Time in a bottle

John, the mad Irish man introduced me to Tom Waits, or rather his music. With his bourbon soaked voice and languid persona he wasn't an obvious choice of listening material in the heady eighties with all that synthesizer music but I can still remember the first time I heard Downtown Train. Rod Stewart later covered the song but for me, Tom Waits drunkenly drawing out the notes, piano in the background will always be a reminder of furtive motorcycle rides, roaring up the Main Road hoping not be spotted, feeling alive. Where did that go?

Folk singer Tim Hardin had a song called "Reason to Believe", this has come to symbolise every failed relationship that I've ever had. But I still love the song. Ironically, also covered by Rod Stewart. This song, beautiful through it's cruelty, haunting reminder. How much we hang on to that we cannot change.

"If I listened long enough to you, I'd find a way, to believe it all was true.
Knowing, that you lied straight faced, while I cried.
Still I look to find a reason to believe

Rod Stewart has, as far as I know, never covered Jim Croce's, Time In a Bottle. I have to thank Arthur for Jim, both of them, it was he who gave me my love of comic books and the two Jim's Morrison and Croce. We spent endless days listening to vinyl albums while lying on his bed at his parent's house. All very chaste I might add. There was and still is a hypnotic quality to Morrison's music. We could get high without getting high. Our depression a background noise to the soundtrack of LA Woman. The other Jim was easy listening, the stuff that we sang along too while sitting in a park watching the clouds. This between my having to fly to work at one job or other.

I am reminded of the fragility of human life. We take time so much for granted but who really knows, after all, today is all we have, tomorrow a promise. Stop waiting for that which will not happen and rejoice in what is happening now.

"But there never seems to be enough time
To do the things you want to do
Once you find them
I've looked around enough to know
That youre the one I want to go
Through time with

If I had a box just for wishes
And dreams that had never come true
The box would be empty
Except for the memory
Of how they were answered by you"