August 2003

August 25, 2003
When I was a kid, the songs that got stuck in my noggin had lyrics like:

On promenades where drunks propose to lonely arcade mannequins
Where ceremonies pause at the jeweller's shop display
Feigning casual silence in strained romantic interludes
Till they commit themselves to the muted journey home
And the pool player rests on another cue
Last nights hero picking up his dues
A honeymoon gambled on a ricochet
She's staring at the brochures at the holidays

Chalking up a name in your hometown
Standing all your mates to another round
Laughing at the world till the barman wipes away the warm wet circles

I saw teenage girls like gaudy moths
A classroom's shabby butterflies
Flirt in the glow of stranded telephone boxes
Planning white lace weddings from smeared hearts and token proclamations
Rolled from stolen lipsticks across the razored webs of glass
Sharing cigarettes with experience with her giggling jealous confidantes
She faithfully traces his name with quick bitten fingernails
Through the tears of condensation that'll cry through the night
As the glancing headlights of the last bus kiss adolescence goodbye

Now that I'm all grown-up like, I get songs stuck in my head that feature lyrics like:

Come on, everybody,
Let's clean up the house

Let's go!

Come on, everybody,
Let's clean up the house

Clean up the house!
(Tidy it up! Tidy it up!)

Clean up the house!
(Tidy it up! Tidy it up!)

Everybody clean up the house

Sweet Jesus.