California Dreamin'

Cold Weather Blues

It's a commonplace that January is the Bluest month, and this year perhaps more than usual.  The feasting is over, the King made a speech without a stutter, and the Duke is raking in the profits of his unhappiness.  For us, poor mortals, without the blue in our blood, things don't got no better:

Whoa, times don't get no better

Peoples, I'm gonna have to go

Times don't get no better

Peoples, I'm gonna have to go

Well, you know I'm going back down south

People, where the weather suits my clothes

Muddy Waters

Cold Weather Blues

Yes, it's time to dream, as Dreamin's all we got. O for a beaker full of the warm South, sang Johnny Keats, while the Mamas and the Papas were California Dreamin:

All the leaves are brown (all the leaves are brown)

And the sky is gray (and the sky is gray)

I've been for a walk (I've been for a walk)

On a winter's day (on a winter's day)

I'd be safe and warm (I'd be safe and warm)

If I was in L.A. (if I was in L.A.)

Here the sun may shine, but it is low in the sky, backlighting locked gates:

It's a cold wind that shakes the reeds:

And whips The Wash to muddy frenzy:

Or blows the bins to the wrong addresses:

Up on Lodge Hill, skittish Ponies are nickering as they shelter among the trees:

If I were a goose I would skein away to where the skies aren't grey - or is that blue sky thinking?

In the meanwhile, I have to wrap up and make the best of my weary shanks:

California dreamin' (California dreamin')

On such a winter's day

Stopped into a church

I passed along the way

Well, I got down on my knees (got down on my knees)

And I pretend to pray (I pretend to pray)

You know the preacher like the cold (preacher like the cold)

He knows I'm gonna stay (knows I'm gonna stay)

I've been for a walk (I've been for a walk)

On a winter's day (on a winter's day)

If I didn't tell her (if I didn't tell her)

I could leave today (I could leave today)

Outside, the world is shut down:

You can't even buy an ice cream:

Let alone a Sub or a Snack:

 

And the beach is not for the living:

So I head inland for the path to sweetness:

Oh, so cold up north that the birds can't hardly fly

So cold up north that the birds can't hardly fly

I'm going back south

And let this winter pass on by

And let this winter pass on by

And let this winter pass on by

Let this winter pass on by, yeah

Time to tuck up nice and warm:

And await the new dawn:

What have I become

My sweetest friend?

Everyone I know

Goes away in the end

And you could have it all

My empire of dirt

I will let you down

Hurt

Bill Rice, Jerry Foster

With thanks to:

McKinley Morganfield (Muddy Waters)

John Edmund Andrew Phillips / Michelle Gilliam Phillips (The Mamas & The Papas)

Bill Rice & Jerry Foster