Written in America "Tea and Toast" might be named "Ginger Ale and Saltines." For me it conjures the same soothing power needed to define comfort. In this song there is a whole life story - a whole love story - in just about four minutes.
Lucy Spraggan's "Tea and Toast" is my favorite non-workout song right now. Simply, I love the lyrics, the melody and Lucy's voice. And there's a sense of calm it brings me as we come closer and closer to emptying and selling my childhood home in Gales Ferry, CT.
Last weekend, I watched as my beautiful white/yellow/flowered childhood bedroom set (the one we could only afford because of a flood in the most expensive local furniture shop that inspired the owners to offer steep discounts) smashed apart as it was tossed off the back of a pick-up and into a dumpster at the Ledyard Transfer Station. A sad/sick feeling was followed by a laugh when my desk flipped upside down, revealing some mots d'amour from one of my younger sisters to Jay. (If you know who Jay is, please tell us because she can't remember!)
So much of my life - and even more of my mother's life now - has become "junk". Except the old things. The very old things. The things for which I myself have no memory. They are attached to events that happened well before I was born, well before I could understand about true love, commitment and sacrifice. As I look around at Isabelle's things, I envision their whereabouts thirty years from now. During the survey I think, It doesn't matter if a bed is eventually thrown away, given away or sold. The memory of going shopping for the big-girl bed (and the sense of awe and independence that accompanied it ) will always be the same.
According to Eric Kandel, the neuroscientist who won the Nobel Prize for his brain memory storage research, memory gives our lives context and continuity. Memory is everything. Without it we are nothing.
"Tea and Toast" reminds me of something I wish I didn't need a nudge to remember: Memories, relationships and the people who make those memories and relationships possible, are what matter most.
Lucy Spraggan's "Tea and Toast" is my favorite non-workout song right now. Simply, I love the lyrics, the melody and Lucy's voice. And there's a sense of calm it brings me as we come closer and closer to emptying and selling my childhood home in Gales Ferry, CT.
Last weekend, I watched as my beautiful white/yellow/flowered childhood bedroom set (the one we could only afford because of a flood in the most expensive local furniture shop that inspired the owners to offer steep discounts) smashed apart as it was tossed off the back of a pick-up and into a dumpster at the Ledyard Transfer Station. A sad/sick feeling was followed by a laugh when my desk flipped upside down, revealing some mots d'amour from one of my younger sisters to Jay. (If you know who Jay is, please tell us because she can't remember!)
So much of my life - and even more of my mother's life now - has become "junk". Except the old things. The very old things. The things for which I myself have no memory. They are attached to events that happened well before I was born, well before I could understand about true love, commitment and sacrifice. As I look around at Isabelle's things, I envision their whereabouts thirty years from now. During the survey I think, It doesn't matter if a bed is eventually thrown away, given away or sold. The memory of going shopping for the big-girl bed (and the sense of awe and independence that accompanied it ) will always be the same.
According to Eric Kandel, the neuroscientist who won the Nobel Prize for his brain memory storage research, memory gives our lives context and continuity. Memory is everything. Without it we are nothing.
"Tea and Toast" reminds me of something I wish I didn't need a nudge to remember: Memories, relationships and the people who make those memories and relationships possible, are what matter most.
Tea and Toast
Tom was born in 1942
With eyes of blue
And the doctors said that his birth was far too fast
His heart stopped twice
But yet he survived
As he took his first breathe
His mother took her last
And his father knew that he wasn't to blame
But he never quite looked at Tom the same after that
And he rarely spoke about her
But when he did
He said your mother used to say this
"When the skies are looking bad my dear
And your heart has lost all it's hope
After dawn there will be sunshine
And all the dust will go
Skies will clear my darling
I'll wake up with the one I love the most
And in the morning, I'll make you up
With some tea and toast"
When we met through a friend
Who introduced them
The first thing Tom said was would you like to dance?
They moved with each other and when the music got slower
He said don't let go of my hand
He said It's only polite if I ask you tonight
Would it be alright, if I could walk you home?
That night he told of of his birth
And said when it hurt
He thought about what his mother said about tea and toast
Two quick years went by
They were side by side
And without a plan, they conceived a little child
He said, woman I love you and this you know
But I only have enough for our food and clothes
But I love you and this baby
Until the day that I die
She said we'll take care of this little life
And we'll fall in love with her baby blue eyes
And we'll be alright from some advice that I know
She said I never got to meet her
But if I did, I'm sure your mother would have said this
"When the skies are looking bad my dear
And your heart has lost all it's hope
After dawn there will be sunshine
And all the dust will go
Skies will clear my darling
We'll show this baby all the love we know
And in the morning, I'll make you up
With some tea and toast"
Well he took those words
And he made them proud
He worked day after day
And hour after hour
So that they could buy a little house on the outside of town
The little girl grew up and so did they
They said that they loved each other everyday
And forty years later, that brings us to now
And as they're walking down the street
Her grip loosens on his hand
He puts his arm around her side as she falls to the ground
He hears her breathing and that's the only sound
Her body on the floor attracts a worried crowd
Tears rolls off his face as he says "don't let go, now"
And he's sitting by her bed in the hospital ward
Their daughter walks in with a family of her own
She says "dad, I don't know if she can hear you now
But there's one thing mum would want you to know"
When the skies are looking bad my dear
And your heart has lost all it's hope
After dawn there will be sunshine
And all the dust will go
Skies will clear my darling
Now it's time for you to let go
I go wake you up in the mornin' with some tea and toast
With eyes of blue
And the doctors said that his birth was far too fast
His heart stopped twice
But yet he survived
As he took his first breathe
His mother took her last
And his father knew that he wasn't to blame
But he never quite looked at Tom the same after that
And he rarely spoke about her
But when he did
He said your mother used to say this
"When the skies are looking bad my dear
And your heart has lost all it's hope
After dawn there will be sunshine
And all the dust will go
Skies will clear my darling
I'll wake up with the one I love the most
And in the morning, I'll make you up
With some tea and toast"
When we met through a friend
Who introduced them
The first thing Tom said was would you like to dance?
They moved with each other and when the music got slower
He said don't let go of my hand
He said It's only polite if I ask you tonight
Would it be alright, if I could walk you home?
That night he told of of his birth
And said when it hurt
He thought about what his mother said about tea and toast
Two quick years went by
They were side by side
And without a plan, they conceived a little child
He said, woman I love you and this you know
But I only have enough for our food and clothes
But I love you and this baby
Until the day that I die
She said we'll take care of this little life
And we'll fall in love with her baby blue eyes
And we'll be alright from some advice that I know
She said I never got to meet her
But if I did, I'm sure your mother would have said this
"When the skies are looking bad my dear
And your heart has lost all it's hope
After dawn there will be sunshine
And all the dust will go
Skies will clear my darling
We'll show this baby all the love we know
And in the morning, I'll make you up
With some tea and toast"
Well he took those words
And he made them proud
He worked day after day
And hour after hour
So that they could buy a little house on the outside of town
The little girl grew up and so did they
They said that they loved each other everyday
And forty years later, that brings us to now
And as they're walking down the street
Her grip loosens on his hand
He puts his arm around her side as she falls to the ground
He hears her breathing and that's the only sound
Her body on the floor attracts a worried crowd
Tears rolls off his face as he says "don't let go, now"
And he's sitting by her bed in the hospital ward
Their daughter walks in with a family of her own
She says "dad, I don't know if she can hear you now
But there's one thing mum would want you to know"
When the skies are looking bad my dear
And your heart has lost all it's hope
After dawn there will be sunshine
And all the dust will go
Skies will clear my darling
Now it's time for you to let go
I go wake you up in the mornin' with some tea and toast
No comments:
Post a Comment