
Days have their colour,
there’s a feeling and a mood —
what am I wearing?
Copyright Francis 2021
Days have their colour,
there’s a feeling and a mood —
what am I wearing?
Copyright Francis 2021
She breezes in
as if no crisis were enveloping.
I’m asked to comment
on the bright red handbag,
glitzy, chic — expensive,
as it’s thrust in my face.
I look at her clothes,
the mask which cost more
than dinner for two.
And then the eyes. What do I see?
Nothing but sadness, emptiness
behind those roundels of blue.
So of course, the handbag is fine,
and that’s what I say, though
it’s far more than I would pay.
Gratified, she scoots off
without once asking how I am
Copyright Francis Barker 2020
A review of the second half of The Beatles career compilation spanning from the years 1967-1970.
The Beatles – 1967-1970 (1973) — The Ultimate Music Library
Released towards the end of 1965 on Parlophone, just as the ‘swinging sixties‘ were reaching their apogee, I always preferred ‘Day Tripper‘, largely because of the catchy riff and driving rhythm. Nowadays I probably prefer the flip side, but there’s not a lot in it. They’re both great and sum up the period perfectly.
Although they are contrasting Lennon/McCartney songs – one upbeat and a little bit ‘sleazy’ lyrically for the time, the other more reflective and philosophical – they are both incredibly well constructed. ‘We Can Work It Out’ even drops to a 3/4 time signature during part of the middle eight – pretty radical for the time but a sign of what was to come as the crazy 1960s progressed.
Don’t forget to check the two videos. Although in black and white they’re still great to watch – and the lads were obviously having a great time too.
copyright Francis Barker 2020
The other day I had cause
to open your wardrobe and shoes
fell out like maggots
from a corpse.
New shoes
old shoes
blue shoes
broken shoes.
A pair for every day of the year
it seemed.
Try as I might
I couldn’t get them all back, for
I don’t have your gift
for packing or hoarding. So I
put some in my wardrobe
because I don’t buy any shoes.
poem and image ©copyright rp 2016
City Nights
Though your faces
change these same streets
remain. Same high
sights in floodlit stone,
city nights abased
by brawls and chilli fights
in queues
Where were you when
I was this green
and victim?
Your fashion is the masque
of fools, disguises nothing;
your life like mine is
still waste
But somehow you’re
preoccupied.
Laugh in my face and deride
my reticence— won’t you!
So it always
was, for soon the dreaming
is done
© copyright df barker 2012