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Rifftides

Doug Ramsey on Jazz and other matters...

Indelible Lines

Before the Rifftides staff gets back to business as usual, whatever that is, we’re finding it difficult to let go of thoughts about Johnny Mercer. Lines from his songs won’t go away — ever.

There’s a dance pavillion in the rain,
All shuttered down…
I remember, too,
a distant bell
and stars that fell
like rain,
out of the blue.
Faint as a will-o-the-wisp,
crazy as a loon,
sad as a gypsy
serenading the moon.
The days of wine and roses
laugh and run away,
like a child at play…
Go out and try your luck–
you may be Donald Duck.
Hooray for Hollywood!
I know every trail in the Lone Star State,
’cause I ride the range in a Ford V-Eight…
This torch that I’ve found
must be drowned or it soon might explode.
Make it one more for my baby
and one more for the road,
that long, long road.

Related

Doug Ramsey

Doug is a recipient of the lifetime achievement award of the Jazz Journalists Association. He lives in the Pacific Northwest, where he settled following a career in print and broadcast journalism in cities including New York, New Orleans, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle, Portland, San Antonio, … [MORE]

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