Be like the flower…

Song Lyric – I Love Cocaine

Salaama and Greetings of Peace:

Here is another song lyric written in the 1980s to a Disco beat :)  If there is ever a musical about Studio 54, the famous New York City nightclub of that era, this would be a perfect song for it.  So all you Broadway producers, take note :)

I Love Cocaine ( a duet with chorus)

She sings:

Been up three days
Doin’ the drug
Chorus: I love cocaine
Can’t find the handle
Can’t find the plug

We’re deep in snow
And we don’t ski
Just an addictive
Personality
Chorus: I love cocaine
God, it brings out
The best in me

So pull down the shades
And draw the curtain
Don’t let the sunshine in
Only one thing that’s for certain
I LOVE COCAINE

Let me explain
When you’re in the fast lane
It alleviates the pain
I love cocaine

Never mind the cost
Never mind the loss
Of cells in the brain
Or mucus membrane

Chorus: I love cocaine

Steal for it, lie for it
Sleep with ugly men for it

I just love cocaine

Duet:

A demon in white
Has us beguiled
In the grip of the powder
Sweet mother and child
There’s no wind
But we’re blowing wild,
Blowing wild, blowing wild
The point is moot
Long as there’s toot
We’ll be blowing wild
We love cocaine!

He sings:

Been up three days
Been up three night
Shades are drawn
Against the light

We’re deep in snow
And we don’t ski
But let me be
Don’t set me free
Can’t you see
I LIKE IT, I LIKE IT, I LIKE IT!!!!!

So come and get it, come and get it
Come and get it, come and get it
I’m not going to ask you twice
I’m not going to be this nice
AGAIN! AGAIN! AGAIIIIIIIIIIIIIIN!

Duet:

A demon in white
Has us beguiled
In the grip of the powder
Sweet mother and child
There’s no wind
But we’re blowing wild,

Blowing wild
The point is moot
Long as there’s toot
We’ll be blowing wild
We love cocaine!

So don’t put cocoa in the butter
Or in the chocolate for me
Roll it in a cigarette
And light it up for me
We don’t tan and we don’t eat
We INHALE, INHALE,
For our daily treat!

We LOVE Cocaine!

Song Lyric – The Piano Man

Salaam and Greetings of Peace:

I wrote the lyrics to this song in 1983, but do not know how to write music, so never did more than sing it, in a Tom Waits-like voice, at poetry recitals. Then Tom Waits himself came to Chicago to perform, so I sent a copy to his hotel. He sent me back a note that said. “Dear Irving, Nice piece of work. Thanks, Tom Waits.”

And that was that, until I came across it recently and decided to post it. Some of you may be familiar with the lounge piano players that still perform in piano bars and hotel dining rooms. This is their song, circa 1983. And if any of you can write music and sing and play the piano, please help me and do something with it :)

THE PIANO MAN

(Refrain from In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning) 

Mmm, yeahhhh, the wee small hours of the morning…
I always find myself at 4:00 AM
With no idea in my mind
Of where I’ve been or where I’m going
Or what it is I left behind

And if I stop to think it over
It just doesn’t seem quite right
That all I’ve got left the next morning
Are the songs I sang last night

(Refrain from Memories, Light the Corner of My Mind)

Memorieeees, light the corner of my mind,
But I don’t remember much of nothin’
There’s no girl I left behind

I left behind some talent,
But there wasn’t much to lose
Still one step ahead of crazy
One step behind the blues

Yeah, yeah, yeah, just part of the dues…

(Refrain from It Was Just One of Those Things)

mmm I paid so many dues
In my struggle to succeed
That someplace I lost the glamour
Somewhere I misplaced the greed,

Well, that’s just one of those things, mmmm,

But there’s money in the tip
And someone passed the hat
Well, pass it again, it don’t go that far
But I can still get high on that,
Yeah, still get high on that

Sooooo, with a whiskey glow and a neon tan
I’m taking requests, I’m the piano man,
Yeah, the piano man

(Refrain from It Had To Be You)

It had to be you, it had to be you,
hmm, hmm, hmmmm, hmmmmmmm

Honey, it don’t have to be you,
In fact, it probably ain’t you,
But there’s some girls at the bar,
Lookin’ as me, trying to catch my eye,

Cause I can make them happy,
And I can make them cry
With someone else’s words
And a slow dance melody

Hmmm, think I’ll get one high and take her home with me
Yeah, get her high and take her home with me

(Refrain from As Time Goes By)

Yeah, they think I know of what I’m singing
But I don’t sing of love from knowing,
Only sing it on request… yeah, one dollar a request
That knowledge has escaped me,
Most likely for the best, hmm, most likely for the best
Sex and drugs and Stardust, just won’t let me rest.

Soooo, with a whiskey glow and a neon tan,
I’m taking requests, I’m the piano man, yeahhhhh, the piano man

The piano man…..

– Irving Karchmar, Copyright 1983 – 2014

Happy Valentine’s Day!

I do not know what it is which opens and closes
yet every fiber of my being understands
the fragrance of your presence is sweeter than a thousand roses
nobody, not even the rain, has such tiny hands
– e.e. cummings

The most wonderful of all things in life

Salaam and Greetings of Peace:

“The most wonderful of all things in life, I believe, is the discovery of another human being with whom one’s relationship has a glowing depth, beauty, and joy as the years increase. This inner progressiveness of love between two human beings is a most marvelous thing, it cannot be found by looking for it or by passionately wishing for it. It is sort of a Divine accident.”

– Horace Walpole

Ya Haqq!

Sympathetic Threads

Salaam and Greetings of Peace:

“We cannot live only for ourselves. A thousand fibers connect us with our fellow men; and among those fibers, as sympathetic threads, our actions run as causes, and they come back to us as effects.”

– Herman Melville

 

Ya Haqq!