There was a long stretch in the 90s where I wrote very few songs, and I've just guessed the dates for many songs. But I know this one was written just before the overthrow of Saddam Hussein in 2003 - so perhaps 2002.
DON’T
CHANGE YOUR MIND
One day we’ll
all be gone
Some day
there’ll be a me-less dawn
Do you
wonder – what will remain?
Of that crazy
guy from down the road?
Who for 10
years was always there
Smoking,
gutter bound
A child-man
in his own time
Already a
statue in my mind
Or the two
guys with hip long hair
As twins
they walk, heading somewhere
Each day the
same routine
Who will remember
them when they’re gone?
There’s a battle for terror in every Western land
Coalition of the willing looking for their man
Guns in central Asia pointed at the man
Who detonates bombs with a wave of his hand
Meanwhile
down on the sand
Adelaide cruises
on
Sunsets end
our days
I come home
and find you there
Whatever
things may come
Home means peace
with you
Safe harbour
for another day
I hope you
don’t wake and change your mind
Bombs explode while Baghdad boils
Some still say it’s a battle for oil
Papers freak us out; mayhem all around
Terror Australis – where are you bound?
One day we’ll
all be gone
Please hold
me and keep me near
In our safe
harbour
Please don’t
wake and change your mind
I hope you
don’t wake and change
I hope you
don’t wake and change
I hope you
don’t wake and change
Your mind
(M
Coghlan circa 2000)
Commentary: written around the time the Coalition of the Willing (US, UK, Australia) believed Iraq was manufacturing weapons of mass destruction and there was much chest-thumping and war mongering among Western allies. Clearly too I'm beginning to contemplate mortality. It's also a love song; a song of thanks to Elizabeth.
