What the Band Played on a Bloom Day
It starts with a jam, a statement, an idea That blossoms into something that it wishes to be. Does it necessarily follow the sweatshop dictum of a classroom? Not really. Nor does it have to have any word. The blues men sing of a time of confusion and grief. They speak with a looped progression in the background To paint the room with tears and a purged humour And to make the listener look inside. He did that. Took his drink And continued traveling on a track of disjointed and fuzzy memories, ideas, statements, speeches, images, hopes, fears… He saw himself as never wanted to be And everything he feared to be. The world was crashing upon him And the virus eats away everything. The vision comes blurry and obscured (Not good for a producer trying to make the final cut). So he tries to mix it up and make sure it sounds right And sounds hopeful. But no, it made it worse. It’s now unclear. He can hear from upstairs now. No! That’s not going to sell. People don’t want to hear this. People can’t even Understand this and in fact, maybe they shouldn’t Since the world is caving in anyways since nothing Goes our way and nobody is really happy… Make the master tape better, dammit. Such the way of the creative mind, Especially when the dark clouds hang over him And they are supposed to dump a white rain over him… And calm him down… And … calm… him… down… The chorus of angels can be heard now In a country meadow where the view is so clear And a place where the silent followers ignore the tick-tock Of time and nourish the fruit. She stands there with a promise on her hand and medicine in her soul. She hopes to dispense a pill to a weary traveler who noticed his wings were melted. She knows that the pain of earth can be bloated out with a kiss of heaven. The Godsend gives colour to a landscape of near-storm. He gazes the rushing of the black clouds and is caught by her eyes. The eyes… the lips… the hands… the souls… converge at last For infinite despair is not in the denominator And the band resolves the song. The band is finished. Closing time is announced. Go home safely, my friend.
Date of First Draft: 3 March 2001
Influence: "Cop shoot cop" from Spiritualized's Ladies and gentlemen we are floating in space
Annotations: 16 June is Bloom Day, an unofficial celebration of James Joyce's Ulysses since the novel takes place on 16 June 1904. The tradition is to go to a pub or anyplace where there's a book, a gathering and most likely alcohol and hear the book read aloud.