to. image after image connect in all sorts of odd & interesting ways. but ultimately its a rather scatter gun approach. I've always preferred lyrics to be crafted like a well cut suit and fine costello/dylan lyrics to be like a multi-layered eclectic (dreadful word) mix of vintage and primark, accessorised to high heaven and with a little too much kohl eye liner for my taste, ie trying a bit too hard.
*A Costello honourable exception is Shipbuilding which is a truly great song lyric - "diving for dear life..when we could be diving for pearls" is one of the most wonderful pay off lines in any song.
Dolly Dolly Dolly
"both spew out words in song and most of those words are good to listen to. image after image connect in all sorts of odd & interesting ways. but ultimately its a rather scatter gun approach."
Have you actually listened to Dylans lyrics? You do a great championing of the Mozzer and he's obviously quite important to you but you can hardly call Dylans words scattergun.
I Shall Be Released
They say ev'rything can be replaced,
Yet ev'ry distance is not near.
So I remember ev'ry face
Of ev'ry man who put me here.
I see my light come shining
From the west unto the east.
Any day now, any day now,
I shall be released.
They say ev'ry man needs protection,
They say ev'ry man must fall.
Yet I swear I see my reflection
Some place so high above this wall.
I see my light come shining
From the west unto the east.
Any day now, any day now,
I shall be released.
Standing next to me in this lonely crowd,
Is a man who swears he's not to blame.
All day long I hear him shout so loud,
Crying out that he was framed.
I see my light come shining
From the west unto the east.
Any day now, any day now,
I shall be released.
Dylans career is almost 45 years old. I think he's allowed the odd stinker in that. The Mozzer certainly has had that in his 26 years.
Aah yes
That one is quite good... An honourable exception! He keeps it nice and simple and doesnt bombard the listener. (I'm with the king in Amadeus - a piece of music can have too many notes and a song too many words)
This song also stands alone as a written piece whereas many of his lyrics work as chants to a beat but written down read like gobbledegook.
PS I prefer The Band's version xx
You are some
Wind up Merchant.
I recommend Blood on the Tracks. Bugger all beat and mostly beautiful. After that I give up !!
Blood on the tracks
Yup agree with that especially this one lyrically....
Tangled Up In Blue
Early one mornin' the sun was shinin',
I was layin' in bed
Wond'rin' if she'd changed at all
If her hair was still red.
Her folks they said our lives together
Sure was gonna be rough
They never did like Mama's homemade dress
Papa's bankbook wasn't big enough.
And I was standin' on the side of the road
Rain fallin' on my shoes
Heading out for the East Coast
Lord knows I've paid some dues gettin' through,
Tangled up in blue.
She was married when we first met
Soon to be divorced
I helped her out of a jam, I guess,
But I used a little too much force.
We drove that car as far as we could
Abandoned it out West
Split up on a dark sad night
Both agreeing it was best.
She turned around to look at me
As I was walkin' away
I heard her say over my shoulder,
"We'll meet again someday on the avenue,"
Tangled up in blue.
I had a job in the great north woods
Working as a cook for a spell
But I never did like it all that much
And one day the ax just fell.
So I drifted down to New Orleans
Where I happened to be employed
Workin' for a while on a fishin' boat
Right outside of Delacroix.
But all the while I was alone
The past was close behind,
I seen a lot of women
But she never escaped my mind, and I just grew
Tangled up in blue.
She was workin' in a topless place
And I stopped in for a beer,
I just kept lookin' at the side of her face
In the spotlight so clear.
And later on as the crowd thinned out
I's just about to do the same,
She was standing there in back of my chair
Said to me, "Don't I know your name?"
I muttered somethin' underneath my breath,
She studied the lines on my face.
I must admit I felt a little uneasy
When she bent down to tie the laces of my shoe,
Tangled up in blue.
She lit a burner on the stove and offered me a pipe
"I thought you'd never say hello," she said
"You look like the silent type."
Then she opened up a book of poems
And handed it to me
Written by an Italian poet
From the thirteenth century.
And every one of them words rang true
And glowed like burnin' coal
Pourin' off of every page
Like it was written in my soul from me to you,
Tangled up in blue.
I lived with them on Montague Street
In a basement down the stairs,
There was music in the cafes at night
And revolution in the air.
Then he started into dealing with slaves
And something inside of him died.
She had to sell everything she owned
And froze up inside.
And when finally the bottom fell out
I became withdrawn,
The only thing I knew how to do
Was to keep on keepin' on like a bird that flew,
Tangled up in blue.
So now I'm goin' back again,
I got to get to her somehow.
All the people we used to know
They're an illusion to me now.
Some are mathematicians
Some are carpenter's wives.
Don't know how it all got started,
I don't know what they're doin' with their lives.
But me, I'm still on the road
Headin' for another joint
We always did feel the same,
We just saw it from a different point of view,
Tangled up in blue.
I actually "had lunch with bobby d once
I was working on a show that he was performing in. There was a big backstage catering section & bobby could only find one spare space to sit down - which was next to me.
I was wearing a grimsby town shirt with the sponsor courtaulds emblazoned across it. bobby got fixated on the courtaulds name for some reason &, whilst oddly friendly, he talked absolute bollo to me whilst i ate my lunch. Rambled on about courtaulds for a good ten minutes.
More to the point, he couldn't understand what grimsby was (let alone where it was)which didnt put him in my best books.
He also didn't eat a single thing. Not one chip!
I suspect he may have been on the old wacky backy or such like.
I certainly did not dislike sitting next to him, indeed it was very interesting but he was clearly not compus mentis throughout the conversation nor was he grounded in what most people would call reality. And he went on a bit....Bit like his lyrics I thought.
Agree with you on Mozzer Oeufman
and actually all the rest too .........apart from The Bob. Alright the voice might whine but can't you see through that. Especially when I'd say everyone one your list would rate him too.
Ah
well, as you can see Springer, I've laid in that Bob bed already.
Just between you and me (oh, alright, and everyone else), since that nice Mr. Lewry shot me to infamy with his cunning blog magic, I've purchased several Dylan albums and have been more impressed than depressed. I consider this a major step forward.
All told though, I'd go back to Finn and Taylor first. Could be generational.
Maybe
His Litigeousness may or may not be a great lyricist - I can't get round his posturing tosserishness I'm afraid. Some of the Smiths songs have great tunes though, the credit of which goes to Johnny Marr, who is neither tosser nor a poseur.
Leave a monkey long enough with a computeryou will get King Lear
Only if your monkey lives longer than the estimated remaining life of the universe.
Sorry, it's not knocking your Dylan opinion, its just one of those platitudes I really dislike.
Shane MacGowan
He's rated but still underrated. In a hundred year's time he'll still be sung in whatever drinking establishments remain (and at police funerals...) After all, if he'd been around a hundred - perhaps two or three hundred - years ago he'd still be sung now.
Tragedy and comedy, punk rebellion and poetic romance in the same song, often in the same line.
One of my favourite Word articles was the one explaining all the historical and literary references in Pogues songs - if you must insist on printing classic articles, please include this one!
Another good call
He can bring a lump to your throat even though you've heard the lyric 50 times before.
indeed...
the line "You're the measure of my dreams" ALONE from Rainy Night in Soho still gets me...
the rest of his work is good too...but that's just wonderful.
How did I miss that article?
I need details...please!
Extra subscriber value
I've just started subscribing. Didn't this site used to have exclusive access for subscribers to things like articles from back issues?
Or did I just imagine those forbidden pages?
Morrissey
Is definately a great lyricist.
My Favourite being
"Rattle my bones, all over the stones, I'm only a beggar that nobody owns,
see how words as old as sin, fit me like a glove"
I remember a smug Smash Hits letter quoting the first part and saying that the great fey one was a plagiarist (although they probably called him a copycat). The following fortnight someone wrote in and told us to read the next line whereby he owns up to it. Marvellous on so many levels.
But do think his lyrics have lost their sense of fun and humour of late - nothing touches Still Ill, Frankly Mr Shankly or There's a Light (and I could go on) in the last decade. And it was his sense of fun that always made him so great.
It has to be Laughing Len.
My vote is for Leonard Cohen. The combination of religious and sexual metaphor, with an occasional penn'orth of misogyny sneaking thru' his otherwise apparent adoration of the female. His rhymes seldom sound searched thru' a rhyming dictionary, appearing as if the rhyme is merely an accident of his phraseology.
Best examples are Joan of Arc, Everybody Knows and the possibly over covered Hallelujah, but beware, as most versions include but a fraction, apparently, of the full text, and hence can vary.
(I will not be drawn into arcane dialogue as to better rhymes for oranges)
Mozza still funny. Well I, at least, always chuckle at this...
particluarly the last line & the mention of explosive kegs.
I am walking through Rome
With my heart on a string
Dear God, please help me
And I am so very tired
Of doing the right thing
Dear God, please help me
There are explosive kegs
Between my legs
Dear God, please help me
Will you follow and know
Know me more than you do
Track me down
And try to win me?
Then he motions to me
With his hand on my knee
Dear God, did this kind of thing happen to you?
OOOH er, missus!!!
if you'll pardon the expression...
how about some women?
There are plenty of great female songwriters but can I suggest three:
1 Joni Mitchell - lyrics to say, Amelia, or Coyote, are superbly evocative. There's plenty more from her.
2 Aimee Mann
3 Kathleen Edwards. There was a short KE thread last week, and she seems rightly popular round these parts, and the words are a big part of the package for me - there are lots of great examples but check out Six O'Clock News, In State, Pink Emerson Radio, or Alicia Ross (this last one is a really disturbing lyric and not at all comfortable to listen to).
Can I also suggest a couple of blokes for balance; surprised nobody has yet mentioned either Bruce Springsteen or, in a different way altogether, Ian Dury. I'd suggest Costello as well. And Graham Parker. And Richard Thompson (he always gets a mention)! Plenty of pithy couplets in those guys' notebooks.
Can't agree with you chaps about Morrissey though. To my ears The Smiths were a pretty good band (great guitar sound and all) RUINED by a really dreadful singer. Sorry and all that.
Aimee Mann
Good shout. Love 4th of July lyric "a waste of gunpowder and sky".
Supportive
I just posted on this. Totally agree. Great band, useless whining poseur up front. Guess who?
I remember my father saying the same thing to me 25 years ago...
...about bob dylan...!
(only joking he said it about the might mozz)
Jim Bob
Maybe slightly controversial, but ex-Carter USM singer Jim Bob has, in my opinion, really matured as a lyricist in recent years. For evidence, just listen to 'God's Blog' here - http://www.last.fm/music/Jim+Bob/_/God's+Blog
His new album is my album of the year so far too... Just brilliantly written and executed. Go on... give it a go...
You are Andrew Collins
and I claim my £5 record voucher.
I'll go for
Andy Partridge - the Leo Baxendale of lyrics
Roger Water - I'm not a massive Floyd fan, but his lyrics are like Bruce Lee's 'one inch punch'- packing so much, so stealthily into so few moves.
Brian Eno - like Edward Lear, Ogden Nash, Gilbert and Sullivan, jamming with Pat Pending - check out...
Backwater
http://www.lyricstime.com/brian-eno-backwater-lyrics.html
Miss Shapiro
http://www.metrolyrics.com/miss-shapiro-lyrics-brian-eno.html
And Macca's Beatles work and wordy sketches (She's Leaving Home, Eleanor Rigby) seem to be hugely under valued.
Oops, I've misfiled again......
I have just made a learned appraisal (yeah, right)on lyrics on another strand, but I think there are currently 2 on the go delving into similar areas.
Anyway, without giving too much further publicity to the be-flowered deaf-un, it must be strangely galling for the Word lawyers to read all this adulation for the fella at this stage of proceedings. Sort of praised with faint damns.
Not entirely
Plenty of us think he is a tosser too. I thought the review in question was excellent. Balance, you see.
and I think both
I thought the review was spot on and that he is a great lyricist.
Me too
it was and he is
I dont think he is be-flowered any more....
De-flowered more like it
Great lyricists
Wot? No Tom Waits? He conjures up most people's idea of Americana in dozens of great songs. And a more recent discovery courtesy of the Word freebie CDs, our very own David Ford. Check out I'm Alright Now and Song For The Road from the album of the same name. And one of my own favourite Beach Boys lines of all time, not written by Brian Wilson, surprisingly (I think it was Dennis Wilson's): "If every word I said could make you laugh, I talk forever" (Forever from Sunflower).
Tom Waits?
Good Call Andy.
My favourite Waits Lyrics.
Shore Leave
Well with buck shot eyes and a purple heart
I rolled down the national stroll
and with a big fat paycheck
strapped to my hip sack
and a shore leave wristwatch underneath my sleeve
in a Hong Kong drizzle on Cuban heels
I rowed down the gutter to the Blood Bank
and I'd left all my papers on the Ticonderoga
and was in a bad need of a shave
and so I slopped at the corner on cold chow mein
and shot billards with a midget until the rain stopped
and I bought a long sleeved shirt
with horses on the front
and some gum and a lighter and a knife
and a new deck of cards (with girls on the back)
and I sat down and wrote a letter to my wife
and I said Baby, I'm so far away from home
and I miss my Baby so
I can't make it by myself
I love you so
Well I was pacing myself
trying to make it all last
squeezing all the life
out of a lousy two day pass
and I had a cold one at the Dragon
with some Filipino floor show
and talked baseball with a lieutenant
over a Singapore sling
and I wondered how the same moon outside
over this Chinatown fair
could look down on Illinois
and find you there
and you know I love you Baby
and I'm so far away from home
and I miss my Baby so
I can't make it by myself
I love you so
Shore Leave...
Shore Leave...
Top 10
Leonard Cohen ( poetry )
Bob Dylan ( ditto )
Billy Bragg ( turn of phrase )
Elvis Costelloe ( vicious )
Randy Newman ( irony )
Joni Mitchell ( more poetry )
Hank Williams ( simplicity is the key )
Tom Waits ( the darker side to life, with midgets )
Lucinda Williams ( the woman´s touch )
Bruce Springsteen ( nobody does clichés like Bruce )
Nick Cave?
Surprised no-one has mentioned Nick Cave yet - a consistently excellent lyricist.
Also worth a mention:
Mark E Smith
Billy McKenzie
Billy Mckenzie?????
I stoop to nobody in my love of billy mckenzie, but great lyricist he wasn't.
"I took a shower
Then phoned my brother up
within the hour
I smashed another cup"
Box. Of. Frogs.
Achieved In The Valley Of Dolls
This is from Barry Adamson's Oedipus Schmoedipus which Billy co-wrote and sang and I've always thought it was rather good. Lyrics included.
"Were you conceived in the valley of dolls
Haven't seen you since
Were you there at all
Were your locks shorn in the temple above
Did you lose yourself with a siren of love
Deceived in the valley of dolls"
Billy's lyrics
Yes, Billy's lyrics were sometimes preposterous but you always got the impression that he was fully aware of this, that he revelled in their occasional ludricousness. However, his words were(imho) often very effective in catching a mood or emotion, albeit usually in an oblique or impressionistic way. Incidentally, Billy's daftest lyric I think was:
"At all's two words - could they be soldered as one?
Therein lies the perfect pseudonym"
And this from a top 10 hit! I remember he could barely keep a straight face singing these lines on TOTP. Marvellous stuff.
Another vote for Randy Newman
God's Song (That's why I love mankind)
Cain slew Abel, Seth knew not why
For if the children of Israel were to multiply
Why must any of the children die?
So he asked the Lord
And the Lord said:
Man means nothing, he means less to me
Than the lowliest cactus flower
Or the humblest Yucca tree
He chases round this desert
'Cause he thinks that's where I'll be
That's why I love mankind
I recoil in horror from the foulness of thee
From the squalor and the filth and the misery
How we laugh up here in heaven at the prayers you offer me
That's why I love mankind
Partridge and Devoto. I second...
... the folks who said Andy Partridge. An songwriter to whom the word "genius" is actually appropriate.
I think Howard Devoto is pretty good too- much darker, but equally complelling.
Devoto
Is a great call. I love the opening of Song From Under The Floorboards
I am angry I am ill and I'm as ugly as sin
My irritability keeps me alive and kicking
I know the meaning of life, it doesnt help me a bit
I know beauty and I know a good thing when I see it
No Nigel Blackwell!!!!!
Shame on you, the nation's real Poet Laureate.
Half Man Half Biscuit - A Country Practice
I feel like a beggar accepting alms
Then being pelted with figs
I study my steadily declining chart placings
They greet me with freezing cold inhospitality
Hey, where did that bloke go who said I was vital?
I possess the mild air of a retail tobacconist
That's because I'm a retail tobacconist
But the mayflies on a Berkshire trout river
Would probably tell you a different story
About ham-fisted diadems and momentary daydreams
Of mythical dividends and illusory boardroom suits
In the room festooned with fat beef certificates
From county shows
Duff leg Bryn had drank too much again
Most of Wem was steering clear of him
I've got no time for this 12th consecutive Rose Bowl
Cos at Sunday next at ten to four
I've got an invitation for
A trip around Katharine Hamnett's warehouse
Followed by dinner with David Emmanuel
Whom I can't wait to tell about my dream
In which the almost illegal Elton Welsby
Is dressed as a French maid on a moonless byway
Licking his lips as he creeps ever closer
Fast falls the eventide
Fast falls the eventide
The public appearance of bitter ex-soap stars
Who thought they could go on and do other things beside
The Centre Court amusement at the ballboy's mishap
That bobbing up and down thing that they do at the Proms
Opinionated weather forecasters telling me it's going to be a miserable day
Miserable to who? I quite like a bit of drizzle so stick to the facts
Channel 4 presents "Blowjob"
Introduced by Adrian and Sophie Horn
Who is of course one bloke with a pierced dick
Who's just had the nod from Planet 24
Hear him say "surreal, bizarre, sad git"
Yes indeedy, completely and utterly footy anorak and respect
Before whipping the audience up into doing the Time Warp
Watch him take us live to "The Queen's Arse and Firkin"
Where Joseph Bloggs and his amazing Technicolour shellsuit
Are about to abort their Steely Dan routine
And instead embark upon 15 minutes of mantra-filled Oompah
15 minutes of mantra-filled Oompah
15 minutes of mantra-filled Oompah
Adrian / Sophie wants us, the viewers, to ring in
And say how we think the punters will react
(These are a few of my favourite things)
I'm incredibly bored with the word "millennium"
And with the Jehovah's Witnesses
Millions now earmarked will later be wasted
Her Majesty, marvellous, mother the musical
The fireworks lighting up the Houses of Parliament
Death in Trafalgar Square, death in the armchair
Of clichéd old spinsters who never been loved
Every day is Australia day
"Sons and Daughters" and "Home and Away"
But then the news comes on and the sound goes down
Cos she can't be bothered with all them politicians
They're all just a bunch of flamin' drongos
She died with her telly on, 87 and confused
With not enough hospital beds cos all the money's been used
On the end of the century party preparations
And they reckon that the last thing she saw in her life was
Sting, singing on the roof of the Barbican
Sting, singing on the roof of the Barbican
T for Toxteth
T for Tennessee
T for Toxteth, T for Tennessee
T for Thatcher, that girl that made a wreck out of me
Old lady labelled me an idle
Old lady labelled me an idle
Old lady labelled me an idle layabout
Layabout
My Favourite Half Man Half Biscuit is
For What Is Chatteris. Drive by shouting is just a great line. God bless 'em.
One way system, smooth and commendable,
go by bus, they're highly dependable,
the swings in the park, for the kids, have won awards,
clean streets acknowledged in The Lords,
but whats a park if you can't see a linnet?
a timetable if your journey's infinite?
My bag's packed and I'm leaving in a minute,
for what is Chatteris without you in it?
Car crime's low, gun crime's lower,
the town hall band CD, it's a grower,
you never hear of folk getting knocked on the bonce,
although there was a drive by shouting once,
but there's a brass band everywhere,
and I dont drive so I care,
and as a nightingale sang in berkley square,
what is chatteris if you're not there?
like a game-bird reserve short on pheasants,
weavers cottages devoid of tenants,
a market town that lacks quintessence,
that's Chatteris without your presence,
three good butcher's, two fine chandlers,
an indoor pool, a first class cake shop,
OFSTED plaudits, envy of the fens,
prick barriers at both ends,
But what's Chatteris if you're not there?
what's Chatteris if you're not there?
what's Chatteris if you're not there?
what's Chatteris if you're not there?
what's Chatteris if you're not there?
what's Chatteris if you're not there?
I may as well be in Ely or Saint Ives.
At last.....
One for Springsteen....!
No-one does widescreen like Brooooooce...."The screen door slams..."
I'd chuck Carol King into the ring along with Townshend as one's so far unmentioned.