Friday, March 29, 2013

J. Patrick Lewis - Believe Me When I Tell You

Believe Me When I Tell You
                                    The Rolling Stones
                                           Mick Jagger—1943-; Keith Richards—1943-;
                                           Charlie Watts—1941-; Ronnie Wood—1947-;
                                           Brian Jones—1942-1969

Rock ’n’ roll’s
The perfect party favor
Rock ’n’ roll’s
Granddaddy’s nervous tic
Rock ’n’ roll
Believe me when I tell you
Rock ’n’ roll
Is always Keith and Mick

It’s the penthouse floor in a snazzy hotel
It’s a symphony written to a sorcerer’s spell
At the wedding of the undertaker and his bride
When they kiss, he’s happy, she’s terrified

Rock ’n’ roll
Comes shaking like a preacher
Rock ’n’ roll
Some say’s a dirty trick
Rock ’n’ roll
In case you ever doubted
Rock ’n’ roll
Is purely Keith and Mick

It’s the cyclone rush of a wind tunnel high
It’s a poke in the snoot and it’s mud in your eye
It’s a cream pie hit to the guv’nor’s tux
As he swindles the choir for a few hundred bucks

Rock ’n’ roll
Is caution on a riptide
Rock ’n’ roll
Is opera with a kick
Rock ’n’ roll
I think I oughta mention
Rock ’n’ roll
Is always Keith and Mick

© J. Patrick Lewis. All rights reserved.

How nice of J. Patrick Lewis to send a bit of rock 'n' roll poetry to share with the world, eh? Some might quibble with him, of course ("For those who say that rock is all/It's always John and Paul" for example), but who can deny our Poet Laureate's rhythm and way with words? Not I! As always, it's a pleasure to have Pat here at GottaBook.

By the way, you can check out today's Poetry Friday roundup at A Year in Reading to get a bunch of pre-National Poetry Month poetry joy. And consider today's poem pre-kickoff to 30 Poets/30 Days.

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12 comments:

Unknown said...

Wonderful! And here comes April, at last - Spring and poetry! Is there anything better?

Michelle Heidenrich Barnes said...

Awesome-- I'm loving this (and Keith and Mick too) and can't wait for April's deluge of creativity!

Linda B said...

Hard to believe they're still "kickin'", but they are, and this poem shows it! Wonderful!

Matt Forrest Esenwine said...

I know it's only rock 'n roll, but I like it! That kept going through my head as I read Pat's poem...and I kept wanting to put it to a melody! Thanks for sharing, Greg.

jama said...

Love this one! Pat's a rock star :).

Ruth said...

Jama got it right -- he IS a rock star!

April Halprin Wayland said...

Fabulous, Pat!

And Greg--triple skipping hello and super ball jumping for your GREAT GOOD NEWS--can't wait for The 14 Fibs of Gregory K!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(Shouldn't that be Gregory P???)

Bridget Magee said...

Fun poem! Thanks for sharing, Greg.

Charles Ghigna said...

What Jama said.

Anonymous said...

This is great! It's true for my generation, I got a copy of Let it Bleed in 1970 or so, and for my son's generation. He heard the Stones in San Francisco 6 or 7 years ago.

Charles Waters said...

It's true, Pat's the man. And even that underrates him.

Diana Murray said...

Love the Stones and love this poem! Very fun to read out loud. I saw them at Madison Square Garden many years ago. Nosebleed seats. But the show was awesome!