What went wrong by ROGER PLANCHE 10/20/00
Posted: Wed May 24, 2017 12:49 pm
‘What went wrong?’
I went to Tarleton Street
and lanes not trod these forty years
I muse on folk I used to meet,
Majorca grill and Chanticleer.
Espresso coffee barley warm
Yet to last an hour or so
A Chinese lunch for three and six
With Jewish boys their heads bent low.
Where are they now the ghost’s I see?
Sweet girls from Sheila Elliot Clark
Who dreamed their dreams o’er lemon tea?
How many ever made their mark?
There’s Malcolm Levy writing songs,
Geoff “Iron Door” Hogarth, Ivan Gee
A young reporter righting wrongs,
A laugh with Tarbuck (now Tarbee)
Tip-toe Pritchard, Sister Sue
The blonde from Andres, face aglow
AND Jimmy Harris, Brian too
The guy from Beaver Radio
A guy named Silver, yet sold gold
In suit and shirt from Hymie J.
“Gone to the States” I once was told.
Did he return as I today?
To just relive those heady days
When Paul and John meant names of Saints
As we retrace our youthful ways
What half lit canvass memory paints
The Bass house on the corner stands
A desert island in the way
Of yet another “BANKRUPT STOCKS” and “SALES”
That always “ENDS TODAY”
Now Marks and Sparks command the street
Where Jimmy Ireland once held court
Computer software, mobile phones
Where once guitar strings could be bought
Where did Jimmy Getty show us chords?
we knew we could never learn ,
where Canard cowboys fresh from sea
would blow money, so hard earned
Across the street, old haunt of mine
Dear Rushworths-closed,a century of time
Our city’s flagship for music, song
Please people out there
What went wrong?
ROGER PLANCHE 10/20/00
I went to Tarleton Street
and lanes not trod these forty years
I muse on folk I used to meet,
Majorca grill and Chanticleer.
Espresso coffee barley warm
Yet to last an hour or so
A Chinese lunch for three and six
With Jewish boys their heads bent low.
Where are they now the ghost’s I see?
Sweet girls from Sheila Elliot Clark
Who dreamed their dreams o’er lemon tea?
How many ever made their mark?
There’s Malcolm Levy writing songs,
Geoff “Iron Door” Hogarth, Ivan Gee
A young reporter righting wrongs,
A laugh with Tarbuck (now Tarbee)
Tip-toe Pritchard, Sister Sue
The blonde from Andres, face aglow
AND Jimmy Harris, Brian too
The guy from Beaver Radio
A guy named Silver, yet sold gold
In suit and shirt from Hymie J.
“Gone to the States” I once was told.
Did he return as I today?
To just relive those heady days
When Paul and John meant names of Saints
As we retrace our youthful ways
What half lit canvass memory paints
The Bass house on the corner stands
A desert island in the way
Of yet another “BANKRUPT STOCKS” and “SALES”
That always “ENDS TODAY”
Now Marks and Sparks command the street
Where Jimmy Ireland once held court
Computer software, mobile phones
Where once guitar strings could be bought
Where did Jimmy Getty show us chords?
we knew we could never learn ,
where Canard cowboys fresh from sea
would blow money, so hard earned
Across the street, old haunt of mine
Dear Rushworths-closed,a century of time
Our city’s flagship for music, song
Please people out there
What went wrong?
ROGER PLANCHE 10/20/00