Waving Goodbye 01: The Longest Night

For the Along Came Jones CD release show Dennis asked me to write little introductory texts for each of the songs, so I'll present them here 12-nights-of Xmas fashion.  Jimmy, now that the line at the post office should be shorter I'll resend the CD.  Still the Singapore address?


We didn’t think it could happen but it did, every time we thought, well at least things can’t get any worse they did and then they’d get worse than that.  It seemed as if everyone was leaving and I certainly couldn’t blame them.  Some of the guys said, hey Johny you should come with us, but I couldn’t, I should have but I didn’t.  I knew things would get bad, but I, first of all, I wanted to see the old man one more time.  And then, even though I knew you’d be gone, I knew it was ridiculous, but I went to the old places just to see if you’d be there.  Of course not. Everyone was getting out, no one was looking back, and even though I knew it was going to get worse I just went to bed and lay down.  I lay down and I waited.  For what?  For Santa Claus? I don’t know.  For the end of the world? I don’t know.  I lay down in bed and thought about you.  I could hear the bells up in the sky—but what were they?  Were they, like, sleighbells, jing jing jing, or was it that other thing, you know, the toll of the bell, the end of the world.  And then I see the moon’s full, and it’s all red, and a shadow crosses it, it’s Santa, right?  That’s Santa, isn’t it?  And I see your face in the moon, just like Jackie Gleason’s, smiling seraphically above us all, and I don’t know what to do.  It’s the end or it’s the beginning.  It’s the longest night of the year.



Longest Night lyrics

Granpa

i want a grandpa Christmas every year

Along Came Jones: Waving Goodbye Theme Song

Along Came Jones will do a presentation of the "Waving Goodbye" album in full in January, so I wrote a theme song for the show:

Hello! Hello! We’re Along Came Jones
There’s Myles and Kathy Sparling
My name’s Dennis, this is Pete
There’s Tim, he’s such a darling

Please do not text on your phones
Or play some Words With Friends
Just listen most attentively
And clap hard at the end

Some words may be offensive
And not fit for the kiddies
Please cover up their little ears
If we sing of ass & titties

We’re Along Came Jones, and now we’ll wave
Goodbye and not hello
We’re not leaving yet, that’s just
The name of tonight’s show!

Chorus girl: And now… on with the show!

Happy birthday Jymn. You hoped and you hopped and you hopped and you won!

Girl Let's Go For A Ride

Wrap your hair up in a scarf
Come on girl, we’re taking off
We’ll crank Blondie till the speakers are fried
Can’t take the top off my Toyota
We don’t care, not one iota
Girl, let’s go for a ride

Come on darling please say yes
We won’t need phones or GPS
My lack of direction will be our guide
We’ll go to Stinson, up Route 1
We’ve got fog, who needs the sun?
Girl, let’s go for a ride

Let’s turn east and drive this sucker
All the way past Winnemucca
Till we reach the Continental Divide
Or maybe it would be smarter
To head south to Porta Vallarta
Girl, let’s go for a ride



This is dedicated to my dog Odetta, who does dearly love going for a ride.  Note that the scarf/off rhyme in the first verse requires a Jagger-garage white bluesman pronunciation: scowrff

This Prison is a Paradise

Once this world was a prison

Enclosed and yet a blank

Now this prison is a paradise

And for that I’ve you to thank

Once I found I was trapped by

Walls I could not break through

Now this prison is a paradise

And for that I thank you

Dreams, ah I have dreams

I see the world breaking at the seams

And yet now I’ve found peace

I’ve found release, yes I’m released

I couldn’t bear this tiny world

That time and trouble shrank

But this prison is a paradise

And for that I’ve you to thank

Happy happy birthday baby

Hey Johny, thinking of you.

The Prince's Rejoinder

Used to be charms rhymed with arms

Both were currency

To trade and barter for romance

For bliss, for ecstasy

What rhymes with cunt?

A cake of bundt?

What rhymes with cock?

A strap of jock?

How our currency's debased

It's lost intrinsic value

You can't get nothin' for somethin' now

The market won't allow you

You get nothing

You get something

Everything's a bargain

Everyone's an easy lay

We're all broken-hearted

Don't I wish that I could lie

In love in your embrace

Beauty sketched - serene, eternal -

Here upon your face

The spirit that moves me,

The spirit of grace,

Charms, beguiles, intoxicates

Let's lie forever in this state

Between rest and bold desire

Let's lie, the pith of truth to taste,

So sweet, it burns like fire.

La Belle au Bois Dormante

Of all the gifts I’ve been given, though it may sound perverse

My favorite was the one that some called a curse

That I should grow up perfectly, like a flower bud

But fall into a sleep like death when first I saw my blood

And here you are to wake me

You’ve stormed the palace door

But oh my dear Prince Charming

Can’t I sleep five minutes more?

It was you who slayed the dragon, who braved the thorny hedge

Just as I had hoped for, just as you had pledged

We’re living out the story, each the archetype

But what if, when you taste the fruit you find it’s still unripe?

And here you are to wake me

The one I’ve waited for

But oh my dear Prince Charming

Can’t I sleep five minutes more?

When I awake we’ll lead a life of banquets, hunts and balls

We’ll have the servants wipe 100 years of dust off those glass halls

And happily ever after I will be the Charming wife

But can’t I sleep a little more before we start that life?

Now you’re here to wake me

But please my sweet señor

Oh please my dear Prince Charming

Can’t I sleep five minutes more?

Along Came Jones: Waving Goodbye

Yeah, so the Moron said you should come out with me, I have to wait for the bus, it leaves at 5 AM but there’s a bar next to the bus station, just come out with me, and I did, we went to the bar next door to the bus station and stayed up all night drinking. The bar wasn’t very nice. The people looked all gray in the bar light and most of them were just staring, not at their phones like normal people but just, you know, waiting.  And the Moron said, yeah so I guess I’m really going, I have to go see the old man, I’m not sure how long I’ll be gone, and it made me feel bad, I didn’t really want him to have to go and I had a feeling he wouldn’t be back but I didn’t know what to say, so we talked about stupid stuff, and he looked at me with that dumb, perpetually surprised look that’s so infuriating, until finally he said well I guess it’s time, it was just before 5 and we went out to the bus and the Moron said OK well thanks for coming out and got on the bus and found a seat and put his stuff overhead and took out a book and started to read.  And I was just standing there and he looked up and waved and then looked back at his book and the bus pulled away and I was just standing there, goodbye goodbye goodbye.  And that was it, the bus was gone, the Moron had left, goodbye. The sun wasn’t even up and it smelled like diesel fuel and I tried to remember how to get back home. 

Another year has gone by
Due to the orbit of the earth
And so we once more celebrate
The day of Tracy's birth

Many happy returns of the day Tracette!

While you're wondering what to do with your life

You've done something to your face. An eye's a little smaller, something's happened to your mouth. My body's improving, but it will never change. Every little bloom, fluorescence, suggests decay in foretelling. If it's not broke, you can't fix it. If it's impatient, it will mistake. The fields, the jungle, are over-subscribed. The market's high, but it will fade. My mother, the liar, has discovered honesty in literature (!) at an advanced age. That means, I hope, permission to be ugly, mean, unkind. Though permission is not and never was and will never be required to be an asshole. It comes naturally. Fighter planes roar across the evening sky, practicing for the show, which is itself a dry run for the real thing. Then, again, everyone will suffer and die and wonder at the wasted, golden years gone by. What happened? Was I dreaming? Why didn't I prepare? The end is always the same, anyway. It's what you leave behind -- but that's out of your hands, and has been since it came out. There's been a murder next door. Don't yet know who killed and who died. It came to light by the smell. Around the same time, the garden was being plundered by thieves who shit to mark their attendance at your place. All this while we're sleeping and the guard's afraid to leave the guardhouse. When that happens, the police have to hurt somebody. No wonder the poor girl hung herself in her cell. Let's make a pact. OK, let's lie, but pretend we believe it and maybe some of it will come to pass -- like the existence of Switzerland from the Treaty of Vienna. It was a small clause, but helped a lot of people who have lived and died since 1815. Bless them.

After the well-loved sing-along classic!

Anyone got the lyrics to the Pete Gilbert masterpiece?

An Almost-Pefect Day

A lightweight tribute to Lou:

Sitting outside, reading Frank O’Hara

Spinach omelette and café au lait

Billie’s singing “Say It With A Kiss”

This could be an almost perfect day

It was foggy when I got up this morning

But by noon the fog had blown away

If only you were still here in my life

This would be an almost perfect day

If I manage to forget

That you’re not here to turn to

And I can learn to

Practice self-deception

The day’s complete perfection

Tonight I’ll meet up with some friends for cocktails

And when it’s time to finally hit the hay

I know I’ll go to bed alone and lonely
Still, it’ll be an almost perfect day

Happy birthday, dear Critter.  Ain't no snafu.

Time Enough To Cry

If some day, when I am dead and buried

You forget and smile instead of sigh-

                                                      ing sadly

Don’t feel badly, please do not be worried

There is always time enough to cry

If you find that veils look silly

Or you don’t have time to buy
                                            some black clothes

Save the roses, do not bring my lilies

There is always time enough to cry

Some may scold

If they hear you sing

You’ll be told

You should bring

                           some flowers

There's no rush to come and say goodbye

There is always time enough to cry

                                                                                                   

What's so funny

I was lucky to be in London for work this evening. Great house band, including Roxy/Bryan Ferry stalwarts Mel Collins and Neil Hubbard. Wish you were there.

I got to see both Fred Frith and Henry Kaiser within the last two weeks.  In addition to a couple of hot songs of his own, Mr. Kaiser did "Alice in Blunderland" with the Beefheart tribute band I used to play with.  His band included a drummer whose name I hadn't heard before, but whom I'd heard before, on records at least, William Winant.  It's nice to live near Mills College!

Time to bring back the Exploding Meat Puppet, James?

Happy birthday Jymn!  Nothing can stand in your way when you're a boy!

Aladdin James

Saturday night was the year-end office party. Theme: Glam Rock. I was one of two guys of about 400 who had actually been alive for that phenomenon. As I had recently a chance to visit the fantastic "David Bowie Is" exhibition when visiting Jai in Chicago, I was well prepared. If you haven't seen it recently check out the "Boys Keep Swinging" video. I forgot how hilarious it is.

Why We Fight II

Uniformed men line the streets, armed for our protection
To guard us from those criminals who have the wrong complexion
When things go wrong they know that they’ll be let off by the jury
And this is in the USA, in Ferguson Missouri

So this is why we fight, brothers
This is why we fight
Now's not the time to stop and rest
For this is why we fight

I'm not sure how long these will stay up:

New Bryan Ferry

New Robert Wyatt anthology

Why We Fight

A first draft of an Election Day song....


Some will fall in glory, and others fall in shame
Still others give up because both sides seem the same
Some fear humiliation, some direct attack
But sometimes when we’re broken, new roots grow through the crack

And this is why we fight, brothers
This is why we fight
Though sometimes we must stop and rest
This is why we fight

Happy happy birthday baby

Many happy returns of the day, Tracette, and my best to Tim the Horse!

Jack of Diamonds

A re-write of "Rye Whiskey", more or less:


Jack of Diamonds, he said go ahead boy and spin it
Jack of Diamonds, he said if you want it you’ll win it
His two one-eyed brothers are sleeping or dead
The king offed himself with a sword through the head
Everything can change in the tiniest minute
Oh, Jack of Diamonds

Jack of Diamonds calls the Queen out to bring you good luck
And when she appears you will know you’ve been struck
Before you can see it you’ll be hit by the flash
That opens the future and wipes out the past
Your one chance at freedom mows you down like a truck
Oh, Jack of Diamonds

Jack of Diamonds says pull it, there’s no time to wait
What looked like mere chance will be turned into fate
He says now’s the moment but you’ll have to jump
There’s only one card left but he’ll make it the trump
Oh why did I listen, it’s already too late
Oh, Jack of Diamonds

The modern world's not so bad...

Greetings from Singapore. I've taken up a job here as MD of Citco Fund Services. Still keeping a place in Mumbai and Bangalore. Will be traveling to the US a bit more regularly in the next year. Where shall we meet? Email me at tiojymn@gmail.com. Cheers!

Waving Goodbye

You just love the one who leaves you
You just love to watch men go
You love waving from the window
Humming the saddest songs you know

At the airport or bus station
The only time that we embrace
Is when you watch me going
A brave look on your face

Don’t want to travel
I’d rather stay
You only see me
When you see me slip away

You watch me pack my suitcase
So happy that you get to cry
You always love the one who leaves you
You just love to wave goodbye

Happy birthday,  Poppa.  I'll let my train be my feet if it's too far to walk to you.

Sorry to hear about Jim Rockford, Jim.  He had a good run.

The Overnight Journey From the Last Darkness To This One (by River)

Lie, let the darkness come
Let yourself float down the river
Down its sweet, dark stream
Rest, let go of the day
Don't be afraid of night
Dream the hardest dream

You can’t take flowers with you
Just one smooth small stone
Ravens and owls will watch you
You’re not alone

See, the sun starts to dissolve
Goes out like a spark
But stars can only shine 
When the sky’s grown dark

Lie, hear the river’s song
Words that cannot be spoken
Words that melt in light
Drift into the night
Dream the hardest dream

RIP Tommy Ramone
Now there were none

I've been reading Richard Hell's memoir, I Dreamed I Was A Very Clean Tramp. He's sort of a dope, of course, but this observation had a certain resonance with the Brothers Twain: "Of course what's deepest down inside is boring; it's actually the surface that's interesting, even though it's often deceptive.  We're probably all the same as each other deep down inside."

Today's Verse: 20 May 2014

The law conserves all stains
Removed at home
They find their way to a better life
They find their way

The law preserves all pains
Endured at birth
They make their way forevermore
They make their way

Parse the debris
Parse the debris
I'm looking for something
It's looking for me

The law describes all vice
Forbidden in vain
It makes its way from vanity
It makes it's way

The law derives a price
Measured in blood
It leads the way from penury
It leads the way

Parse the debris
Parse the debris
I'm looking for something
It's looking for me

I won't be misled
By herrings of red
I won't be deceived
By visions that please
I'm not going to fall
For your foldearol
I'm telling you dear
And I'm telling you clear

The law exalts desire
Emboldened by need
It shows the way to eternal life
It shows the way

The law entails failure
To observe itself
A beacon of burning futility
A portal flung wide on a mystery
Empty, corrupt, and now you see
What I was looking for

The Hunter of Song

The Hunter of Song goes into the jungle
Armed only with his loin-cloth and knife
To battle the song right on its own turf
To pay, if he must, with his life
And once he has seized it, he looks in its face
He demands that it tell him its Name
And then, only then he returns to the world
His face glowing with the song’s flame

I do my songwriting
Without the sacrifice
I write my songs in comfort
With a cold drink over ice
All I ever do is
Doo-doo-doo-doo doo-doo
All I ever say is
Yay-yeah-yeah yeah-yeah-yay
All I ever do is
Doo-doo-doo-doo doo-doo-doo


The Sculptor of Song digs in the ground
For the one perfect rough stone
Once he has started, his chisel can’t rest
Until the song’s completely his own
The Priest of Song will not approach the Muse
Till he has been purified
Then he returns and sings till dawn
The Spirit now moving from inside

I do my songwriting
Without the sacrifice
I write my songs in comfort
With a cold drink over ice
All I ever do is
Doo-doo-doo-doo doo-doo
All I ever say is
Yay-yeah-yeah yeah-yeah-yay
All I ever do is
Doo-doo-doo-doo doo-doo-doo

I'm unable to write in the text box, can't figure out why

That's annoying.  Try using a different browser?  --JB

Summa Babalogicum

You show me my life through a prism
Of my own foolish narcissism
And tempt me to buy what isn’t
Anything but a false reflection
That pretty picture in the mirror
The songs that flatter every hearer
You say they will bring me nearer
To a made-up image of perfection

Please don’t try to tell me anything
Please don’t try to sell me anything
I’m not clientele, or anything
I’m alright doing pretty well

You want to sell me a rebellion
Free me up to be a hellion
It’s a bit too Machiavellian
Must I pay for my own prostitution?
Buy yourself some outlaw tattoos
You have but your chains to lose
And we can sell you matching shoes
Shopping is a form of revolution

Please don’t try to tell me anything
Please don’t try to sell me anything
I’m not clientele, or anything
I’m alright doing pretty well

Red team, blue team, same team, new team
Pictures of whatever you dream
Brand new colors, same old régime
Anyway, I know I’ll end up paying
Sorry, friend, you kind of lost me
All these slogans just exhaust me
Tell me what it’s going to cost me
So I can cheer the new flag we’re displaying

Please don’t try to tell me anything
Please don’t try to sell me anything
I’m not clientele, or anything
I’m alright doing pretty well

Happy birthday, dear Critter.  It is only with your eyes I see.

This Swelling of the Tide

Today I was talking to some people who work at the University of California, Riverside and I said by way of making conversation, I hope you're having nice sunny weather like we are up here in Oakland, which, of course they are, they're in southern California, and that's what the first woman said, she said oh yes it's very nice, it's sunny but it's also windy.  You know, the Santa Ana winds. And then the other woman said, Look at those palm trees bending over.  This is a true story, as best as I can remember it.

Unknown Unknowns

In the "Spheres of Influence" erotico-polical vein:


I saw Donald Rumsfeld
On a TV Show last night
That bastard may be crazy
But I've come to think he's right:

All knowledge is provisional, there is no fixed ideal
The world's just a construct that we pretend is real
Everything in love and war's just patterns in the swerve
There's nothing really true or false, just triumph of the nerve

Known unknowns
Unknown unknowns
There's no room for a demilitarized zone
Known unknowns
Unknown unknowns
All these unknown unknowns

The day I came into your house and made you my girl Friday
You fought and bit, but I prevailed.  Freedom's not so tidy.
We had a week-long party dedicated to annihilation
Til you covered me with flowers and we called it liberation.

Known unknowns
Unknown unknowns
Our former friends are now overthrown
Known unknowns
Unknown unknowns
All these unknown unknowns

It's true I bound you up and attempted asphyxiation
But then you covered me all over in shame and humiliation
Eventually I pushed you in the booby trap I'd built
But if there's nothing true or false, how can there be guilt?

Known unknowns
Unknown unknowns
Finally we all stand alone
Known unknowns
Unknown unknowns
All these unknown unknowns

Sub Mission (2)

From Bandra to Banda Sea



Still Can't Say No

Thinking today of the song that goes, "Someone talking, talking says that he's a socialist, whatever the hell that means.  I never got the gist.  I can understand why somebody would think that I am queer, but that he'd be just like me is the only thing I fear.  And still I can't say no."