Further to my re-ignited love affair with London (I have spent my life toeing the line between love and hate, and a recent chance stumble upon a breaking dawn rooftop view of my home town has pushed me full on into London-love again, and I have spent the week reconnecting with my city) - ah, I haven't lost my knack of getting stuck inside brackets (I don't know why - I use too many brackets, always have. What a strange quirk to have. I think it's my propensity to have 'side thoughts'..)
Anyway, I stumbled upon an old Pogues track that I always thought was particularly beautiful, and the way I feel when I end up in an old pub in the wee hours.
As with Shane MacGowan's typically distinct style of singing - as if through a mouth full of ale (not sure it's a technique so much as a side effect of having a mouth full of ale..) - people often miss his knack for touching lyrics, on-point observations and his truly romantic turn of phrase.
Anyway, I stumbled upon an old Pogues track that I always thought was particularly beautiful, and the way I feel when I end up in an old pub in the wee hours.
As with Shane MacGowan's typically distinct style of singing - as if through a mouth full of ale (not sure it's a technique so much as a side effect of having a mouth full of ale..) - people often miss his knack for touching lyrics, on-point observations and his truly romantic turn of phrase.
Ah London, you're a lady, laid out before my eyes
Your heart of gold it pulses between your scarred up thighs
Your eyes are full of sadness, red busses skirt your hem
Your head-dress is a ring of lights but I would not follow them
Your architects were madmen - your builders sane but drunk
Among your faded jewels shine acid house and punk
You are a scarlet lady; your streets run red with blood
Oh my darling they have used you and covered you with mud
It was deep down in your womb, my love, I drank my quart of sin
While chinamen played cards and draughts
And knocked back mickey finns
Your piss is like a river, its' scent is beer and gin
Your hell is in the summer and you blossom in the spring
September is your purgatory - Christmas is your heaven
And when the stinking streets of summer
Are washed away by rain
At the dark end of a lonely street,
That's where you lose your pain
'Tis then your eyes light up my love
And sparkle once again.
Your heart of gold it pulses between your scarred up thighs
Your eyes are full of sadness, red busses skirt your hem
Your head-dress is a ring of lights but I would not follow them
Your architects were madmen - your builders sane but drunk
Among your faded jewels shine acid house and punk
You are a scarlet lady; your streets run red with blood
Oh my darling they have used you and covered you with mud
It was deep down in your womb, my love, I drank my quart of sin
While chinamen played cards and draughts
And knocked back mickey finns
Your piss is like a river, its' scent is beer and gin
Your hell is in the summer and you blossom in the spring
September is your purgatory - Christmas is your heaven
And when the stinking streets of summer
Are washed away by rain
At the dark end of a lonely street,
That's where you lose your pain
'Tis then your eyes light up my love
And sparkle once again.
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