Believe Me When I Tell You
The Rolling Stones
Mick Jagger—1943-; Keith Richards—1943-;
Charlie Watts—1941-; Ronnie Wood—1947-;
Brian Jones—1942-1969
Rock ’n’ roll’s
The perfect party favor
Rock ’n’ roll’s
Granddaddy’s nervous tic
Rock ’n’ roll
Believe me when I tell you
Rock ’n’ roll
Is always Keith and Mick
It’s the penthouse floor in a snazzy hotel
It’s a symphony written to a sorcerer’s spell
At the wedding of the undertaker and his bride
When they kiss, he’s happy, she’s terrified
Rock ’n’ roll
Comes shaking like a preacher
Rock ’n’ roll
Some say’s a dirty trick
Rock ’n’ roll
In case you ever doubted
Rock ’n’ roll
Is purely Keith and Mick
It’s the cyclone rush of a wind tunnel high
It’s a poke in the snoot and it’s mud in your eye
It’s a cream pie hit to the guv’nor’s tux
As he swindles the choir for a few hundred bucks
Rock ’n’ roll
Is caution on a riptide
Rock ’n’ roll
Is opera with a kick
Rock ’n’ roll
I think I oughta mention
Rock ’n’ roll
Is always Keith and Mick
© J. Patrick Lewis. All rights reserved.
How nice of J. Patrick Lewis to send a bit of rock 'n' roll poetry to share with the world, eh? Some might quibble with him, of course ("For those who say that rock is all/It's always John and Paul" for example), but who can deny our Poet Laureate's rhythm and way with words? Not I! As always, it's a pleasure to have Pat here at GottaBook.
By the way, you can check out today's Poetry Friday roundup at A Year in Reading to get a bunch of pre-National Poetry Month poetry joy. And consider today's poem pre-kickoff to 30 Poets/30 Days.
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Wonderful! And here comes April, at last - Spring and poetry! Is there anything better?
Awesome-- I'm loving this (and Keith and Mick too) and can't wait for April's deluge of creativity!
Hard to believe they're still "kickin'", but they are, and this poem shows it! Wonderful!
I know it's only rock 'n roll, but I like it! That kept going through my head as I read Pat's poem...and I kept wanting to put it to a melody! Thanks for sharing, Greg.
Love this one! Pat's a rock star :).
Jama got it right -- he IS a rock star!
Fabulous, Pat!
And Greg--triple skipping hello and super ball jumping for your GREAT GOOD NEWS--can't wait for The 14 Fibs of Gregory K!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
(Shouldn't that be Gregory P???)
Fun poem! Thanks for sharing, Greg.
What Jama said.
This is great! It's true for my generation, I got a copy of Let it Bleed in 1970 or so, and for my son's generation. He heard the Stones in San Francisco 6 or 7 years ago.
It's true, Pat's the man. And even that underrates him.
Love the Stones and love this poem! Very fun to read out loud. I saw them at Madison Square Garden many years ago. Nosebleed seats. But the show was awesome!