Every year is getting shorter, never seem to find the time.
Time, Pink Floyd
Plans that either come to naught or half a page of scribbled lines
Hanging on in quiet desperation is the English way
The gas bills and the water rates, and payments on the car
Shangri-La, The Kinks
Too scared to think about how insecure you are
Life ain’t so happy in your little Shangri-la
All over the city we arise, arise
Civil Servant, Richard Dawson
For a job we despise, despise, despise
The centre of my so called being is
My wandering days are over, Belle and Sebastian
The space between your bed and wardrobe with the louvre doors
This episode was recorded during Stage 4 in Melbourne, August 2020. Our world view narrowing to the bedroom, the bathroom, the kitchen. So I thought a good idea for an episode would be celebrating everyday existence. Ordinary Lives. The bits that get written out of the history books of the past. And, really, why listen to me when the lyrics from these artists do it so much better? Here’s a selection:-
I am the man who stays home and does the dishes
Dishes, Pulp
And how was your day? Is that woman still trying to do your head in?
In the staff room, lost in a daze, shovelling crisps into my face after an unspeakably awful call with a grieving mother
Civil servant, Richard Dawson
In Wetherspoons on the fruit machines, sinking my umpteenth Peroni, cackling like a hyena at the nasty jokes of my colleagues, none of whom I can stand
Where have I put my keys? I’ve looked in my pocket, behind the newspaper and underneath the remote control, and I cannot find where I put them, again
Domestica, Bjork
I thought she’d be back in three weeks and we’d go wandering the Peaks, sojourn in my Uncle Joe’s ashram
The light at the end of the tunnel (is the light of the coming train), Half Man Half Biscuit
For when you’re in Matlock Bath you don’t need Sylvia Plath, not while they’ve got Mrs. Gibson’s Jam
The spare room is fine, though a little haunted by Mr. Reagan who hung himself at number 13
My new house, The Fall
Be great when it’s decorated
I got a job with Stanley, he said I’d come in handy
Up the junction, Squeeze
He started me on Monday, so I had a bath on Sunday
I like the Starbucks here, it’s better than the other one, ‘cause the other one’s not as good
Shop Vac, Jonathan Coulton Coulton
They really need to put a light there cause it’s hard to turn, it’s hard to make a left turn
And when it’s time to go to bed I’m still awake inside my head
I’m floating up above the house and looking down
I guess I gotta go back there; I guess there never was any other answer.
