The Triumph of the un-spoken word over sweet sounds...
YESTERDAY WHEN I WAS DUMB - A Benign Parody
(with sincere enough apologies and more to those who made the original composition an all-time great. T. Wignesan)
Refrain :
Yesterday when I was dumb
I couldn't tell a song from any sore thumb
All the tunes I hummed with my silent tongue
Were but tinnitus on my ear-drums sweet songs I sung
All the pretty frisky girls passed me quickly by
Yet I don't know why I couldn't even cry
I couldn't remember the sounds made by warbling birds
Nor the thunderous laughter I heard bursting from the clouds
All the songs I learnt line by line by heart
Kept mocking me in the stillness of my thoughts
(Refrain)
The wintry winds I weathered in my feathered bed
Warmed by lilting melodies in my love-sick head
All the words of songs lame casualties on my tongue
I could not sleep nights heaving on one lone lung
In my dreams I tussled with girls sticking out their tongues
I lisped some sounds like grunts to appease their wrongs
But I'd as lief be made a clown sans papier-mâché crown
Than be mocked by childhood girls I rolled atop meadow down
(Refrain)
Each full day I prayed for the right word to come to mind
Nothing doing ! I always mixed and twisted words on the line
Then I always drop shut the shutters, drew the curtains tight
Shut myself up in the shower to croon some line just right
" No bloody use " the misted mirror said : " You cannot win a Grammy "
" Oh ! What use is a tongue if it cannot taste the kiss of melody ! "
I've lived so long to know there's only one way to say : " Goodbye ! "
No words on lines nor tunes, just a look, a wave of a hand and a sigh !
(Refrain)
Yesterday I was dumb but today I have my own pounding tom-tom
With signs and signals to speak the language of the drum
And the orchestra sweeps over strings and the smiling moon
And I no longer seek to put words on line to croon
Oooh ! Yesterday ! I felt the stings in the cockles of my heart
Yet today I sing blood red the sounds surging through the chart
Oooooh Oooooh…. Yesterdaaay….
I had to look it up, but a great song by Roy Clark. A very haunting melody and words. But your parody is so well written that is certainly follows a song both in melody and in lyrics. As someone who has been declared "moderate to severe" hearing loss, I can relate. Believe it may be also affected my speech. I am finding myself relying on closed caption for all viewing. But my eyes, while requiring glasses for driving and practically nothing else, are holding up quite nicely, thank you.
Ron
The title… Like the old, no longer politically correct, Deaf and Dumb.
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Ron
The title… Like the old, no longer politically correct, Deaf and Dumb.