the soundtrack of the very, very old life

Lollipop, The Chordettes

The very first song the Fool remembers liking, sneakily dancing to it in front of his Other Grandmother's full-length mirror, he must have been 4 or 5 years-old. How sad is that?

the soundtrack of the craven life

She can’t blame him for avoiding the end
He don’t want to hit the bottom of the pool
She says he’s afraid of pain
Afraid of the dark and lonely days
And if he’d only take a dive
She says, he’d surface in Heaven
She says, he’d surface in Heaven
She says, he’d surface in Heaven

“Dive, dive, dive …”

This tangled web is a safety net
He won’t interfere ‘cos it’s all he’s got
She says, he’s a coward now, deterioration escalates
She’s threatening and heckling:
“Dive and you’d surface in Heaven,
Oh dive and you’d surface in Heaven
Oh come on, dive and you’d surface in Heaven”

“C’mon try, try, try …”

He calls, “please don’t make me change too much,
It’s taken so much time to learn so little
And I won’t go under for Heaven
No, I won’t go under for Heaven
I won’t go under for Heaven”

“C’mon dive, dive, dive, ah, ahhh, aahhh, oh dive …“

Surface in Heaven, Pierce Turner

modern life

They go for days without shaving.
They walk the streets in their bare backs – and think nothing of sitting down to lunch without even a t-shirt on.
They don’t know how to tie their own bow ties.
They have extended casual Friday (an iniquitous concept in itself) to sloppy everyday.
They wear socks with their Topsiders.

They don’t care if they are served fish without proper fish cutlery.
They can’t tell Milka from Valrhona.
They go out for breakfast.
They drink Coke.
They like cheesecake. And Oreos.

They unhesitatingly enter the lift or cross the door ahead of you – the idea of letting you have precedence doesn’t even cross their minds.
They watch soaps and reality shows.
They genuinely don’t understand the concept of delayed gratification. Or of sin and penance.

They treat – and talk to – their elders as if they were their own age.
They wouldn’t know how to address a King if they met him (as one does).

They NEVER sit up straight.

Sometimes I lie awake at night and worry about these things.