This is an autobiographical song, from this year's the National Folk Festival, as Mudcatter Noreen can confirm....

One of my favourite cartoons has a man walking out of a door marked "University Department of Philosophy" - and he's saying to himself "Ah, well, musn't grumble".

So here is a song taking this philosophical approach. Jean Paul Sartre is there to give it a bit of academic weight - well, he did place much signifcance on the concept that "Les choses sont contre nous. Things are against us", as quoted in the last verse - and he was also rather concrrend about "le regard d'autrui", which ties in with a line in my first verse.

Though to be honest, the philosophy here is more redolent of Paul Jenning's subversive parody of Existentialism, "Resistentalism".

Philosophical Song
                  C                G
Have you ever tried to sing a song,
         C                                     F
And all at once the words are gone,
          C                        
And though you try to carry on
         D             G
And finish anyway
       C                  G
Still everyone is watching you
      C                                        F
"I wonder what he's going to do?"
          C                                    
You wish the ground could swallow you.
       D                      G
And let you crawl away.
             F                     C
You're feeling so perplexed,
               F                      C
You've quite forgot the text,
               F            C          F             C
You're standing there in dumb despair,
         D                                     G
You don't know what comes next
                F                      C
Like you stepped upon a stair,
          F                           C
And there was nothing there,
          F          C            F    C
Your feet and mind are re-aligned –
       F         G       C
It's all just empty air.

It happened just like that one night,
The words just went out like a light,
I think they thought that I was tight,
And I could take no more.
So I bought myself a glass of beer,
And set it underneath my chair,
Then kicked it over, unaware,
It splattered on the floor.
And didn't I feel vexed
My friendly drink upset,
"Last Orders, Sir" – so no more beer.
Oh what would hit me next?
Like I'd stepped upon a stair,
And there was nothing there,
An empty glass, alack alas,
All full of empty air.

But now I'll cut my story short,
I'll spare you all the full report,
But all at once I had a thought -
My cup did over flow,.
Bur didn't Jean Paul Sartre say
There's things against us everyday
No use to grumble anyway,
Philosophy can show ,
When things cannot be fixed.
No need for getting vexed,
Just shake your head, and go to bed,
Prepare for what comes next.
When you step upon a stair,
And there is nothing there,
No good to rage, or shake your cage –
It's only empty air.

29th March 2004