School Days
Loudon Wainwright III
In Delaware when I was younger
I would live a life obscene
In the Spring I had great hunger.
I was Brando. I was Dean.
Blaspheming, booted, blue-jeaned baby boy
Oh how I made them turn their heads
The townie, brownie girls, they jumped for joy
And begged me bless them in their beds…
In Delaware when I was younger
I would row upon the lake
In the Spring I had great hunger
I was Keats... Oh I was Blake.
My pimpled penciled-pains I'd bring
To frogs who sat entranced
My drift-dream ditties I would sing
The water strider danced…
In Delaware when I was younger
They thought St. Andrew had sufficed
But in the Spring I had great hunger
I was Buddha. I was Christ.
You wicked wise men where's your wonder?
You Pharisees one day will pay!
See my lightning, hear my thunder
I am truth. I know the way…
In Delaware when I was younger…
Music Arrangement, Vocals: Rich Coffey
Recorded at Mistura Productions
Comments:
Ever since my high school “folkie days” I have adored this song. Loudon Wainwright III is a brilliant lyricist and this song is a cryptic yet clever "coming of age" tune. Who can't remember the time—when in our formative years—we all thought we knew everything and had "the world at our command"?
Music:
The tempo is a tad slower and I have spiced up the arrangement quite a bit with guitars, drums, acoustic bass, strings, a dab of electric piano and a trombone solo. The bridge "solo section" I added as well. It was sung as a kind of defiant angry look back, suggesting perhaps better days were in the past…