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I Used To Write Poetry For An Englishman

from Masco: Come On Along by Jersey Water

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about

This song and "Onward and Downward" were the first songs I ever wrote in an alternate tuning (CGCFCE), one of the tunings Nick Drake used. This was around the time that I discovered Nick Drake, along with everyone else.

The song's about an affair with a professor, although I was never quite sure if it's from the point of view of the student or the professor. I like the idea of a student referring to his professor as his "boy" though. It evens out the power dynamic in a strange way.

Around the time I was writing this song, in the library at Brookdale Community College in Lincroft, NJ, I found this old beat up collection of gay and lesbian short stories, and one of the stories was called, "My Brother Writes Letters to an Englishman" or something along those lines. I don't remember what the story was about, but the title was the inspiration for this song.

The only part of the story that I remember is where the brother hides the letters he wrote in the belly of a beached whale. I loved that image so much I stole that and used it another song of mine, "All the Whales in the World." I don't know who wrote the story and I haven't been able to find it anywhere online since then.

My favorite line in the song is the last one, "In his eyes I saw his moon and my changing tide." I think growing up on the Jersey Shore I write about the ocean a lot, and being on the edge of something. I wish I had taken advantage of living so close to the beach when I was younger. I was such an indoor kid.

lyrics

I used to write poetry for an Englishman
During summer days I cried in ways I wish he'd never see
But I still find myself thinking of that other me
Kissing my boy along the campus greenery

I used to write poetry for an Englishman
I helped him pack the car the night he left
I used to write poetry for an Englishman
I should’ve told him all the things I thought could wait

Now I find myself praying myself to sleep
Singing someone else’s songs
They don’t belong to me

No more poems to write
I’ve forgotten how to cry
Nothing to compose
Just prayers to recite

I used to write poetry for an Englishman
He wrote me back with kisses on the page
Father Warner grabbed me by the collar
In his eyes I saw his moon and my changing tide

credits

from Masco: Come On Along, released March 1, 2001

license

all rights reserved

tags

about

Jersey Water

I started out
on Chips Ahoy
But soon hit the Double Stuf

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