I was feeling very alienated from the family
It wasn’t actually my family it was my partner’s
All her brothers and sisters and their offspring
We were on holiday at Ocean Beach and it was pissing with rain
They were all getting drunk and arguing in the house
I wasn’t drinking in those days and just wanted out
So I stayed in the little room at the back of the garage where I slept
I had my guitar and came up with this intoxicating series of chords
The balance in my relationship had shifted and I was always on the back foot it seemed
She had a big powerful career now and I was still scratching around
It felt like I was at her mercy but was too weak to leave her and our son
I didn’t want to leave – I still loved her but I could feel her feelings for me waning away
It was a hollow place to be but I was finding real joy in the music I was writing that day
A complex but beautiful collision of chord changes and I didn’t want to lose it
So I stayed out in that little room till I nailed it down to the sad words that followed it
We Are Strangers
She’s crazy in one of those moods
Where it’s no picnic and I can never say anything wrong
She’ll soon be coming down
To those old home truths – she’s got a method of her own
And it breaks my heart when she lets on
That she’s going to bed alone
It’s a wonder we can function at all
It’s no good making plans
When conditions can change at the wave of a hand
I’m totally out of my zone
And in the wink of an eye I could be totally out on my own
We are strangers in a very strange way
That we don’t know at all
We are famous for a very strange thing
When we get caught they give it a name
She’ll soon be someone new
And I’ll be lucky if I can ever be anything more
And it breaks my heart when she lets on
That she’s going to bed alone
It’s a wonder we can function at all
With the weight of who we are
We are strangers in a very strange way
That we don’t know at all
We are famous for a very strange thing
When we get caught they give it a name…
The Ghost of Electricity – War Stories by Jon McLeary is a new initiative at Off The Tracks, a series of stories and reflections from painter, writer and musician Jon McLeary
To read any of the first 179 in the series click here