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You dancin'?

Submitted by shazbat on Mon, 2011-11-28 14:11

When granny passed over last Wednesday
It was something we never foresaw
She seemed to be so fit and healthy
But then came the knock on the door

The policeman was standing there solemn
He wasn’t sure what he should say
Then all of a sudden he blurted
“It’s granny, she’s just past away”

She’d been to the pensioners social
She was dancing and knocking back gin
The silly old girl gave a bit of a twirl
When her heart, it just stopped, it gave in

So if you should ever reach ninety
And you’re having a night on the piss
If they say take a chance, get up, have a dance
Just tell them you’ll give it a miss

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Comments

weirdelf

Tue, 2011-11-29 08:20

weirdelf's picture
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Let Me Die A Youngman's Death

Let me die a youngman's death
not a clean and inbetween
the sheets holywater death
not a famous-last-words
peaceful out of breath death

When I'm 73
and in constant good tumour
may I be mown down at dawn
by a bright red sports car
on my way home
from an allnight party

Or when I'm 91
with silver hair
and sitting in a barber's chair
may rival gangsters
with hamfisted tommyguns burst in
and give me a short back and insides

Or when I'm 104
and banned from the Cavern
may my mistress
catching me in bed with her daughter
and fearing for her son
cut me up into little pieces
and throw away every piece but one

Let me die a youngman's death
not a free from sin tiptoe in
candle wax and waning death
not a curtains drawn by angels borne
'what a nice way to go' death

Roger McGough

cheers,
Jess
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shazbat

Thu, 2011-12-01 15:52

shazbat's picture

I've got a few of Mcgoughs books although this poem's not in any of them. I remember reading this years ago and thinking that when I go it's gonna be with a bang not a whimper, I'm in the "ulysses" motorcycle club (quite big in Oz) and their motto is "Grow old disgracefully" hopefully I'm doing just that.

My claim to fame is that I had a few beers with Roger and the rest of "The Scaffold" at a club in Sheffield back in '72 ish,, it was a damned good night and they bought the drinks, happy days.

John

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