Parsley Sage Rosemary & Thyme

(or how i was robert mcnamara'd into submission)

I been norman mailered, maxwell taylored.
I been john o'hara'd, mcnamara'd.
I been rolling stoned and beatled till i'm blind.
I been ayn randed, nearly branded
Communist, 'cause i'm left-handed.
That's the hand i use, well, never mind!

I been phil spectored, resurrected.
I been lou adlered, barry sadlered.
Well, i paid all the dues i want to pay.
And i learned the truth from lenny bruce,
And all my wealth won't buy me health,
So i smoke a pint of tea a day.

I knew a man, his brain was so small,
He couldn't think of nothing at all.
He's not the same as you and me.
He doesn't dig poetry. he's so unhip that
When you say dylan, he thinks you're talking about dylan thomas,
Whoever he was.
The man ain't got no culture,
But it's alright, ma,
Everybody must get stoned.

I been mick jaggered, silver daggered.
Andy warhol, won't you please come home?
I been mothered, fathered, aunt and uncled,
Been roy haleed and art garfunkeled.
I just discovered somebody's tapped my phone.

Do people have a tendency to dump on you?
Does your group have more cavities than theirs?
Do all the hippies seem to get the jump on you?
Do you sleep alone when other sleep in pairs?
Well there's no need to complain,
We'll eliminate your pain.
We can neutralize your brain.
You'll feel just fine
Now.
Buy a big bright green pleasure machine!

Do figures of authority just shoot you down?
Is life within the business world a drag?
Did your boss just mention that you'd better shop around
To find yourself a more productive bag?
Are you worried and distressed?
Can't seem to get no rest?
Put our product to the test.
You'll feel just fine
Now.
Buy a big bright green pleasure machine!

You better hurry up and order one.
Our limited supply is very nearly gone.

Do you nervously await the blows of cruel fate?
Do your checks bounce higher than a rubber ball?
Are you worried 'cause your girlfriend's just a little late?
Are you looking for a way to chuck it all?
We can end your daily strife
At a reasonable price.
You've seen it advertised in life.
You'll feel just fine
Now.
Buy a big bright green pleasure machine.

The night sets softly
With the hush of falling leaves,
Casting shivering shadows
On the houses through the trees,
And the light from a street lamp
Paints a pattern on my wall,
Like the pieces of a puzzle
Or a child's uneven scrawl.

Up a narrow flight of stairs
In a narrow little room,
As i lie upon my bed
In the early evening gloom.
Impaled on my wall
My eyes can dimly see
The pattern of my life
And the puzzle that is me.

From the moment of my birth
To the instant of my death,
There are patterns i must follow
Just as i must breathe each breath.
Like a rat in a maze
The path before me lies,
And the pattern never alters
Until the rat dies.

And the pattern still remains
On the wall where darkness fell,
And it's fitting that it should,
For in darkness i must dwell.
Like the color of my skin,
Or the day that i grow old,
My life is made of patterns
That can scarcely be controlled.

The last train is nearly due,
The underground is closing soon,
And in the dark deserted station,
Restless in anticipation,
A man waits in the shadows.

His restless eyes leap and scratch,
At all that they can touch or catch,
And hidden deep within his pocket,
Safe within its silent socket,
He holds a colored crayon.

Now from the tunnel's stony womb,
The carriage rides to meet the groom,
And opens wide and welcome doors,
But he hesitates, then withdraws
Deeper in the shadows.

And the train is gone suddenly
On wheels clicking silently
Like a gently tapping litany,
And he holds his crayon rosary
Tighter in his hand.

Now from his pocket quick he flashes,
The crayon on the wall he slashes,
Deep upon the advertising,
A single worded poem comprised
Of four letters.

And his heart is laughing, screaming, pounding
The poem across the tracks rebounding
Shadowed by the exit light
His legs take their ascending flight
To seek the breast of darkness and be suckled by the night.

scarborough fair / canticle


Are you going to scarborough fair?
Parsley, sage, rosemary & thyme
Remember me to one who lives there
She once was a true love of mine

Tell her to make me a cambric shirt
(on the side of a hill in the deep forest green)
Parsley, sage, rosemary & thyme
(tracing a sparrow on snow-crested ground)
Without no seams nor needlework
(blankets and bedclothes a child of the mountains)
Then she'll be a true love of mine
(sleeps unaware of the clarion call)

Tell her to find me an acre of land
(on the side of a hill, a sprinkling of leaves)
Parsely, sage, rosemary, & thyme
(washes the grave with silvery tears)
Between the salt water and the sea strand
(a soldier cleans and polishes a gun)
Then she'll be a true love of mine

Tell her to reap it in a sickle of leather
(war bellows, blazing in scarlet battalions)
Parsely, sage, rosemary & thyme
(generals order their soldiers to kill)
And to gather it all in a bunch of heather
(and to fight for a cause they've long ago forgotten)
Then she'll be a true love of mine

Are you going to scarborough fair?
Parsley, sage, rosemary & thyme
Remember me to one who lives there
She once was a true love of mine

This is the early evening edition of the news.
The recent fight in the house of representatives was over the open housing
Section of the civil rights bill.
Brought traditional enemies together but it left the defenders of the
Measure without the votes of their strongest supporters.
President johnson originally proposed an outright ban covering discrimination
By everyone for every type of housing but it had no chance from the start
And everyone in congress knew it.
A compromise was painfully worked out in the house judiciary committee.
In los angeles today comedian lenny bruce died of what was believed to be an
Overdoes of narcotics.
Bruce was 42 years old.
Dr. martin luther king says he does not intend to cancel plans for an open
Housing march sunday into the chicago suburb of cicero.
Cook county sheriff richard ogleby asked king to call off the march and the
Police in cicero said they would ask the national guard to be called out
If it is held.
King, now in atlanta, georgia, plans to return to chicago tuesday.
In chicago richard speck, accused murderer of nine student nurses, was brought
Before a grand jury today for indictment.
The nurses were found stabbed an strangled in their chicago apartment.
In washington the atmosphere was tense today as a special subcommittee of the
House committee on un-american activities continued its probe into anti-
Viet nam war protests.
Demonstrators were forcibly evicted from the hearings when they began chanting
Anti-war slogans.
Former vice-president richard nixon says that unless there is a substantial
Increase in the present war effort in viet nam, the u.s. should look forward
To five more years of war.
In a speech before the convention of the veterans of foreign wars in new york,
Nixon also said opposition to the war in this country is the greatest single
Weapon working against the u.s.
That's the 7 o'clock edition of the news,
Goodnight.

Silent night
Holy night
All is calm
All is bright
Round yon virgin mother and child
Holy infant so tender and mild
Sleep in heavenly peace, sleep in heavenly peace.