From the recording Family Portraits (Volume IV)
So...this is a bit of a different song.
It's kind of an ode -- and answer -- to Mr. Philip Larkin's poem of the same name, which I am sure you will have come across:
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/48419/this-be-the-verse
Although I like Larkin -- and even this poem -- and I do agree that invariably your parents do "f*** you up", there has always been something about the poem that didn't sit well with me. And I think it's the lack of agency. It's like he's blaming the parents for everything in his life -- taking no responsibility himself. So I am trying to address (read "redress?") that a bit in the song.
It's basically a (belated) love song to my late parents. I lost my Dad 12 years ago and my Mum last year. And although I did for long periods have a fractious and strained relationship with them both, I also loved them and am grateful to them for many reasons. I like to think that I communicated that to them both whilst they were still with us, but want to again do so here, in this song.
Lyrics
This Be The Verse” (In Ode and Answer to Mr Philip Larkin)
They f*** you up
Your Mum and Dad
They may not mean to
But invariably they do
I didn’t need much help
Did a good job all by myself
I seek no one to blame
All the messes that I made were all my own game
So let “This be the verse”
The words I rehearsed
I
Sing them
Sing them
Sing them
To stone
In ode and in answer to the uncommon man
I seek your forgiveness
Mum and Dad
They will let you down
The jewels in the crown
They may not mean to
But invariably they do
There’s no dress rehearsal
There’s no map
There’s no handbook
Or manual
So self-saboteur or
Entrepreneur
We are all amateur
So let “This be the verse”
The words I rehearsed
I
Mean them
Mean them
Mean them
I do
In ode and in answer to the uncommon man
I seek your forgiveness
Mum and Dad
Life is so hard
And love is all we have
Life is so hard
So let “This be the verse”
The words I rehearsed
I
Sing them
Sing them
Sing them
To stone
In ode and in answer to the uncommon man
I seek your forgiveness
Mum and Dad
I miss
I miss
I miss you
I miss
I miss
I miss you
I miss
I miss
I miss you