So there I was...earlier on today...trying to keep myself cheerful in the face of various family concerns, a renewed disappointment in the human race, the hopelessness of existence...oh you know the kind of thing...and I was thinking 'time to write a cheering up poem' and then I remembered this song from 1979 and I smiled (hurray!):
See how great songs are! I liked this one as a kid but I think I appreciate it more now. Some days it is really, really hard to stay anything remotely like cheerful any of the time (not that a person has to be cheerful all the time or anything...but I think that at least now and again it is a good idea...).
Then after finding the Ian Dury I remembered that I have written 'cheering up poems' before (and have needed them too...). Here's an old one...till I come up with something else. I may well get this one out on Sunday night. It's a reworking of something else but I'm sure you'll be able to work it out. Now I'm off to go and make a dress out of a duvet cover or something...
Second to nun
Clothes out of curtains and warbling nuns
Big dreamy moons and sleepy old suns
Seeing a lighthouse from high on a swing
These are a few of my favourite things
Chocolate fingers and friendly bus drivers
Finally calmer rave era survivors
Hearing the radio starting to sing
These are a few of my favourite things
Big umbrellas and good working plumbing
A real surprise you didn't see coming
Lemon and tonic and ice cubes and gin
These are a few of my favourite things
When the bills come
When life's no fun
When I'm feeling done
I simply remember my favourite things
And then I don't feel so glum
RF 2005
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19 comments:
I may well take to singing this on my "down days" Rachel.
I do hope you read that on Sunday, Rachel. I hope spring is coming your way... and thanks for the Ian Dury!!!
Which one Weaver - mine or Dury's?
And Barbara...yes it was a bonny Spring-like day today. My recent ups and downs have been more to do with motherhood really (amongst other things). It's hard work the mothering thing...bits of it really stump me!
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Very good! (Yours) When I think of clothes out of curtains, I think of Carol Burnett's spoof of "Gone With the Wind" and the curtain-rod.
I liked Dury's "Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick", but I don't think I want to know what that means.
Also like The Stranglers "Nice 'n' Sleazy' which reminds me a bit of Dury for some reason.
Kat
P.S. I used to make clothes out of old table cloths.
I don't know if you've seen the kids film 'Enchanted'. It is probably one of my favourites of the ones I've watched with Small Girl - very funny and lots of curtains-to-frocks action too!
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the beauty of music eh :)
Yes...last night a DJ saved my life and all that...
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And here you are, a little bit of sunshine in spite of gloom. :)
Yep, read that one Sunday. I think everyone, worldwide, has a bit of gloom and doom hanging over them. The economy, politicians...and this weird weather! Ours goes from Spring to Winter and back again in a single week! Today it was 70 degrees...and they're calling for snow Sunday night.
Ah, dresses and curtains. :) Kat's mention of Carol Burnett was exactly what came to mind first. Wonder if that's on YouTube? Anyway, I remember Mom once explaining how little money they had when we were a young family. "That dress you wore on the first day of school," she half sobbed to 8 year old me,"I made it from the skirt of one of my old high school dresses!"
And, although I swear I was the good kid, I looked at her somewhat perplexed and replied, "Mom, it's not like you pulled down the curtains to clothe me." :)
And of course after all the films Small Girl begs me to make clothes out of curtains for her! I'm no dressmaker but one of my friends did make her an outfit out of an old duvet cover (and one for her own daughter out of an old tablecloth) when she was visiting last summer. We got some great photos!
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In my early teens I would rewrite the lyrics to songs and my friend Tom and I would record them. Thankfully neither the lyrics nor the tapes have survived; they were ... well, you know what teenage boys are like. They certainly cheered us up though.
Right. I've got the curtains down. What now? :)
Well, it depends what kind of frock you're after, Ken. Ballgown or something more casual?
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second poem that I happen to read today and it makes me smile, thank you :-)
(first one: Dorothy Parker's 'One Perfect Rose' :-)
Thanks Roxana. Coincidentally I was reading about roses about half an hour ago over on the Solitary Walker's blog. Is today rose day?
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p.s. Parker had quite the way with words, I like her writing very much.
That'l sure do the trick, banishing glumness! (thanks for your visit and link back here, you have a very cool blog!)
Thanks Deborah. I came to you via Poetikat. I like the look of both of your blogs too.
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One of the truly great songs. And so well augmented here!
We've been here before! :)
Natural disasters and nasty diseases
Lethal bacteria that lurk in soft cheeses
Suspicious packages tied up with string
These are a few of my least favourite things.
Detective stories with torn out last pages
Crappy McJobs that pay minimum wages
Strictly Come Dancing (EastEnders to boot)
All these are things that I'd stuff down the chute.
When the shit falls, when the fan spins,
When I don't feel too bright
I simply reflect how much worse things could get
And then it all feeeels alright.
Yes, Dominic, this one was on MySpace a while back. I particularly like your long 'eee'!
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