1 Topic by Peatle Jville (edited by Peatle Jville 2020-11-21 05:20:44)

  • Registered: 2015-07-31
  • Posts: 2,793

Topic: Keep Dancing

I wrote this a while back it felt like the right time now to put it on chordie. I would like to rewrite it but I cant figure out how to do it. Anyone want to have a go at rearranging it  changing words or whatever feel free  to do that. I tried to make it into a song but I couldn’t get it together. Usually I think it is sad that  people who are living rough on the street who have mental health issues choose that lifestyle .It is in most cases a choice in New Zealand for addicted people.. If their weird behavior at times makes some of them happy at times it cant always be that bad??? I met this lady in a subway with her plastic glue bag as I was walking through and this I wrote on the bus soon afterwards about her talking to me. She was doing little jigs while dancing in circles around me as I walked through. At first she made me feel very uncomfortable but after a few seconds her behavior  didn’t worry me.  As I got to the escalator to take  me up to the bus stop she asked me of my name?. I told her it is Pete she gave me her name. As I went up on the escalator I felt like  someone out of the bible when she yelled up at me , “ Apotoro Pete I no longer feel mamae.”    The first time in my life I have been called  Apostle Pete and it felt good that she wasn’t feeling sad.  It felt right that I could understand something of her by burying it in a box any judgements of her I had in my head. In a few short minutes I had put  my judgemental thoughts in some imaginary deep hole not to be dug up again. Later that day as I was sitting on a bus I looked out the window there were these people sniffing glue out of plastic bags. I felt like yelling out to them throw away your glue and plastic bags and start dancing.

                                         Keep Dancing
I was walking through the subway.
There was a crazy little lady trying to dance a jig by herself.
She looked at me, she said, “I got a few problems with mental health.”
I looked at her and I said,” lady as long as you dance you can’t be crazy”.

Keep on dancing little lady its not crazy.
If that makes you happy.
Keep on dancing little lady.
If that makes you happy.
You got to move that’s fine with me.

She said,” people in the city don’t see me when I’m dancing on the street.”
I said lady,  “ they do they just don’t know how to handle you.”
“Just do what you do.”
“Your not hurting anyone.”

Keep on dancing little lady its not crazy.
If that makes you happy.
Keep on dancing little lady.
If that makes you happy.
I cant see what the problem is.
You are just doing your thing.
Its aint a sin.
Just keep dancing.

  • From: Wellington New Zealand
  • Registered: 2010-03-24
  • Posts: 1,388

Re: Keep Dancing

Peatle me old mate,this reads more song than poem to me.
good to read more of the famous Peatle observations of life     

The King Of Audio Torture
  • From: The Land Of Song
  • Registered: 2007-12-10
  • Posts: 5,704

Re: Keep Dancing

due to covid we don't spend much time in town any more. i know we live in a small town but only once have i seen kids sniffing glue or aerosol. i've seen plenty of druggies, i live next door to a few, they're frightening enough.
your story is so heart rending and sad it makes you feel like there is some sanity left in those homeless people, many don't want a permanent home.
you are a very nice person Pete, don't let the world drag you down.     

Ask not what Chordie can do for you, but what you can do for Chordie.

Phill Williams's Website

4 Reply by Peatle Jville (edited by Peatle Jville 2020-11-21 06:56:53)

  • Registered: 2015-07-31
  • Posts: 2,793

Re: Keep Dancing

Thanks for your feedback Brian it was  all about a few minute encounter with  a street lady.

Cheers Phill  I was just writing this about this  encounter in a observational sort of way as it all happened over a few minutes but it  didn't drag me down just got me thinking. She was dancing around me and talking at the same time. She knows my face from my last job and I know her. My last  job before I retired put me in contact with many street people so they tend to engage with me when they see me in town. The druggies and those sleeping rough  don't try and ask me for money because they know all they will get of me at best is some food. The money most of them get goes on drugs. Lying and  cheating is all part of what druggies and alkies do for them  it is all about getting the next fix or high. Many years back when Maree and I use to be involved with the Salvation Army drug rehab center many would eventually after going through rehab would end up back on drugs and alcohol. I am thankful that I can enjoy a beer or whatever but for some people it is a slippery down hill slope.   I   have friends who work with street people and most of the long term street people here are quiet happy living on the streets. When we were in lockdown and there was no one around town they all accepted accommodation. Once the lockdown ended most of them decided they wanted to be back on the street again. We are  always going to have people on the margins it is just the way life is. The few that do break out of that lifestyle quiet often go on to do wonderful things. Here in New Zealand a big percentage our prison inmates have drug and alcohol abuse problems. One of Easybeats  and my Sunday  pub seshin buddies is an ex prison warden he tells us  lots stories of prisoners trying to get drugs smuggled in. .I will  attach a rough Idea of what I was trying to achieve it needs more work  and any feedback welcome. Just recorded on my laptop as usual and  the quality not the best but hopefully it will have some entertainment value.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DhY7Diw4T3I

  • beamer
  • beamer
  • THE METALIZER. Naughty Rocker Boy.
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  • From: WASHINGTON ST
  • Registered: 2006-07-29
  • Posts: 2,811

Re: Keep Dancing

Great story, rough song to make jangle.  IMHO, if there is a way to be less "wordy"  as i tend to have to rewrite a lot of stuff to take out to many words.  Thats just me though.

Storys are great, but working them into a song is much tougher.     

“Find your own sound.  Dont be a second rateYngwie Malmsteen be a first rate you”

– George Lynch 2013 (Dokken, Lynchmob, KXM, Tooth & Nail etc....)
  • Registered: 2015-07-31
  • Posts: 2,793

Re: Keep Dancing

I agree Beamer trimming the fat out of stories and turning them into songs is hard. I'm still trying to find the right lyrics for this song and also I am stuck on how to make it flow.