I Think It Might Have Been Raining

• I woke up early the next morning,
  before time had been switched on, the hours still
  sleeping in my watch. Things weren't quite ready
  to happen chronologically.

  At some point, I was downstairs
  with a mug half-full of coffee.
  I was looking out the window, taking small sips of
  caffeine and sky and milk. I wasn't quite sober
  enough yet to tell the difference.

  But I could tell the difference between
  glass and water, when they exploded
  on the kitchen floor.

  I remember my socks were soaked through.
  I was sitting by the radiator, even though
  it wasn't on, still wrapped in a coat
  that was wetter than I was.

  And I definitely stumbled out of bed
  on feet that didn't feel like my own,
  trying to ignore a headache while
  opening the curtains in search of sunrise.

  I didn't find it. But I did find two Paracodol
  in the cupboard above the cooker
  so I decided they'd do for now; I dropped them
  in water, watched it eat away at them like acid.
  And I found a broom to sweep them up
  when they fell from my grasp.

  Then I remember standing in the hallway,
  deciding not to wear shoes in case I
  tripped over the laces.
  I didn't want to trip:

  when I walked downstairs, I hugged the banisters
  for balance, and closed my eyes
  so I could let myself believe that they were human.
  Because my arms wouldn't believe anything else,
  and my legs wouldn't move
  if they knew there was no-one there to catch them
  if they missed a step.

  I know I ended up in bed, pulling the sheets
  back over me, resting wet hair on a damp
  pillow, trying to work out
  if I was feeling lonely.

  But somewhere before that,
  I was outside, before the sky had been filled in.
  It was just the right shade of empty. I still wanted
  the sun to burn it down, but it could wait.
  I remember I listened to birdsong for a long time.
  And I think it might have been raining.

  
  

  
  

  By David Carey - Many thanks to David for letting me share this with you guys. I don't own any of the rights or anything (and he wrote it, obviously) but I thought it was so good that more people should read it.

  
  

  And now you have :)

A Rediscovery

So hey, here I am again, just pottering around the contorted crevices of my brain and I've discovered and am now pondering the beautiful music of Tom Petty. I am, of course, already aware of his music; Highway Companion was actually my parents's highway companion for about a year, so every trip we went on, we would listen to it. What's more, he was also a member of The Traveling Wilburys, unquestionably the best supergroup in existence (except perhaps The Rockers, but that is an EPQ-worthy debate.)

First and foremost, Petty's voice is fantastic - it's quite rough and almost vulnerable, which makes the words of his songs so much more powerful to the listener. It's also a very distinctive voice which means that, especially in The Traveling Wilburys, his voice stands out from the likes of Roy Orbison and Jeff Lynne, whose voices are both very smooth and refined.

The second thing which makes Tom Petty's work so good are the amazing lyrics. Bob Dylan once called Tom Petty a poet, but he has always denied it. Personally, I agree with Dylan. I mean, look at this, for example:

Tried so hard to stand alone,
Struggled to see past my nose
Always had more dogs than bones;
I could never wear those clothes.

To me, those words (taken from 'Square One', from Highway Companion) are haunting and beautiful. But if you don't like that, how about this?:

So If I come to your door
Let me sleep on your floor,
I'll give you all I have and a little more.

That's the chorus to 'Down South', also from Highway Companion and not only is it some of the best writing for a song that I've ever heard (for me, it's up there with Don McLean's 'Vincent' and 'Mist On A Monday Morning' by Roy Wood) it's also something so wonderfully written that it wouldn't look out of place in an A-Level poetry analysis.

If anyone is interested, or keeping notes, I have also added Square One to my list of music which I would like at my funeral. I've posted link below, so you can see why. Also below is a link to a Web Page about some of the more well-known songs Petty has written. Thanks for reading :)



http://performingsongwriter.com/tom-petty-songs/

A Couple Of Links For You

As I always do, I am going to put up a couple of plugs for people I like (or at least know) who are getting Internet Savvy.

Emily's mad blog has now moved URL address from Famous Last Words ( http://shirleynomates.blogspot.co.uk/ ) to : http://mirrorscantseeyourheart.blogspot.co.uk/
It is still amazing :) (I wonder where she gets her inspiration...)


Alice's literary blog is still going strong at: http://mingledyarns.wordpress.com/
It's fabulous. If you type mingled yarns into Google, it's the second one :)


Seb and Aidan's podcast - for anyone who has yet to discover this, it's a podcast dedicated to sharing unsigned bands with the world. It's quite nice and I know lots of my friends listen to it because it's very funny. This is a link to the first one, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xlP8RdmB59U but I think there are about nine now?

Herries's fantastically daft/philosophical blog does actually get its own post on here in a few months' time (yeah, I know, Emma from the future! Woooooooooo scary!!!) but for anyone who is reading this through from the beginning (you strange, sad little people) you can find it here: http://thingsthatijustdontunderstand.blogspot.co.uk/

Thanks guys, much love

xx