Friday, October 19, 2018

OctPoWriMo Day 18: (Throwback) The Love Song of Ms Mary Modern

The prompt for today also dredged up something I'd written ages ago - a modern nursery rhyme/fairy tale, as it were, that was a take on 'Mary Mary Quite Contrary', and what might a modern little girl might think about.

I turned it into a song for a performance at a jazz bar, and it's below, if you're interested:

https://soundcloud.com/shuku-kusanagi-li/the-love-song-of-ms-mary-modern-live-at-nbt

THE LOVE SONG OF MS MARY MODERN

Mary Mary quite contrary
How does your garden grow
With silver bells and cockle shells
And Cadillac dreams
And pretty bridesmaids all in a row

There’s a buried star from that boy in college
Who broke your heart and left you just for fun
So you gathered all the pieces up
A coat of scars, a patchwork plaque
To shield your heart from further indiscretions

Here’s a withered tree in the corner
That once reached for the sky with dreams of travel, of adventure
If money was no object – but it was
And that was that
So now it droops there, not quite forgotten

Oh Mary Mary quite contrary
When her heart is breaking you will never know
'Cause she hides it so well, she’ll never tell
Silence is her lover
She just waters all her dreams with her tears


Leave it behind Mary, leave it behind
Regrets of yesterday can’t be undone
The only thing that keeps you strong is castles in the air
Always ‘if’, always ‘maybe’, never ‘when’

Mary Mary quite contrary
How does your garden grow
With silver bells and cockle shells
And Cadillac dreams
And pretty bridesmaids all in a row
Yes, your pretty bridesmaids all in a row
Oh, your pretty dreams all in a row

6 comments:

Jane Dougherty said...

I like this. It's a heartbreaker.

Shuku said...

Thank you Jane! I remember at the time, I needed a song to round out the performance my quartet and I were doing at this little jazz bar, and I had the nursery rhyme 'Mary Mary Quite Contrary' stuck in my head, and it left me wondering what would happen if a contemporary little girl were to rewrite the rhyme.

I was also SO. SO. SICK. When we were performing, I'm pretty sure I was on a triple dose of antihistamines at the time.

ms_lili said...

your modern fable sounds fabulous set to music.

Shuku said...

Thank you Jade! I used to write songs a lot more when I was still actively performing with the quartet. Nowadays I'm mostly tied up with teaching, but I'm still very much involved with my community choir and teachers' ensemble.

Ornery Owl of Naughty Netherworld Press and Readers Roost said...

You could have written this for my younger self, a small town girl with big-time dreams.
From my current vantage point, I'm damn glad some of those dreams didn't come true. They were a little too Hollywood. I just wish I'd found it out in some way that wasn't quite as painful.

Shuku said...

I wish you hadn't either, Cara, but I am glad that you are right here right now. <3