Off The Tracks

Off The Tracks
  • Blog
    • Interviews
    • Miscellany
    • Special Guests
    • Reviews
  • Podcasts
  • The Vinyl Countdown
  • Back Catalogue
  • About
    • About
    • About the banner image
    • On Song
June 11, 2020 by Simon Sweetman

Poem: When the World Is Running Down, You Make the Best of What’s Still Around

It’s funny how we change – almost
imperceptibly. We don’t see it
in ourselves, we have to at least
pull over. Stop to look. And listen.
And feel.

20 years ago or so I was driving
to Wellington with one of my mates
and one of his friends and the three
of us were going to set up a flat
together.

It never happened. And just as well.
He and I are friends still. And would have lasted
the flatting situation – we practically lived
together anyway in the end (I was always visiting).

But she was just awful. And I knew this about
20 minutes into the drive. And maybe she
knew that about me in quicker time. Certainly by
the end of our days searching empty-handed for
a place to live she was aware of the situation.

It was an awkward drive home. We’d not found
a thing – and this “personality-clash” between us
was obvious. And it came to a head in the weirdest
way. I was playing a tape in the car’s stereo and
it was this bootleg recording of a Sting concert. I was
into it because of the drummer (Vinnie!) and some of the
other musicians. (And – yes! Alright! Some of the songs
too). And she said, “could you turn this off please – I don’t
like it”
. And you know, if she’d left that last bit off, if
she’d just said “could you turn this off please” it probably
wouldn’t have been (much of) a problem. But that last
little bit really bugged me. (It always does. It’s always the
last little bit – whatever it is). So I replied, “hey well you
know what to do then eh: The next time you’re driving
in YOUR car make sure You don’t listen to Sting!”

(I like to think that was the real sting).

Silence.

But not from the car’s stereo. In fact I think Sting
was singing something hilariously not-right-for-that-moment
like We’ll Be Together or Be Still My Beating Heart.

Anyway, I’m sure glad we never lived in a flat all together.

And though I sometimes think about how I was a knob in that
moment, like basically any time I hear Sting – which is nowhere near
as often as it was back then, by the way, and always for the same
exact reason/s (I like the musicians he worked with – and then some of
the songs, in that order) I never really think about what happened
to that person that would blank-stare at almost anything and was the
almond-milk and peace and love traces of a human being
before any of that sort of thing seemed
built to agitate.

There was something ironic about me going in to bat for Sting too. I mean
he is as annoying as her, or she as him – or however you want to see it.
Similar jerk-personalities. And I’m a huge fucking jerk too. I know that.
(And I’m sure you do too).

But my mate – from that same car-ride – told me just recently that she’d
gone to the dark side: All sure that Bill Gates was microchipping us
and that the government plot of the virus was just part of sneaking 5G in
which would have only one benefit at all – she’d be able to send her messages
to her crackpot-theory groups just that little bit faster…

I laughed when I heard it. Couldn’t have happened to a better person.

I decided to play a Sting song.

“They Dance Alone”.

I always particularly hated that one.

Posted in Blog, Miscellany and tagged with Cassette, Poem, Poem: When the World Is Running Down, Poem: When the World Is Running Down You Make the Best of What's Still Around, Sting, Tape, The Police, You Make the Best of What's Still Around. RSS 2.0 feed.
« Stubs: # 256 – Chucho Valdés & The Afro-Cuban Messengers , Wellington, 2013
The Vinyl Countdown # 111 »

Popular

  • The Best Guitarist in The World: # 8 – Mark Knopfler
  • The Sad Story of Bob Welch: Fleetwood Mac’s Most Undervalued Member
  • Janna Lapidus Leblanc: Four Years In Pictures
  • Time Casts Its Spell: When Silver Springs Became The Secret Weapon It Had Always Threatened To Be
  • The Best Guitarist in The World: # 11 – Lindsey Buckingham
  • Prince: Tokyo Dome 1990
  • Everything Must Go: My Last Time At The Record Fair
  • Bono’s Book
  • On: Neil Young’s Decade
  • Where Have All The Kiwi Soundtracks Gone?

Archives

Tags

Album Review Auckland Blog Book Book Review Chat Compilation DJ DVD DVD Review EP Film Film Review Gig Gig Review Guest Blog Guitar Interview Jazz Live Live Gig LP Movie Music NZ Podcast Poem Poetry Record Records Simon Sweetman Soundtrack Spines Spotify Stub Stubs Sweetman Podcast The Vinyl Countdown Vinyl Want more? Check out my Substack You can also support Off The Tracks via PressPatron Wellington Wgtn Writing You can support Off The Tracks via PressPatron [OST]

Categories

  • Back Catalogue
  • Blog
  • Interviews
  • Miscellany
  • Mixtapes
  • Playlists
  • Podcasts
  • Reviews
  • Scene Of The Day
  • Special Guests
  • The Vinyl Countdown

Off The Tracks is the home of Sweetman Podcast, a weekly interview/chat-based pod. It's also home to my reviews across film, TV, music and books and some creative writing as well.

Off The Tracks aims to provide quality reviews and essays, regular blog updates about the shows, albums, books and movies you should be experiencing.

It's a passion project. Your support will help to keep Off The Tracks online.

All content © 2022 by Off The Tracks. WordPress Themes by Graph Paper Press