Q – Lloyd, I’ve been listening to Missing from COTA, such a great song, and the lyrics are just amazing. How closely do they resemble the poem? Is the poem much longer? Lyrically I see a similarity with a couple of other songs of yours, most notably My Other Life, it’s probably the police/legal style jargon. Anyway, far from being the one that got away, I think it’s perfect as it is.
A – Amazingly in these digital days I cannot find Missing, the poem by Alan Jenkins, on the web to link to. It is from his collection ‘Harm’ from 1994, so it was quite new when I adapted it. The original is a huge poem made up of smaller segments – the song is based on the 7th – which is in italics in the book, and the 8th, which isn’t. Almost the whole lryic is from Alan’s words, but I’m happy with the editing I did and the little I added. It was a great privilege to have such raw material to work with.
So here’s the lyric – Alan’s words in italics – mine plain text –
She moves on –
Taking with when shes gone your jacket, jeans and shirt
Your better self, and it hurts and it hurts
As she moves on –
What this place needs she said when she first stayed the night
Is a womans touch
Well, she gave you that alright, now
Missing believed lost
Five feet four and a half
Of just warm girl
Lazy blonde curl
Last seen heading North
With no visible scars
Wearing tan suede
Over a brave face
As she moves on –
Into another world in which you dont belong
In which you never will
And its wrong, its all wrong
As she moves on –
She doesn’t call
She wont come back
Shes too far in
Was her love as fake as her leopardskin?
Missing believed lost
Five feet four and a half
Of just warm girl
Lazy blonde curl
Last seen heading North
With no visible scars
Wearing tan suede
Over a brave face
And shes missing
And I’m lost