Yves Klein Blue
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Brother hold your head this way,and bustle to the front of the line;
cos if they catch your eyes before you get inside
Well, you'll never be allowed.
People got a name for us
cos we escape the strain of the days
Oh we stretch at the sides and bend in the middle
But we never ever break.
But if you're feeling that way now,
Or if you ever feel so inclined -
Skip past the doors of boring forty somethings and rise.
Oh, and if you want to lose your frown,
Or your name or even your face -
Lick up a dream that seemingly sings with whistling neon breath.
Come and have a drink with us,
A little wine or a nice champagne?
Oh thanks that's nice, and I would decline,
But at night things seem to change.
People got a name for us,
cos we escape the strain of the days -
Oh we stretch at the sides and bend in our minds
But well never ever change.
And if you're feeling that way now,
Or if you ever feel so inclined,
Well, kick in the shins of all those fucking whingers and rise.
Oh and if you want to lose your frown,
Or your name or even your face,
Lick up a dream that seemingly sings with whistling neon breath.
Sid was at the gates of dawn,
And Jimmy said ride the snake:
So we bent our spoons and howled at the moon
To find what science replaced.
And it turns out it ain't that much
Though I may have missed it in the haze -
Oh drips in the mind and fills up your eyes
But well never be the same.
(Shhh)
But if you're ever coming down,
Or if you ever take too much -
Remember that's much better than never ever getting enough.
So if your want to lose your frown,
Or your name or even your face,
Lick up a dream that seemingly screams with rushing neon death.
All your spirits gone, and you are barely alive.
You hand me a smoke, though its like you hardly notice.
And its sad I suppose - When I look into your eyes you say:
It seems to go this way, no matter whats at stake,
Oh it seems to go this way with everything I start!
So if you're feeling that way now,
Or if you ever feel so inclined -
Skip past the doors of boring forty somethings and rise.
Oh but if you want to loose your frown,
Or your name or even your face -
Lick up a dream that seemingly sings with rushing neon death.
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About the poem: I love these words. I cheated, maybe, a bit, today, because Polka isn't actually a poem, it's a song. But I love to listen to the singer sing it in rhythm and I love the wordplay, and I love the way whistling neon breath becomes rushing neon death at the end, a subtle shift that makes the song morbidly fascinating and hints that in many pursuits that make us feel alive, it's the risk of danger or death that makes it so intoxicating.
And I like the line about seeing what science replaced - -hearkening back to the magic that humanity believed in.
But most of all I like that in reading the song, it takes on a different life than it does when sung; it's more apparent that it's a speech, a monologue, from a hipster to a guy he's inviting into a crazy night of revelry. The song doesn't convey that, as good as it is.
I can't embed the song, because Yves Klein Blue feels that the video is only worthwhile if you watch it on Youtube, but you can find it here.
About the Actress: I'm not going to watch Hawaii 5-0, because I don't watch remakes, and I've never forgiven anyone involved for wasting my time with the horrible ending to Battlestar Galactica, but Sweetie wasn't around so I had to pick someone on my own, and she was it.
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