play a song for me
I'm not sleepy and there is no place I'm going to
Hey, Mr. Tambourine Man, play a song for me....
Could Bob Dylan have had some inkling of the man, Geoffrey Bunting, when he penned these lyrics a few years before GB debuted? And how could the wise Bob have known that tonight I'd be sitting here, tired but not sleepy wishing I could be falling under Geoffrey's 'dancing spell', ruminating on the melodious life he led?
It was a jingle-jangle morning on Geoffrey's magic swirling ship: I took one of Noah and Scott's prolific sunflowers up to Newtownbreda churchyard and laid it on Geoffrey's stomachstone. I know that most people have a headstone but the placement of the stone on the family plot is somewhere in the middle, and for Geoffrey, a stomachstone would be just the thing. It was a misty Belfast day and looking over the walls of the churchyard I could see the autumn colours beginning their journey down the hillsides. I thought of all the friends who would be thinking of Geoffrey, Dora and the rest of the Buntings this day and my heart was full of love and grief. Of course, Heartbreak Hotel kept trying to be the theme song of my day but really, Geoffrey was so rarely checked into that place that other lyrics carried the day:
You can do anything that you wanna do, but uh-huh honey, lay offa my blue suede shoes....I'm in love, I'm all shook up, mmm mmm, oh, oh, yeah, yeah....let's rock everybody lets rock everybody in the whole cell block was dancing to the jailhouse rock!...You the cutest jailbird I ever did see....Wherever you go, wherever you wander in your life...surely you know I wanna be there holding your hand...seeing you through in everything you do....drinking all night, got into a fight. Well, I feel so broke up I wanna go home. So hoist up the John B sail, see how the mainsail sets...let me go home....lovely Rita meter maid, lovely Rita meter maid nothing can come between us...when it gets dark I tow your heart away....standing by a parking meter when I caught a glance of Rita...when are you free to take some tea with me....Rita!....These are the days, oh-oh. These are days you remember. Never before and never since I promise....as you feel it, you'll know it is true that you are blessed and happy. It's true, that you are touched by something....
Anyway, you probably don't need my entire day's soundtrack (though I am sure Kevin Downs and others are wondering how I managed to ignore the faint strains of 'Whiskey in the Jar'. Very easily, I must say!) Suffice it to say, 3 years later Geoffrey still brings music into a life that, in my case, isn't usually dominated by music. The thought of him makes me want to to get off my chair and rock the world while my tender lily-white hands, averse to wet face cloths and dishwater, show everyone just how wonderful life is!
The kids and I had cheese, cheese on toast for dinner and it was the best I've tasted in ages. I am asking all of you out there who know and love Geoffrey to take a moment to feel the corner of your pillow tonight, just gently enjoy the cotton between your fingers. And if you have a lyric running through your mind as you read this, please, please comment. By the way, Where's your car?
6 comments:
Thanks for the invite up to the ladle, uh, I mean microphone, Meggie.
Ah, the simple and unforgetable moment that my dear friend Geoffrey sang to me "I see skies of blue, clouds of white...and I think to myself, what a wonderful world." He made me laugh or smile when I wasn't so inclined. A gift, that.
Just in case it is raining anywhere in our world today, I'm also thinking of "The wipers on the bus go swish, swish, swish."
Not because I remember him singing it, but because he reminds me to keep things in perspective, I sing "I don't want to work, I just want to bang on the drum all day."
Aren't there a dozen more, but because Abba needs mentioning, "Mother says I was a dancer before I could walk
She says I began to sing long before I could talk,
And I've often wondered, how did it all start? Who found out that nothing can capture a heart
Like a melody can? Well, whoever it was, Im a fan--without a song and a dance, what are we? Thank you for the music, for giving it to me."
In the words of the late great Johnny Cash - I still miss someone. Someones - Geoffrey in a special way today, and all of you.
This car is automatic!
Systematic!
Hydromatic!
Why, it's greased lightning!!!
Mine would be Dancing Queen... and not with a ladle but with a wooden spoon !
And can you remember "you are beautiful to me..." followed by your name ? I loved it !
Lucie--I think you may have been getting a special 'You're Beautiful' treatment from Geoffrey! Or did anyone else out there get such a nice rendition?
For Christmas when he was my KK he managed to forgo buying me an Elvis or ABBA CD in favour of U2. That was a really nice gesture for a guy who felt so strongly about mid- 20th century pop music!
I see Geoffrey standing in front of the keyboard, first playing it with one finger, kind of shy...respectful...smiling...and SUDDENLY: The rock star himself with all his fingers over the keys, tapping with his right foot on the floor, shaking his head...!!
Again! More! ;-)
Yesterday I went along the street and saw a person in a gorilla costume. It was really ugly. I thought of the ghost mask we used to have in the room under the stairs... Geoffrey kind of loved it but whenever it came out he asked to "take it, take it off, off..."
Concerning music: I really liked the way he danced and clapped his hands to the music. Perfect rhythm. Cool dancing. Amazing.
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