According to William Shakespeare,
Poor Tom had wits
And was witless
All whilst in disguise

According to David Bowie,
Major Tom left our blue Earth
And got lost amongst the stars
Becoming the titular Space Oddity

According to Led Zeppelin
Poor Tom was the seventh son
He led a life of work and play
But killed his ***** wife

According to The Cab
Major Tom would sing along
Whilst chastising the dreamer
Or, perhaps, seeing himself in young love

According to all these men
This muse man named Poor Tom
This muse man named Major Tom
All suffered an ill fate

According to I,
Arrogant poetess,
I pose a pondering:
What if they were all the same person?

In the chaos of the city, City!
Where the wolven on the prowl,
Hot legs and looking pretty, leather skirt and upturned scowl,
You know it won’t discourage ditty, it only raises lustful howls,
In the chaos of the city, (pause)…a hunter’s stalking you now-ow-ow! (nowel)

In the chaos of the city, City!
Out at night you wanna dance, (day-ance)
To the animals you’re pretty, in those heels with that prance, (pray-ance)
In the chaos of the city, wolves are out to bed you down, (day-oun)
In the chaos of the city, tonight it’s *** out on the town, (tay-oun)

In the chaos of the city! City!
While trailing scent all a-round, (a-ray-ound)
Curvy-body, lookin’ at-cha (pause)… my teeth glistening, open mouth, (may-outh)
They’re not asking for much yeah, won’t be saying baby please,
Wolves you know they’re gonna hunt-cha, strutting past Ole’ factories,
Drivin’ n’ dancing yah, till you’re exhausted on your knees,

In the chaos of the city, City!
Out at night you wanna dance, (day-ance)

To the animals you’re pretty, Pretty!
In your heels they watch you prance, (pray-ance)

In the chaos of the city, City!
Wolves are out to bed you down, (day-oun)

In the chaos of the city, City!
Tonight it’s *** out in the town, (tay-oun)

In the chaos of the city, City!
In the chaos of the city,

In the chaos of the city, City!
Feel his claws up on you now…

Ooh-Ooh, …In the chaos of the city,
In the chaos of the city,
In the chaos of the city,
In the chaos of the city…

The covenant needs more blood
Or so I read
In black, white, and red
In a Billboard magazine

Rock and Roll is dying
But they’ve been saying that
Since a white man’s been lying
Since a black man’s been trying

Reckon I could be a video vamp
But I’m ugly as hell
I can’t sing, I can’t dance
But I’ll take the chance

It's not about what you do
It’s about how you do it
Live it loud
Live it proud

People prefer a fool
To a *****
Because a fool is funny
And a ***** is rude

Get up on stage
A guitar I can’t play
Slung
Across my body

Get up on stage
And maybe I could be
The one they crucify
To resurrect Rock and Roll

<tempo>
[Dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun]
[Dun-dun-dun-du­n-dun-dun-dun-dun]

<music stop>
"THINK I'VE BEEN A-ROUND HERE BEFORE,
               -think I've been AROUND here be-fore!"

"Now, thinking 'bout it, look around, 'even-with-crowd' it's...
              ye-e-a-h-a,       -I've been around here before."

[Dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun]
[Dun-dun­-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun]
[Dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-du­n]
[Dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun]

"Came out tonight for some fun, and now I'm drinkin' til I'm done,
              yeah,       -I've been around here before."

[Dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun]
[Dun-dun­-dun-dun-dun-dun-DUN-DUN]

"You sat down, bought a drink, looked around, hear see me sing-ing...
              -feels just like you've been around here be-fore?"

[Dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun]
[Dun-du­n-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun]

"On that point, ain't no more, slam one down and there's the door,
              yeah,       -I know you've been around here before."

[Dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun]
[Dun-dun­-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun]
[Dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-du­n]
[Dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun]

[Dun-dun-du­n-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun]
[Dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun­]
[Dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun]
[Dun-dun-dun-du­n-dun-dun-DUN-DUN]

"Think I've been around here before,
                -but I ain't comin' here no more!"

[Dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun]
[Dun-dun-d­un-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun]




"Sweet-thing come on now here's the door..."

“Butterfly-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-eye!”
“Oh my Butterfly-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-eye!”
“Butterfly-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-eye!”

­Where were you, when the woe was tossed, and I had to cry?

“Butterfly-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-eye!”
“Oh my Butterfly-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-eye!”
“Butterfly-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-eye!”

­Muddled in the crowds, and I was lost, wan-ting to die.
My head wasn’t clear but I saw you there; apple of my eye-I!

“Butterfly-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-eye!”
“Oh my Butterfly-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-eye!”
“Butterfly-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-eye!”

­We twin snakes, on a path above, and we circled ‘round,
Three nights and a day, and we fell in love, tearing up the town,
…but nothing can compare to the time we shared, and the fires-flare in our hearts -ensnared,

For your love I long, but you are dead and gone; My Butterfly!

“Butterfly-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-eye!”
“Oh my Butterfly-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-eye!”
“Butterfly-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-eye!”

­And that will never change, tears of my heart in chains,
No love will be the same, I hang my head in shame, hiding all the pain;

My Butterfly!

“Butterfly-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-eye!”
“Oh my Butterfly-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-eye!”
“Butterfly-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-eye!”*  ­  

“Butterfly-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-eye!”
“Oh my Butterfly-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-eye!”
“Butterfly-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-eye!”

I'm a Rock and Rock teacher and I'm really dead cool,
I wear a leather jacket as I'm swaggering to school,
I like what I teach and I teach what I like,
A roar across the playground on my motorbike.
I let the kids call me by my first name,
My mum called me Gertrude (which is a bit of a shame),
I love Sid Vicious so I call myself Nance,
And put safety pins in my PVC pants.
I talk about Shakespeare or as I call him Bill,
I put wicked street art on my windowsill,
I follow no rules, I do what I choose,
I pierced my lip, I've got tattoos,
I'm fighting the system, I'm hip and I'm rad.
It's a midlife crisis and it's really quite sad.

Old crippled man, charcoal burnt and ashen,
a thousand days debauchery molded you in this fashion.
Haggard and stiff, you can barely walk across the stage--
no one ever thought that you would make it to this age.
Your girth has expanded (although it’s covered well),
but still your piercing voice summons demons up from hell.
Not as strong as it was once, but eerie just the same,
calling those who’ve followed you, who now chant your name,
to assemble in our legions, gathered in this shrine,
where we repeat the catechism, in throbbing metered rhymes.

Are you a madman? Or just a troubadour
who lends melodic shimmer to verses dark and dour.
Whose singing slides and skims along the edge of sanity,
but who never surrendered to the true evil of vanity.
Recovered from drunken, dissolute despair,
to call the faithful masses back, never mind the wear and tear--
to plod the journey of your craft, to sing before the crowd
whose loyalty, to your band, forever is avowed.

I got me an all-night-girl,
keeps the door unlocked for me,
and even when my girl forgets,
she'll throw me down the key
sayin',
"come on up, down waste your time,
you're wanted in this room."
"Well that's fine with me,
but I've got time
to take my shoes off I assume?"
Yes, she's the one, the only one,
whose face floats in my dreams.
And she ain't like nobody else
'cause she's always as she seems.

Yes, she can take the paint right off
my Chevrolet Bel Air
with just a sweet little kiss
or one electric stare,
and
then she'll jump right in the back
and down the road we go
with the windows down
and the music loud,
she doesn't like to take it slow.
She's somethin' else, she surely is,
and she never leaves me wantin'.
This all-night-girl really rocks me.
Yes, she sure is somethin'.

for Jay Buchanan*

Clearer than a ringing bell,
calling me to stand beneath you--
I am rapt in music’s spell;
your subject,  in your thrall I dwell.

Swaying slowly to the beat,
as I stand before your feet,
I yearn to touch, but thrill in listening,
and watching your sweat-drenched body,
glistening.

Recorded song brings me much pleasure,
but it cannot match the measure
of an evening in the presence
of your fleshly,  human essence.

I stand witness at the living
breathing body, angelic singing.
Mournful verse,  hypnotic chorus
throb in heartbeat’s time before us.

So close to me,  you drip with sweat;
flip your hair and I’ll get wet--
drench me with your raw emotion,
drown me in an aural ocean.