Laying everybody low with a love song that he made
Finds a streetlight, steps out of the shade
Says something like, "You and me babe—how 'bout it?"
Juliet says, "Hey it's Romeo. You nearly gave me a heart attack"
He's underneath the window; she's singing, "Hey, la, my boyfriend's back.
You shouldn't come around here singing up at people like that.
Anyway what you gonna do about it?"
Juliet, the dice was loaded from the start
And I bet, then you exploded into my heart
And I forget, I forget the movie song
When you gonna realize it was just that the time was wrong, Juliet?
Come up on different streets, they both were streets of shame
Both dirty, both mean, yes, and the dream was just the same
And I dreamed your dream for you and now your dream is real
How can you look at me as if I was just another one of your deals?
When you can fall for chains of silver you can fall for chains of gold
You can fall for pretty strangers and the promises they hold
You promised me everything, you promised me thick and thin, yeah.
Now you just say, "Oh Romeo, yeah. you know, I used to have a scene with him."
Juliet, when we made love you used to cry
You said, "I love you like the stars above, I'll love you 'til I die."
There's a place for us, you know the movie song
When you gonna realize it was just that the time was wrong, Juliet?
I can't do the talks like they talk on the TV
And I can't do a love song like the way it's meant to be
I can't do everything but I'll do anything for you
I can't do anything except be in love with you
And all I do is miss you, and the way we used to be
All I do is keep the beat, the bad company
All I do is kiss you through the bars of a rhyme
Julie, I'd do the stars with you any time
Juliet, when we made love you used to cry
You said, "I love you like the stars above, I'll love you 'til I die."
There's a place for us, you know the movie song
When you gonna realize it was just that the time was wrong, Juliet?
And a lovestruck Romeo sings a street suss serenade
Laying everybody low with a love song that he made
Find a convenient streetlight, steps out of the shade
And says something like, "You and me babe—how 'bout it?"
"You and me babe—how about it?"
Mark Knopfler, Dire Straits
♥♥♥♥♥♥
A few trivial, useless but nevertheless fun facts - you may or may not care to know. . .
♥It's always been a favourite of mine
♥Yes, I'm a (shameless) eighties child
♥I don't care what anyone says - the video clip IS cool - enough random to be . . . well . . . random.
♥I always loved that she chewed bubblegum
♥I also loved that the "chick seemed cooler than the guy" - with so many horribly sexist video clips flying around in that era I'm not surprised I was drawn to the imagery in this one. Then again I also liked "Bonnie Tyler's Total Eclipse Of The Heart" so there goes my credibility.
♥The song contains (arguably) one of the greatest lines ever written . . .
"All I do is kiss you through the bars of a rhyme, Julie, I'd do the stars with you any time"
(I'm a sucker for romance and an even bigger sucker for romantic lyrics)
and last but definitely not least . . .
I found out today that one of MY ALL TIME FAVES covered this very song, QUITE A LONG TIME AGO! How did this escape my knowledge? I do not know.
Here are both versions for your listening pleasure . . .
I'm thinking of having a regular series of posts that play host to great songs with dubious video clips.
I have visited this space so many times with the sincere intention of sharing.
I log in and start typing and then save as draft - often after only two lines.
I've done this sixteen times. SIXTEEN.
Then I decided that this ride on my carousel of misery had to end. stop. finish.
(it always comes down to a decision doesn't it?)
With viking determination I drafted "my last post" and as I wrote I started laughing.
Such drama - a title that implies going off to war, defending my country, dying.
A martyr.
Then that old best bud called self doubt dropped round with a cup of critique.
It sounded a lot exactly like this:
"ridiculous. a quitter. a quitter with only a handful of followers.
for heavens sake it's not like Joanna Goddard has decided to pull up stumps
get a grip. get a grip. just say goodbye. just. give. up."
Two hours and three cups of tea later.
More self doubt
More self doubt
More self doubt
That's when I realised something truly, truly life changing.
NO ONE GIVES A SH*T
Unless I do.
How utterly perfect and just and fair.
How brilliantly poetic and how sublimely non bulldust.
All that indecisive crap and no one in the world knew what I was thinking - or cared - or had their life altered in anyway by my petty self doubt.
It's only taken me 41 years to fully digest this nugget. fully.
To comprehend the quantum leap that can be made when you stop thinking anyone else's thoughts and only think your own.
Miraculous change occurred immediately.
I felt physically lighter.
I had new ideas.
I decided not to stop writing caring
I decided that this space was like ANY OTHER space in my world.
My bedroom, my car, my favourite park, my marriage, my favourite beach.
All that mattered was that it matters to me
In fact whether it was ONLINE or OFFLINE or HANDWRITTEN or even just DAYDREAMED INTO THE ETHER... If it's mine - then I should love it.
If I'm here then I should BE HERE.
If I want to write (about any darn thing under the sun) then I SHOULD WRITE.
“from the complications of loving you i think there is no end or return. no answer, no coming out of it. which is the only way to love, isn't it? this isn't a playground, this is earth, our heaven, for a while. therefore i have given precedence to all my sudden, sullen, dark moods that hold you in the center of my world. and i say to my body: grow thinner still. and i say to my fingers, type me a pretty song. and i say to my heart: rave on.” ― Mary Oliver, Thirst
{this business of romance and dating and falling in love and getting hitched
and making babies and birthing babies and loving babies and adopting babies
and tending to babies and fretting over sick babies and reconnecting with partners and
booking in date nights and returning to family roots and making friends and relying on friends
and needing mothers and needing fathers and needing love and giving love and giving love
and giving love and getting love and getting love and giving love and getting love
anyone else exhausted?
then replenished again buy the promise of that
heady euphoria when children say to you
(out of the blue and unsolicited by chocolate or cookies or another such sweet treat)
"I love you"}
“When it's over, I want to say: all my life I was a bride married to amazement. I was the bridegroom, taking the world into my arms.
When it is over, I don't want to wonder if I have made of my life something particular, and real. I don't want to find myself sighing and frightened, or full of argument.
I don't want to end up simply having visited this world.” ― Mary Oliver
{my son is 16
he's a young man now
i turned around and he shifted
it felt sudden but it was not
it was more of an epic moment viewed in slow motion
cinematic, heart wrenching - soundtrack included.
“to live in this world
you must be able to do three things to love what is mortal; to hold it
“Tell me, what else should I have done? Doesn't everything die at last, and too soon? Tell me, what is it you plan to do With your one wild and precious life?” ― Mary Oliver
{i have been blessed with the kind of love you find
{i have no frigging idea what I've done to deserve this love
truly I don't}
“Ten times a day something happens to me like this - some strengthening throb of amazement - some good sweet empathic ping and swell. This is the first, the wildest and the wisest thing I know: that the soul exists and is built entirely out of attentiveness.” ― Mary Oliver
{my tribe are super heroic
(and both deserve medals in patience and forgiveness)
my tribe help me see the world they way Mary Oliver does}
“Oh Lord of melons, of mercy, though I am not ready, nor worthy, I am climbing towards you.” ― Mary Oliver, Thirst
I've been away. Mentally and Physically. Jaunts down south (to a farm stay) and the beach house as well as jaunts to nurseries to plant the garden for spring. Mentally my mind continually vacates to the images and ideas flirting floating around cyber space.
Pinterest be gone! (just kidding . . . come back, sorry! I love you!)
So here's a blurry, visual and sloppy catch up - images and quick captions. Better something than nothing right? (the procrastinator in me keeps arguing for better photos and more time to write poetically and thoughtfully. The realist in me says "who you kidding?" and the optimist says "share the little that you have - it's all life and it's all good enough"
A jaunt to Bridgetown - historical, crafty, thrifty, tasty and pretty much
everything else we love in a small community
Young man had his first coffee - well a Mocha to be precise - with a very weak shot of espresso.
I keep telling him he's got the rest of his life to discover the perils of caffeine
but he was curious and his friends have tried it.. blah blah… teenagers!)
The locals told me that in winter they call it Fridgetown because it gets so blooming cold.
I loved it and I'm definitely heading back
The coffee saga continued and after much arguing I agreed to let Young Prince have an
Iced Coffee (decaf - shhh don't tell him that) and thank the heavens he didn't like it!
Mum scores and we go back to having quality hot chocolates and milkshakes.
mother hen it would be a shame to not let her raise a few more feathered friends.
I'm still working at my Floral Design course - with an eye on improving my bouquet techniques.
I luuuuurve flowers - have you noticed? This bunch of Stock, Verbena, Irish Bells and Delphiniums
lasted 9 days before showing signs of giving up the ghost. Just goes to show that regular water changes and stem trimming really do make a difference with cut flowers.
We've had blissful days of misty drizzle too and Young Prince has been rising early in order to
"get the most out of his vacation"
This lasted for the first three days of holidays … then we were straight back to sleeping in
(teenagers)
I've been striking succulents (another Christmas gift idea I have brewing)
and purchasing preserve jars and mason jars for other homemade loveliness
(we also sorted out our pantry - a three hour job that delivered more satisfaction
than I would ever have imagined possible for such a menial task - I would've taken before and
after photos had I thought this a blog worthy moment but it was not until we'd completed
the job, stood back, surveyed the VAST improvement and realised what a mahoosive
difference an organised pantry space makes - I smile every time I reach for
a clearly labelled jar of just about anything now . . . small things - big change)
Speaking of small things - Hubby fixed the running loo.
It ran for quite sometime. It drove us nuts. We kept closing
it off at the wall to save water wastage. We also procrastinated at calling
the plumber - hoping that something else would go wrong so that it seemed
worthy of a visit from a man charging tiny fortunes to replace washers.
Then came You Tube, Bunnings and steely determination.
(He's so chuffed with himself I swear he'd like
to wear his underpants on the outside - even for just a day)
words, advertisements, complaints ... (head spinning as we speak)...... and let's not discount the exorbitant amount of piffle. At any given moment millions of people are interacting on a global scale - watching, taking, using, creating, downloading, buying, selling.... you get the idea.
Recently I participated in a debate with a group (all female) of acquaintances regarding the internet and a number of issues that it presents.
It began with privacy (or rather lack thereof) when it comes to social media and posting photos of your family, your children, your friends, their children, your art, your home, your location!
I'm sure you've seen those posts (on Facebook) warning you that your privacy is being
violated by (Facebooks') new terms and agreements - urging you to check your settings and change them to "espionage stealth status" so that your identity may only be revealed to those who already know who you are, where you live... even when you're home alone (tragic but true).
In a very spirited tone (I use that description in its' most demonic and poltergeist sense) we argued as to whether you had the right to demand rights or was the web a privilege to be grateful for and not challenged. Clearly I was the only person present at this debate who had studied philosophy for I was the only one happy to enter the realms of determinism, trees that fall in forests and chickens arriving before eggs. Many of my attempts to keep things friendly were loosely veiled in profound metaphysical suppositions that were usually met with blank stares annoyance and (often audible) grunts of disbelief. What can I say - I'm a pacifist.
We debated (rather loudly I might add) as to the merits of keeping one's children out of the prying eyes of perverts whilst behind closed doors but not really having any control over whether or not they were being violated (not my word) on other forums - for example images taken of them by their friends and shared liberally. Everyone became quite passionate at this point but they seemed - on the surface - to reach a unanimous conclusion: Our children needed to be protected from the absolute certainty that was the dangerous general public. (Oh and quite a few ladies were ignoring their children's cries for attention whilst ardently arguing to their rights as harmless (pffff) little beings... just saying)
I was amazed at how opinionated people became over matters that they had no personal experience in. Sometimes I wonder whether people actually care that about the things that go wrong as much as they care about having an opinion regarding the things that go wrong.
We debated on the matter of etiquette when it came to posting photos of people without prior consent. Should you always ask? Even at family gatherings? (one person said that she refused to having her photo taken much less shared on social media - yet she admitted that she looked at the photos of others without leaving comments or likes and would also post photos of others without showing them first - when asked if she thought this was rather unfair she said that she did not. Almost everyone disagreed with her but simultaneously admitted to having shared images without gaining formal approval first) Are we obliged to ask people whether they mind having their faces tagged & their lives shared via your daily post? Is it open slather if everyone's doing it?
We touched on the rather sticky topic of what you should and should not share - and how to tell people that their posts, images, tweets were distressing, distasteful, disparaging or (even worse) boring. Most agreed that you stopped following these offenders (or hid their timeline) whilst others suggested that it was best to let people know if they were "sh*t at all things social media" (not my quote... wish it was though)
We contended on the importance of teaching our children that ALL media forms have an agenda - usually money. Was it important to let them know this in order to empower them as further consumers devourers of the web? Do our kids even care as much about privacy as we do?
Should we be teaching them about the importance of privacy?? (Ok... I'll admit that I threw that pigeon in amongst the cats... oops Freudian slip)
We debated on the matter of credit. The notion that when you take a photo of art (graffiti, public sculptures, buskers etc) are you always obliged to link the source? And what of your own ideas? If you were inspired by something you spotted on Design Sponge was it your duty to say so before you madly uploaded images of your mini kitchen reno?
Was it possible to be too anal? Too liberal? Are any ideas original?
And what of all the posts, photos, competitions themselves? Is there anything original left to be said?
Are we sick of slick shots of perfect cappuccinos and cake (guilty) or the flowers that decorated the table (guilty) or the funky decor (guilty) that clearly was not our idea and yet here we are receiving 47 likes for taking a photo of someone elses' styling genius (guilty!!) Or is this act of digital candour merely "sharing the biz love" (NOT my words)
Is this a ridiculous waste of mental stress? Are we to accept that when they invented "screen shots" they destroyed copyright? And who is they??
Oh it was a colourful and enlightening debate (waste of an hour). I think some friendships are no longer on the same footing and perhaps a few Facebook pals are now unknowingly pissed off, shunned blocked. I left feeling that buzz you feel when you still have things to shout out self righteously say. More importantly I left realising that everything on the web was both unique and ordinary all at once.
A sort of global school photo. When you squint and look closely you spot yourself but take a step back and you've seen it all before.
What are your thoughts people?
Come on... speak freely!
♥♥♥♥♥
Aside - I'm well aware of the fact this post is fraught with strikethrough text, parenthesis and frightening grammatical errors... that was deliberate and I blame social media. :-) xx
