Song #13 Banana Skins and Incense

 

At about the age of 14 I was sitting at the back of the bus on the way home from school talking with friends about what ‘mellow yellow’ meant. I was told it meant the high you got from smoking banana skins! Ten years later Donovan, writer of the hit song, Mellow Yellow, performed at Adelaide’s Apollo Stadium. Around the same time Grateful Dead performed a concert alongside the pyramids at Giza.

This song compares aspects of the two concerts.  I’m not sure I believe this now that I come to write it, but I have always said this was the only song I had ever written that took as long to write as it takes to play it. That is, it just popped out organically as a finished product. It couldn’t have been that quick but I do remember it happened very quickly and with little effort. And I still consider it a fine song. Rare for songs to just come put like that.

And 24 year old Michael thought he was getting old … ha!

 

BANANA SKINS AND INCENSE

(Listen HERE)

Mellowing in my old age

Donovan sure had it won

Sitting up there on a bed of flowers

Apollo Stadium looks and cowers at his beauty

The critics they canned him while others they loved him

I just sat on the fence

Remembering dreams and talk about burning

Banana skins and incense

Banana skins and incense

Had a hit and got high

Got as high as a kite

I’m going to Itchycoo Park tonight

Where the Small Faces are knocking out ballads

Little tin soldiers and all

 

But life in the classroom ain’t bad

I’m viewing the wonders of Giza

Grateful Dead under a full bright moon

Jerry Garcia saying, “I’ll tell you soon what happened there”

When he knows!

The critics they weren’t there while others they loved it

I read it in Rolling Stone

And I had a dream and did some burning of

Banana skins and incense

Banana skins and incense

Had a hit and got high

Got as high as a kite

I’m putting away my strings for the night

‘Cos Itchycoo Park would be far too cold

And after all we’re getting old.

 

(Copyright Michael Coghlan 1978)

Song #12 A Pebble in the Ocean

 

I did sing this as a song for a short time but whatever tune belonged to it has long gone. Reads more like a poem now and I was obviously trying to say something meaningful using a sustained sea metaphor. I suspect I was also being deliberately oblique trying to disguise something that I didn’t want to be too obvious but I don’t remember what it may have been 😊

 

A PEBBLE IN THE OCEAN

 

I’ll drop a pebble in the ocean

And if you’re near please just wave

Smile and be buffeted

And I’ll ride your sweet return

 

If you’d rather make a storm

Just send a warning sign

And I’ll float on over to mine

It may be choppy but it’s warm

 

Stars are like people

Both shine and lead us astray

Provide light and comfort

Through both the night and day

 

But it’s night time that storms

The peace and the calm away

When disparate lovers play

While others can only dream

 

The dark of night gives rest and solace

The dark of night disturbs the ripples

Of honest understanding

And lost misunderstanding

 

Join waves; make slaves

Remember the knave of bondage

You’re an island, part of the sea

Please just let us all be.

1978

 

Bengal Tiger At The Baghdad Zoo - Review

Little Theatre, The Cloisters, University Of Adelaide, Thu 14 May.

Presented by Adelaide University Theatre Guild

The Iraq war was a descent into madness – a war based on fabricated evidence of weapons of mass destruction that did not exist. The absurdly named Coalition Of The Willing, Australia amongst them, waded into a war that created a hell that helped unleash Al-Quaeda, the Islamic state, and a host of other miseries upon the Iraqi people. It is in this hell that Rajiv Joseph sets his award-winning play. We view events through the eyes of American soldiers, Iraqi civilians, the son of Saddam Hussein, and the ghost of a tiger that has escaped the Baghdad zoo.

The dialogue is laced with dark humour as we watch the soldiers lose their sanity, limbs and the crass souvenirs of war that they hold dear. The military presence brings nothing but misery to Iraqi civilians. Musa, a local Iraqi gardener played by Nigel Tripodi, initially tries to gain from employment as an interpreter but ultimately despairs at the foreigners’ stupidity and lack of sensitivity towards their customs and culture.

The play’s telling irony is that the most intelligent and aware character in the play is an animal’s ghost. Only he, played with great presence by David Grybowski (looking suspiciously like a crazy Spike Milligan) sees the pathos and tragedy of innocent lives being lost as a city burns, the layers of sadness, and the pointlessness of the conflict.

Oliver de Rohan effectively portrays marine Kev’s personal descent into madness. His soldier mate Tom (Adam Tuominen) is played with just the right amount of bluster and bravado befitting the stereotypical profile of an American Marine before he too is forced to face his own fallibility staring into the eyes of a leper.

Multiple short scenes keep the pacing lively. Carefully chosen musical interludes between scenes reinforce the growing sense of futility. The set and staging is visually engaging and everyone is close to the action within the Little Theatre.

While the take home message of this production may be on the bleak side, the play itself is entertaining and a touch eccentric. It’s a good combination supported by a strong cast, an impressive set, and enlightened direction by Nick Fagan.

(Also published on The Clothesline.)

Song #11 Don't Judge Man

DON’TJUDGE MAN 

People livin’ with each other

People fightin’ with each other

Some of us learn from the people around us

Others just fix ‘emselves to the wall

 

Got to learn to forgive others’ sins

And never ever judge them so

Our sins, their sins

Ain’t you ever been around a man who’s down?

 

CHORUS

Don’t judge man

But don’t man judge

Don’t judge man

But don’t man judge

 

Travellin’ lightly

Hittin’ so lightly on the nerve

Of the walls that we cast around us

Building our own little world

 

CHORUS

 

Alright I’d better go now

Alright I’d better go now

Before I get burned

By a world I sometimes just don’t understand

 

Copyright 1978

Footnote:

I was never really sure about this song. It’s built around a riff rather than a tune or  melody but some people really liked it. Only now as I resurrect it do I finally accept that it is indeed a fine song! You can hear it HERE.  (Thank you Rob Childs for the encouragement.)

 

 

Song #10 Armageddon

 I fell in love with Israel in 1976. I went back there for a shorter stint on Kibbutz Gevim late in 1978. I think that is where most of this song was written. I was obviously feeling very defensive about people discussing Israel as the seat and cause of Armageddon and hoped another better fate awaited her.

Israel has changed a great deal since 1978. I no longer nurture much hope for a positive outcome to their problems. Generations of hate on both sides of the conflict have soured all hopes of reconciliation.

This song had a very limited ‘live’ life. Another song that was not given enough love or time.

 

ARMAGEDDON

 

I see no reason for Armageddon

I think you’re wrong

See the rivers of Babylon

That my dreams float on

 

Green hills before me

Birds singing in the creek bed

Land of our fathers

Giving us trouble and strife

 

They have wandered far and wide

Back to their home

They turned the desert into spring

From a mountain sea

 

Blue skies smile down

The world seems peaceful to me

A strong wind calls back

Answers my joy with a plea

 

It sees no reason for Armageddon

If we don’t take sides

There is no reason for Armageddon

If we don’t take sides

 

But that land won’t leave me

These old homes bring it all back

The fear and the anguish

The love and the beauty still there

 

Brown eyes and dark skin

Yellow land in love and war

There is no reason for Armageddon

If we don’t take sides

I think you’re wrong

 

1978

Song #9 On the Ground and Five Miles High

 

ON THE GROUND AND FIVE MILES HIGH

 

Baby you turn my heart around

Help me get my feet back on the ground

I’ve been here in this same old town

Watchin’ and waitin’ for you to come on down

I suit your delightful air

When I wake in the morning

And think “what shall I wear?”

Oohoo you’re putting me on

You make me think that I love you

But you could be wrong

 

But maybe this time it was my own doing

I flew in dead tired on a commuter jet

Good feelings shared at both ends of the set

Contributing to the final ruin

Contributing to the final ruin

 

CHORUS

Smiles and heartache on that same sunny morning

Saw me gone out the back door when the moon was dawning

Smiles and heartache on that same sunny morning

Saw me gone out the back door when the moon was dawning

Da da da dum da da da

Da da da dum da da da   da da da daah …..

 

Five miles high with clouds a-driftin’

Dull and grey in tune with my heart

I stayed too long;  just two fateful days

Meant tears of sadness turned into joy

I suit your delightful air

When I wake in the morning

And think “what shall I wear?”

Oohoo you’re putting me on

You make me think that I love you

But you could be wrong

 

CHORUS

 

I enjoyed being up there will you ever come down?

I enjoyed being up there will you ever come down?

 

1977 

Footnote:

Clearly back in the dating game! Think this may be a mash-up of two or more short lived relationships. I seem to have moved from being intensely lonely to being hard to get! It was never a regular in my repertoire – it needed fine tuning and I never gave it the time.

Song #8 Border Lights

 

BORDER LIGHTS

 

I can see them border lights

It means I’m halfway home

From the grey skies and dirty streets

Of good old Melbourne town

Out here the starlights

And the shape of the trees

Go on forever

 

Sitting by the jukebox

At the edge of town

With roadhouse cool he tells me

There’s nothing goin’ down

In this hick town

He’s at the end of his tether

 

I couldn’t handle his distance

And his vacant eyes

Masking his friendly face

With an evil disguise

So I walked out the door

That leads to forever

 

Three years later it’s Bordertown again

And I’m a-steppin’ out into the night

I crossed the road with my cap in my hand

Said soldier, “will you give me a ride?”

He said, “Sonny I’ve killed people for less than that.”

Then he smiled and then said “alright”.

 

Copyright Michael Coghlan 1977

1977 – back in Australia. Back on the familiar hitchhiking run between Adelaide and Melbourne. Based on real events from several long waits for rides in Bordertown. Still stands the test of time as quite a reasonable song IMO. And at last I’m no longer just writing about love lost angst!

Song #7 From Loneliness to Home

 

More bleating about being alone. I do remember feeling lonely for a very long time but it’s tiresome to track this ongoing theme decades later! 1976 - still in England but clearly going home soon and looking forward to it. Already picturing flying in over Adelaide “nestled between the hills and the sea.”

I can still play this song – it’s still in the memory. Not a bad tune actually – sounds much better than it reads 😊

 

FROM LONELINESS TO HOME

I never thought I’d feel this alone

And I’ve got to say that I – I want home

I’m on my own – it’s happened again

But I’m not one to stand around and cry

You can wait a long time till the tears are dry

So I’ll take to the air for the journey home

 

See see my home town

See see my home town

Nestled between the hills and the sea

Safe and secure like my dreams and me

 

I’ve been here so long I don’t know what’s going on

Sitting her watchin’ and thinkin’ ‘bout not much at all

Wonderin’ if I’m the only one

Who wonders why the sun goes down

And comes up again at dawn

 

I’ve been here too long – I don’t know what’s going on

1976

Song #6 Wanderin' Around

I’m now in England. I’m still feeling lonely and as I backtrack down this memory lane it’s clear that the break-up with my first real girlfriend had a huge impact on me. Two years on and I’m still dreaming I might bump into her on the other side of the world.

But this song also reveals how being in the UK sparked something inside of me and I start to contemplate the fact that somehow or rather I’m connected to ‘this rainy, windy, land.”

Though the song was written in England the ending may have been added when I was back in Australia. I stayed away for 14 months.

Interestingly this is the oldest song that I still play so it has stood the test of time. Very much a folk song with obvious influence from the English folk tradition. And I’d learnt to pick! 

 

WANDERIN’ AROUND (Listen HERE)

I wandered around in the great outdoors

Met a lover who was past dead and gone

Found a stone and carved my name

Thought a lady may pass there alone

 

Starlit night and a rock’n’rollin’ beat

The trees go wilting in the night

People danced while others drank and sang

It was cold and a Saturday night

 

CHORUS

While the sun looked down

Knockin’ you up town

To the pub, or a beach, or a lady’s arms

And you stroll over surf in your surfboard dreams

And never gave a thought to nature’s harms

 

In the eyes of the world

You’re a child gone astray

But your only concern was today

Walked on strong while feelin’ insecure

You’re just home – things are lookin’ newer

 

Take it in and sus it all about

Your accent’s showing and it’s pure

English, Welsh, and Irish in there too

If only those Celts has been fewer

 

With their crosses and their reels

And their stubborn present pride

It’s not easy to tell how you feel

You sprung from these people in this rainy windy land

Think I’ll float home on the next high tide

 

CHORUS

Where the sun looks down

Knockin’ you up town

To the pub, or a beach, or a lady’s arms

And you stroll over surf in your surfboard dreams

And never gave a thought to nature’s harms

 

In the eyes of the world

You’re a child gone astray

But your only concern was today

Walked on strong while feelin’ insecure

You’re just home – things are lookin’ newer

You’re just home – things are lookin’ newer

You’re just home – things are lookin’ newer

 

Copyright Michael Coghlan 1976

 

 

 

 

Song #5 I'll Never Write

 

 

A bit cringeworthy really, but in the interests of full disclosure: I obviously went to the trouble of typing this up many years ago so I must have thought it worthwhile back then. I think I played it in C#m and referred to it as “The C#m Song” in the years I played it live.

I’m clearly still trying to leave the memory of someone behind… but that someone keeps entering those vacant moments when I was alone …. 

I’LL NEVER WRITE 

I took a long time to write

I took a long time to call

You know it’s because I love you

I’ve been thinkin’ of you all day long girl

Sitting here at this window staring out to sea

 

I keep dreaming of you – you, me, us

Wondering why we ever parted

What I think is not what happened

Why don’t we just get together and thrash it all out again?

 

We’ll see who’s right

We’ll see who’s wrong

Already I know it’s best left dead

 

So I’ll never write and I’ll never call

Another time another place and another space

When time has done its work

And I can see your face and see the sea

See the sea

See the sea

 

1975 Aged 21