Topic: An Ode To My Town

Coffeefairy suggested we all write a little song/poem about our home town so here's mine. It's a very bitter piece as I've watched this town drown in a growing heaving mass of excrement for the last 10 years. it's called:-

                      I Used To Love This Town.

By Phill Williams.  19th June 2009

From high in the sky, from a plane looking down.
See the sea and the tranquility of the land.
See the green fields and forests, the beaches and harbours.
The small boats, the roads and the town.

I used to love this town. I like it less now.
I was born here. But it's a mess now.
There were gardens. Now there's a rubbish tip.
There were children playing. Now there's hoodies....drinking.

As a child I looked up at the stall holders wares.
When the plates were rattled at the bone china fair.
You could buy all the things that your heart could desire.
From a fish to a rabbit, from a clock to a spire.

I used to love this town. I like it less now.
I was born here. But it's a mess now.
There were gardens. Now there's a car park.
There were children playing. No go after dark.

There were special little places, all hidden from view.
Where lovers would canoodle, and kiss a little too.
Now you cant walk there for the needles might stick you.
And the pushers might beat you or stab you or shoot you.

I used to love this town. I like it less now.
I was born here. But it's a mess now.
Once there were playgrounds. A pool for the children.
And smiling policemen. Now they've got tasers and stab vests.

The council close the factories so the place will smell better.
Then they grass all the land and put foot paths and sand dunes.
They make it look lovely so that visitors will come.
But the vandals come first so the place look a dump.

And the councilors claim all their hefty expenses.
And the rate payers moan about the coast line defenses.
When you call the police they arrive the next day.
Dont die in that place it's no go for ambulances.

I used to love this town, But those days have gone.

And everyone claims unemployment benefit.
Some will work “off the books�  just for drinks and a quick-fix.
And fourteen year old girls with a baby in tow.
Come home from school to a place of their own.

I used to love this town. Now I just want to leave.
I could swallow the pain, but I just want to heave.
If I have the strength to live till I die.
When I see what it's become, I just want to cry.

I used to love this town, now it just makes me sad.


I'm sorry if this depresses anyone, all I can say is...join the club!


Phill

Ask not what Chordie can do for you, but what you can do for Chordie.

Re: An Ode To My Town

Been a member of that club, but left because the prices were too high.

It was once my dearest wish to leave where I live, but that was when Thatcher was distroying jobs like they were cockroaches, so I stayed. We ended up forcing the Housing people to rebuild or renew and the Council to clean up the dirt. I remember a protest when one of the main roads were blocked at Monday morning rush hour. We got traffic calming in one of the estates as a result of that. Now a herd of buffalo wouldn't shift me.

"Don't play what's there, play what's not there." Miles Davis

Re: An Ode To My Town

Phill ...........   I didn't want to start a protest group but I feel there's genuine sadness in what you and I have written.  Myabe they are reflections on the state of things generally, rather than just a town rant.   There are many, many songs that could be written about how things are - hope more people will do so.

David

Stronger than the sun....harder than a gun

Re: An Ode To My Town

hi david,

i'm with you all the way on that, i am very saddened at the urban degeneration [as they like to call it] that i guess we are all experiencing. we could blame it all on thatcher, or gratuitous violence on tv. or even on the garbage music we hear these days, not all of it i must add, just the gansta rap and most of the rest of it! but everything i wrote here is fact, there are no exagerations or made up bits, just true memories of a better time now sadly gone.

hi stransongs,

speedbumps

just seem to grow here, we dont need any more of them! and to be honest, it seems the council are more than a little to blame for all this ... mess we are in. i dont want to start ranting again...so i wont.

thanks for your replies, lets get some more home-town poems up here

phill

Ask not what Chordie can do for you, but what you can do for Chordie.

Re: An Ode To My Town

I'm not moved to turn speed bumps into song, but they have their place. In the case mentioned a primary school kid had been knocked down by rush-hour traffic using the estate as a rat-run between two main roads. In another case, it was to slow down boy racers flying past the local school at 60 miles an hour ( we had the roads people set up a speed trap and even they were shocked). The speed bumps made a difference in both cases.

I think that, as in many things, ordinary people just have to stand up and become the change they want to see.

"Don't play what's there, play what's not there." Miles Davis

Re: An Ode To My Town

i find the main problem with speed bumps is that they are most effective with people that are more considerate of their speed anyway. the boy-racers, and the plebs who drive around in mammy or daddy's car, just ignore them and fly over them as if they were ski jumps.

there is an estate nearby with a school in the middle of it. there is a 20 mph limit there, yet i've still witnessed drivers doing 40 +!
and the worst offenders?   THE MOTHERS DROPPING THEIR KIDS OFF or picking them up...how sad is that? and they park on the zig-zags, and how outraged they'd be if a child got run over?

they may well be trying to improve things, still the road to hell is paved with good intentions.

phill

Ask not what Chordie can do for you, but what you can do for Chordie.

Re: An Ode To My Town

hi phill we get the vandals destroying flower beds,seats,no needles that we've seen,boy racers every night,an odd boozy fight,i suppose you'd say we we're lucky.....stay cool

love is life ,life is for love,keep a true heart and live life to the full....stay cool

Re: An Ode To My Town

hi daddy, lucky? i wouldnt go that far.
i was at the dentist today and there was this guy there...obviously high, and he was arguing with the receptionist about getting in to see the jaw-breaker. she wouldnt let him in as he kept missing his appointments! your barred...you know? so eventually he went, stumbling and bumping into doors walls etc. and i thought, it's about time the scum of society were given the bums rush, as it's usually the decent guys that get pushed to one side so that the dregs can get one more fix on my tax dollars [pounds actually]

ONE FOR US.

phill

Ask not what Chordie can do for you, but what you can do for Chordie.