Part One
A collection of poems and songs
written between 1970 and 1975, including two concept pieces, sort of ‘rock
operas’, ‘Tale of an Old Man’, and ‘Ive Trip’
Karen in Brussels (Peter Lay, 1970)
As I wandered through that City
Leaving footprints in the snow
I realised that I’d left my home
For something I didn’t know
I’d drifted through some several
towns
Back along the highway
Where people they just stood and
stared
But no one looked my way
We spent an evening in centre ville
In coffee bars and parks
The air was cold and empty
But her eyes shone through the dark
The night was young and love was
old
It seemed so very new
It’s tradition in its greatest right
And it’s reaching higher still
The morning rose and I was gone
To Amsterdam to follow
A dream to believe and sympathise
With the old ones who were sorrowed
But although I strove upon the day
To arrive before my time
I was floored by times, deadline
and all
And Karen she was gone
(Karen was from
San Francisco. I met her whilst travelling in Europe.
This song tells of her departure. Finished in 1970, the draft
was written outside the Central Station, Amsterdam in the sunmmer of 1969.)
The Chained Lament (Peter Lay, 1970)
I’m standing on a hill
With the world around my feet
In my state of fantasy
I have no need of sight
While the sky I find is changing
From blue to black and red
The grass no longer seen as green
But shades of those that I have
seen
As I fly up in the sky
No boundaries do I know
But the moon, the sun and stars
Are now within my reach
There’s nothing I can no longer
do
With the power of my soul
Happiness, love, such happy dreams
What a shame that they must go
The world that I did surely know
Revolves inside my mind
The questions come and then they
go
The answers now I find
But as I wake from within my mind
They very fast do fade
Replaced by forgotten memories
Of peace and love while I strayed
(I’m not sure what
I was on when I wrote this song… But I do remember that the original pre
computer typed version in the second line had wopld instead of world)
The Violet Clouded, or Confusion for short (Peter Lay, 1970)
The sunlight’s endless heavy beams
Come crashing through the sky
As the painted window opens
To catch the breeze so high
Whatever I might try to say
Whoever I might be
Your world is full of love and hate
Such strange philosophies
In the sky I see an aching
As it spreads inside my brain
Is it hope or is it truth
Or is it really rain
By the time I come to know
My talking is in vain
You have quickly passed me by
And I’ve lost you once again
(I’ve always felt
that this poem contains some of the most powerful lines I’ve ever written.
The last line of the first verse is part of the title of this book)
Horses and Castles (Peter Lay, 1970)
Through the snow shod fields of winter
I must keep moving on
Just to find my happiness with you
My love goes on and on
All the time I was out there travelling
Through France and Germany
All the faces I saw were reflections
Of you who mean so much to me
And what do you do when you’re sleeping
When you’re alone in your bed
Do you dream of horses and castles?
Or is it of me instead
I’m a thousand miles above you
In some part of the sky
But I’m coming back home to see
you
There’s no need to ask me why
I know I saw you last evening
But for me that wasn’t enough
I want you with me forever
For the only truth is love
(I think this was
inspired by ‘Where do you go to my lovely’ by Peter Sardstedt)
Highway (Peter Lay, 1971)
The road is just a worn out highway
As I’m sitting here just talking
to the stones
Wondering about tomorrow
And the distance I must go
No one seems to be travelling my
way
I haven’t seen a truck for an hour
or so
So many more miles to pass through
Till I see again the town I know
as home
I’ve come through Spain and Barcelona
Just moving on inside my worn out
shoes
Money spent out just last Friday
And I haven’t eaten for so long
No one wants to know the helpless
hobo
As I wander through the night from
town to town
I’ll drink a coffee at the local
café
And sit and compose my thoughts
alone
I found myself on the silver skyway
Flying up there above the clouds
Moving on towards tomorrow
Knowing the dreams as I arose
And now after all the miles I have
travelled
And all the countries I have seen
I’m only a few hours behind you
And we will meet with the coming
spring
(I honestly can’t
remember were the idea for this song came from, I think its just about
travelling and looking to go home)
Short Song (Peter Lay, 1971)
The leaves in the wind are turning
into brown
The grass in the field is springing
from the ground
Autumn moves on
Fever in the air
My love I can see it all around
The days so much shorter now are
quickly passing by
Soon perhaps to fade to everlasting
night
Darkness everywhere
Cold winter scare
My love I know we’ll be alright
In the winter days while we’re sitting
by the fire
Looking at the flames and dreaming
of the sun
Rainless days
Warm summer air
My love I’ll see you there
The Porter (Peter Lay, 1971)
The flakes falling now more quickly
As the man walks a path through
the snow
The carriages now lying empty
But he smiles and walks on alone
He waves with a grin when he sees
you
And follows it up with “Hello”
(I wrote this after
reading Robert Frost)
Pebbles in the Sand (Peter Lay, 1971)
Let us go slowly
Kalinkshka please stay
To lead me through the pages of
life
Whatever they might say
And shall I take thee the poet said
To the simple little word
Not knowing of its ability
To take the strain upon the stage
Without a friend to hold its hand
Yet still the poet writes of feeling
in his verse
And in the dawn we’ll walk along
To see the sea at bay
And in the later day
As the waves are pounding on the
shore
It’s crying please no more
But mercy is not shown by tyrants
such as these
Please pass me a drink I’m thirsty
And need some refreshment
A coke or a coffee
Or even a small glass of water
Just to keep going till Friday
When I will find the time for a
pound or two
So like pebbles in the sand let me take you by the hand
Let us go slowly
Kalinkshka please stay
To lead me through the pages of
life
Whatever they might say
(‘Pebbles in the
sand’ was my first attempt at writing a more complicated song, that is
more than just straight verses. Kalinkshka was Maria’s Ukrainian
name
Stephens World (Peter Lay, 1971)
What’s happened to the world I used
to know
Green, green grass so near to home
Shops and houses children played
I wish to god we hadn’t strayed
Tell me what you know mister please
Tell me if you can what’s your name
How do you write and what’s an aeroplane
Tell me mister please tell me please
Buildings that were mighty tall and
high
No longer reach up for the sky
With lifts that now don’t seem to
work
Lying in a heap of bricks and dirt
Tell me what you know mister please
Tell me if you can what’s your name
How do you write and what’s an aeroplane
Tell me mister please tell me please
Now we are left with sunken eyes
Loveless lives and painful cries
Soon I know we all will die
Please mister please won’t you tell
me why
(This is my ‘Protest
Song’. Inspired by the inevitability of nuclear war that many of
us felt back then.)
Sad Farewell (Peter Lay, 1971)
It was at the dawn of day
When I said to her goodbye
She wanted me to stay
But she couldn’t tell me why
It might have been she loved me
I couldn’t really tell
And now I’ll never know
I’ve said my last farewell
And when I think of days gone by
The happiness we shared
I’ll always wonder what she meant
And why she never said
(This was about
an old girl friend, whose name escapes me)
Caroline (Peter Lay, 1971)
Caroline why don’t you come out to
play
Napoleon will not wait for you
His army must fight to recapture
the swings
From Caesar whose men are resting
there
I know its only make believe
But even so sweet Caroline
How can you stay indoors all day?
Sitting alone it’s not the way
And I think I will name you Lady
Sorrow
Surely someone is to blame
And how I would long for tomorrow
If only I could see you today
Now childhood games we don’t play
I thought I saw you yesterday
On the park bench by the willow
tree
But it wasn’t you who was sitting
there
Just some kind of dream
That once I’d seen
I write to you almost every day
And then I throw the words away
And I think I will name you Lady
Sorrow
Surely someone is to blame
And how I would long for tomorrow
If only I could see you today
Why do they say your minds not right
I remember when we were three
And you said that you would marry
me
Strange that this can never be
Can it be really true?
Or just a play inside a darkened
room
With words that no poet wrote
Felt by you and me
And I think I will name you Lady
Sorrow
Surely someone is to blame
And how I would long for tomorrow
If only I could see you today
(This was inspired
by something I read. It was about a child that developed autism.)
Dar-Lip-Go (Peter Lay, 1971)
Hey Daddy don’t you see
I don’t want to hang around
Don’t want to do anything
Except to wander round
I want to be free
To travel with my friends
So I’m packing up my bags
And I’m on the road again
I caught a train that night
And left the silent town
Looking for places new
With their bright-lighted sounds
Spent all my money
Drinking with the whores
But when flying full of clouds
I found I was too proud
It happened on Friday
My money had run so low
That the devils soon deserted me
To pick another soul
Leaving me in the gutter
I may as well been dead
Only talking to the rats and mice
And they didn’t answer what I said
And the silent city stares down on
me
There’s nothing I can do
No place for me to run
To escape the raging sun
(Dar-Lip-Og is an
anagram of prodigal)
Tale of an Old Man(Peter Lay, 1973)
Lonely
Sad and Lonely
All alone
Remembering sunny days when we were
young
Strange how memories can alter time
Said again
The unsaid line
Old Tom
Old Tom he lives alone
Rents from the council his bungalow
Number 23 in the street
But him I doubt you’ll ever meet
Sometimes from his window
He’ll watch the passers by
Not moving his eyes are staring
But they never wonder why
Sometimes he’ll go out walking
Always to the park
But he doesn’t stay there very long
He doesn’t like the dark
It’s his birthday today
He thinks that no one knows
He says it’s just another day
But he doesn’t really want it to
be that way
Tonight he’s going to get surprised
For Mrs Smith from 29
Has baked a birthday cake
And covered it with candles and
ice
Don’t you agree that’s really nice?
But old Tom he doesn’t know
I guess he’ll wonder what’s going
on
Normally he’d just sit at home
The Cake
The cake is beautiful
Some candles in a row
Mrs Smith you have done well
Won’t it be a nice surprise?
Some letters decorate it
They say old Tom has made it
And all your friends have done their
part
To make it such a happy night
The cake is beautiful
Some candles in a row
Mrs Smith you have done well
To make it such a nice surprise
For old Tom
For old Tom
For old Tom
Lonely 2
Sad and Lonely
All alone
Remembering sunny days when we were
young
Strange how memories can alter time
Love is like
An unsolved rhyme
Words
Say again my friend for me
Those words you said in harmony
For love is life and comfort found
Without which your life is bound
Yesterdays Name
What happened yesterday?
Can you tell me?
I really want to know
I didn’t go out you see
I felt it was too cold
And the air was filled with driving
rain
So won’t you please tell me?
Yesterdays name again
The Last Song
Another day is dawning
The sun begins to shine
Shadows quickly shortening
A never-ending rhyme
And the birds are always tuneful
In the first hour of the day
Before the worlds machinery
Its own tune starts to play
And the pictures we are seeing
From our windows shown
Just flowers in the garden
Where nature is at home
And the birds are always tuneful
In the first hour of the day
Before the worlds machinery
Its own tune starts to play
Old Tom he doesn’t see
His face is turned away
Because he died at half past three
Won’t see another day
And the birds are always tuneful
In the first hour of the day
Before the worlds machinery
Its own tune starts to play
(This my first so
called ‘Rock Opera’, probably inspired by ‘Tommy’)
(What follows is my second ‘Rock
Opera’. ‘Ive Trip’ is about a trip my friend, Trevor and I made in
1967, although it wasn’t written until 1974)
Ive Trip (or St Ives There and Back, 1967 for the uninitiated) (Peter Lay, 1974)
East Chideok Blues
Left home yesterday
In search of it all
Moving through the daylight
Into the evening still
Sitting by the roadside
Smoking untipped Weights
Knowing only road signs
A tapestry of fate
As evening falls
We sip a sombre pint
Feeling the warmth of logs
Fearing the coming night
Darkness it reigns
The trees make up the frame
Wiltshire doesn’t own us
We’re breaking from its chains
Space is unrecovered
Time is standing still
Faces moving past us
Into the winter chill
Cold night outside Bodmin
Lanivet behind us
Darkness swirls about us
Purple dreams of saccharine
Stirred with pints of mild
But still not sweet enough for a
child
I think we’ve walked enough by now
Do you think this place will do?
For peace and quiet undisturbed
Or will the traffic turn our world
What’s the time?
My feet are feeling damp
Half past six
Still snowing hard
My bags to wet to wear
Man its bloody cold in here
Early morning mist
We’ll try to make it quick
We’ll dry ourselves on the front
If only the sun comes through
With chips, beans and coke of tangerine
blue
Cliffside (part one)
Hey Trevor
Where are we going to stay?
Man I don’t know this place at all
The blues are everywhere
This isn’t like we thought it would
be
Wait a minute
What’s that guy trying to say?
Hi there
My name is Marco
How are you fixed for a place to
stay?
I know somewhere not to far
Where you can lay your head
And I’ll show you if you want to
go
Come this way
But keep the noise down
You never know what you may disturb
Through the station
Onto the tracks
Looking for a place to hide
Though we don’t know why we are
running
You can count the sleepers as you
walk
The track just disappears to quiet
Waiting for the ghostly form of
the midnight express worm
To crawl from the deathly uneven
black
And the sea just stretches for miles
If you cannot find the way
Back up the Cliffside
Past the derelictic stone formations
Where Marco had his home today
Cliffside (part two)
You will find it down the Cliffside
The army pill box where
I laid myself down on the hard ground
Trying to find my dreams
I’m drifting into sleep it seems
I see unearthly shapes cross the
plain
My darling will I ever see you again
Blind passions take my mind
I’m trying to unwind
But it’s drawing tighter all the
time
I can hear someone calling my name
Somewhere
Oh where is that sound
I open my eyes and realize where
I am
And now I think I understand
Goodbye and thank you Marco
It was nice of you to share
Your solitude of peace
If only for a night
Maybe we’ll see you sometime soon
Exeter Reunion
The Road it winds before us
Now St Ives is still
The sun has risen early
Climbing over the hills
I’ll see you in the evening
As separate ways we go
It might be a little better
It can’t be quite so slow
I’ll see you by the traffic lights
The ones this side of town
At the Exeter reunion
That’s where we’ll be found
You stay by the signpost
And I’ll go up this way
We’ll see who gets the first ride
And starts of best today
The car pulls in before me
A pressman from up town
Reporting on the tanker
(*)
That on the rocks they found
I’ll see you by the traffic lights
The ones this side of town
At the Exeter reunion
That’s where we’ll be found
I’ve been waiting here for hours
I think I’d better go
I’ll go round the bypass
And see what luck befalls
I’m sitting by an AA box
But still you haven’t come
Already it’s so many hours
Since the darkness fell
My fingers picking out a tune
But what’s that sound I hear
I’m sure I know that footfall
That echoes from the glare
I see your shape move from the night
Trelly my old friend
It’s the Exeter reunion
It’s great to talk again
(*) On 18
March 1967, the 'Torrey Canyon' struck Pollards Rock in the Seven Stones
reef between the Scilly Isles and Land's End, England. She was the
first of the big super tankers, carrying a huge cargo of oil.
Oil leaked from the ship (31,000,000 gallons) and spread along the sea
between England and France, killing most of the marine life it touched
along the whole of the south coast of Britain and the Normandy shores of
France, and blighting the region for many years thereafter
Simple Song (Peter Lay, 1975)
Sitting alone
My thoughts have turned to stone
Just trying to find the words
To write a simple song
But all they seem to say
Is I love you
Maria
I love you
Recollections (Peter Lay, 1975)
Love is a memory
Of walking hand in hand
Past the lake and through the trees
You telling me I’m your man
Love is a splendid time
I held you close to me
And whispered love words in your
ear
Of feelings you couldn’t see
And now that times gone by
And left us with a son
I still feel it deep within us
Our love that was so young
(Written after Simon
was born, recalling a trip to Virginia Water)