Monday 22 August 2011

Come All Me Young Darlings

A song I wrote some years ago for drunks and drinkers everywhere. That misunderstood breed of men - rogues and romantics, idlers and idealists, pugilists and poets, philanderers and philosophers, scoundrels and sages - but mostly good-hearted fellows, victims of the uncertainties of this cruel world. Here's to them all!


Come All Me Young Darlings

Come all me young darlings and listen awhile
For an old fool's about to address you
And I see from the way that you snigger and smile
That the prospect does not much impress you;
Though a drunken old tosspot I now might appear
It was not always so, I assure you, my dears,
So come gather round closely these words for to hear
Then I'll bid you goodnight and God bless you.

Well, once long ago there were dreams to be dreamed
for the world it seemed ready for changes,
There were bright golden days up ahead so it seemed,
We knew nothing of hardships and dangers,
And we sang our songs loud in the still of the night
And stood shoulder to shoulder to fight the good fight,
But some soon changed sides and then others took flight
Until now I'm left singing to strangers.

For time takes its toll and love takes its leave
And then loneliness soon takes to drinking,
To the telling of stories that no one believes
And to sitting in silence and thinking,
For I'm thinking of those that I once loved and knew,
And I'm thinking of things that I once thought were true,
And I'm thinking there's nothing at all I can do
As I wait for the sun to go sinking.

But hidden away in the back of my brain
There's a foolish yet beautiful notion,
I remember those islands once glimpsed from a plane
Like jewels in the grey northern ocean,
For the green fields of England shone gloriously
And just for one moment I thought I could see
That land fit for heroes where men could be free
From all troubles and pain and commotion.

So all you young darlings here with me tonight
Pay no heed to these tired words of warning,
If you know good from bad
                                                       if you know wrong from right
Maybe all will be well in the morning,
But for me the distinction's becoming unclear
For my eyes have grown bloodshot and dim with the years;
They've been dazzled by beauty
and blinded by tears.
So now goodnight,
and God bless you,
my darlings.


Take care.




6 comments:

  1. I like it and I'd like to hear the melody. (I heard one as I read it, but I think my phrasing was off a bit.) I sure can understand the words. Jim

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  2. This is very special Jim. How about a link to you on you tube singing it?

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  3. I found myself reading your song with a certain lilt in the lines much as I would read a poem and it is good just as that but I wonder what its music would be, perhaps jaunty or maybe soulful; and where the emphasis on the words would lie then:)

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  4. Brilliant words - where's the music?

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  5. A man of many talents, I see. It's hard to read without imagining music as there is a lilt to the lines.

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  6. The tune I have in mind is a traditional-sounding melody in a minor key that could be sung unaccompanied or with very simple backing - something one might imagine being sung late at night in a pub after a beer or two too many. If you catch me in such circumstances (unlikely these days) you might hear it being mumbled incoherently. Thanks for your interest, John (not Jim, Joe!)

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