FOREIGN
COASTLINES
(average recording with slides)
You stand there insulting the people who love you
You don’t understand that they like to be near you
So why do you keep on destroying the scenery
With pointless descriptions of times far away – far away from
here?
If you’re still living there
Then why are you standing here
On this cliff of the poet
Why don’t you just blow it away: this dream of yours?
So you’re caught in the storm of a foreign coastline
Do you have to keep telling me that you’ve seen other
places?
Do you have to keep telling me that those other people were
fine?
Just who are you talking to? I don’t think it’s me
Just who are you talking to? I don’t think it’s me or mine
No thank you mister I don’t like gems
I’m sick and tired of your goddamn gems
Why do you talk to me when I want to be alone on the hill?
I go on insulting the people who love me
I don’t understand that they want to be near me
So why do I keep on destroying the scenery
With tear-jerking memories of times far away - far away from here?
She’s there; not fair.
Copyright Michael Coghlan 1980
Commentary
Written on the Isle of Wight, and inspired by a fellow Australian who walked with me along the coast talking incessantly about all the other great places he'd visited! Also includes some interesting messages to self, and still missing my long lost love The poet referred to is Tennyson who lived in the region for 40 years. Originally written and sung in a very high vocal register which is beyond me now so have recently rearranged it in a lower key. The song has stood the test of time pretty well.
