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November 27, 2017 by Simon Sweetman

The Ghost of Electricity: War Stories by Jon McLeary # 188 Go To New York

sssWhatever I write

Won’t necessarily make any sense

I wouldn’t lie to you

And I didn’t make it last week

For whatever reason

No one really noticed and I couldn’t explain

There wasn’t anyone else there to blame

Since then we travelled south and backwun6 (2)

And had our little adventures

I found myself playing the second set at the

Wunderbar on the Beast Girl

Woke up to the voice inside my songs

It was a personal breakthrough that’d be impossible to explain

Suffice to say that I’ve learned to become closer into what I’m supposed to be

It’s supposed to make you cry this stuff or at least think in different ways

No good pissing around in the world of technicalities

The question of who wants to when

Playing the older songs can bring it on

Taken right back there

Years of honing the vocal inflection

I was breathless at the end of it and between songs

Of the new songs we only did Stole My Dreams whereas I’d wanted to do We Are Strangers

It’s easy to forget and not simple when you do

Getting back to where I was when I wrote these stories

A thing about songs is that they hang around

Even if they are not on the radio every five minutes or once in a blue moon

We take it very seriously as a band and that’s why we joke aroundPhoto2158 (2)

It’s unsaid and always there

The searching and the finding

But not like expected

You see I didn’t even know if I could make it this far –  to this gig

There have been health and mortality worries

Logistics too

At one stage there on stage I got a sort of double vision and couldn’t see the frets on my guitar

Couldn’t see the dots before my eyeswun1 (2)

I had to bluff my way through Go To New York

To be surrounded by people looking out for me and all wanting the same thing

A great result

I could explain the trip better and why I failed to write last week’s Ghost story

Instead here are they lyrics of my song Go to New Yorkwun2 (2)

 

Go to New York

Stayed out last night with a needle in my heart

I was really frozen and I couldn’t reach the light

What would you do in my place?

Would you take the whole party on?

It’s a nice thought but I wouldn’t lose my fingers for it

 

Work it out for yourself

Don’t you wanna get out of yourself?

 

When it all broke out you had a different voice than that

You didn’t have to shout to get across your point

I didn’t have to listen I could think about something else

Now you’re trying to engage me and now I just shut off

 

Still I like to lean on soggy memories I cant escape myself so what’s the use

All I really want to know is everything

Go to New York might find another clue

 

Thawed out last night I just got on the plane and went

I was really swollen and I couldn’t be polite

What would you do in my place?

Would you sit the whole thing out?

It’s a nice thought but I wouldn’t lose my freedom for it

 

Work it out for yourself

Don’t you wanna get out of yourself?

 

Go to New York you might find somebody there

Go to New York while it’s still there

Go to New York you might find somebody there

Go to New York while it’s still there
Photo2154
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 187 in the series click here

Posted in Blog, Miscellany and tagged with # 188, Art, Canterbury, Christchurch, Epidural, Ghost Stories, Gig, Go To New York, Guest Post, Hannah, Health, Island, Jon, Jon Mcleary, Les, Lyttelton, Malky, Music, Painting, Phantom Billstickers, SI, South, South Island, Spines, The Ghost, The Ghost of Electricity, The Ghost of Electricity: War Stories, The Ghost of Electricity: War Stories by Jon McLeary, The Ghost of Electricity: War Stories by Jon McLeary # 188, The Ghost of Electricity: War Stories by Jon McLeary # 188 Go To New York, The Spines, War Stories, War Stories by Jon McLeary, Wellington, Wgtn, Writing, Wunderbar. RSS 2.0 feed.
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One Response to The Ghost of Electricity: War Stories by Jon McLeary # 188 Go To New York

  1. Jim Wilson says:
    November 28, 2017 at 7:15 pm

    I understand it all perfectly. I’ve been on the same trip, had the same blurry vision looking at my keyboard, felt disconnected, out of whack and as if people were looking at me. I’m on my way back from New York myself, but dripping vast amounts of blood from the needle in my heart. You can’t see it, but I’m gonna tell you.

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