Next up were songs. Not modern ones exactly (the examples we were given mostly dated back several centuries), but since I tend to slip archaic language into sentences ('ye cannae be serious', etc) I wanted to drag my thoughts forward in time and, well, they settled at around 1970. There's still a fair amount of word contractions, but I think this enhances rather than detracts from the subjec' ma'er.
- Punk '57-'79
We would say fuck the system, but your knob would turn to rot.
A sloganized rebellion doesn't mean an awful lot.
Now anarchy has gone to pot, it's not in a good state.
Florescent purple pubic hair's no cause to celebrate.
Sid 's dead, Nancy's dead, punk 's dead all.
A bloody mess below the sink and sobbing in the hall.
Submission now, no future with a love that doubt has slain,
and never mind McLaren or his bollocks more again...
Replaced with dumb and patronising off-the-shelf revenge.
A culture deep as epidermis—little to avenge.
Locked in bedrooms whining that it's all misunderstood,
crave attention of the in-crowds, arms are slick with blood.
Such pretty, silly, vacant things, a youth that do not know,
events of that October twelfth, hotel room one-oh-oh.
That suicide is not a game, but fear, nor can they cry
Of passions dark, “too weird to live, and [yet] too rare to die”.
Nancy,
You were my little baby girl
And I knew all your fears
Such joy to hold you in my arms
And kiss away your tears
But now you're gone
There's only pain
And nothing I can do
And I don't want to live this life
If I can't live for you.
John Simon Ritchie, 1957-1979
