The Late Charlie Parker by Paul Kennelly 12th march 2010
Whash’nton Mem’ry Gardens where theys takin’ me
I checked out of this life a week ago
while fixin. up the T.V. mast , I fell into the yard, an’ now I’m dead as doornails aint that so ?
They got a little spot fer me beside a Chestnut tree, I guess the roots will take my flesh , for nourishment , you see
a simple board set at my head , with this sentiment
, “ The T.V.’s workin’ fine , but the aeriel is bent
chorus
So it’s goodbye Charlie Parker , we stick ya in the soil
put up a wooden marker an’ thankya fer your toil
you were Chicago’s finest , a Vetren of the War
yer bodies in the ground now , you don’t need it anymore
Well I was there at Omaha , back in ’44, the lead was flyin’ fast around my head
we hit the beach a runnin’ , I closed my eyes an ‘ prayed
the whole Platoon around me lyin’ dead
Then I had ma’ Harley Bike when Elvis was the thing , one night I hit a Semi haulin hogs
I knows I flew right through the air, I don’t recall a thing
I waked up in the outhouse with the dogs
In ’68 I braked my leg while skatin’ on the lake , fell through a hole and nearly drownded dead
later that year I lost an eye when I treads on a rake an’ spent six weeks confin’ed to my bed
I stumbled through the eighties wit’ not a lot to say, although I did write off my Cadillac
I was stoney broke , wit’ all theys bills to pay, ‘an in ’98 I slipped an’ broke my back
An so fer thee Millenheham, a gets a T.V. set, to watch all theys do’s an goin’s on
I climbed upon my rezeedence an’ fallin’ off I met , my Waterloo, an’ now I’m dead an’ gone
Whash’nton Mem’ry Gardens where theys takin’ me
I checked out of this life a week ago
while fixin. up the T.V. mast , I fell into the yard, an’ now I’m dead as doornails aint that so ?
They got a little spot fer me beside a Chestnut tree, I guess the roots will take my flesh , for nourishment , you see
a simple board set at my head , with this sentiment
, “ The T.V.’s workin’ fine , but the aeriel is bent
chorus
So it’s goodbye Charlie Parker , we stick ya in the soil
put up a wooden marker an’ thankya fer your toil
you were Chicago’s finest , a Vetren of the War
yer bodies in the ground now , you don’t need it anymore
Well I was there at Omaha , back in ’44, the lead was flyin’ fast around my head
we hit the beach a runnin’ , I closed my eyes an ‘ prayed
the whole Platoon around me lyin’ dead
Then I had ma’ Harley Bike when Elvis was the thing , one night I hit a Semi haulin hogs
I knows I flew right through the air, I don’t recall a thing
I waked up in the outhouse with the dogs
In ’68 I braked my leg while skatin’ on the lake , fell through a hole and nearly drownded dead
later that year I lost an eye when I treads on a rake an’ spent six weeks confin’ed to my bed
I stumbled through the eighties wit’ not a lot to say, although I did write off my Cadillac
I was stoney broke , wit’ all theys bills to pay, ‘an in ’98 I slipped an’ broke my back
An so fer thee Millenheham, a gets a T.V. set, to watch all theys do’s an goin’s on
I climbed upon my rezeedence an’ fallin’ off I met , my Waterloo, an’ now I’m dead an’ gone
