In Delaware when I was younger
I would live the 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. I was Blake.
My pimple pencil 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 you 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
Dagens andet sangtips er Loudon Wainwright IIIs sang om skoledagene i Delaware. Det er den første skæring på hans eponyme debutalbum fra 1970. En sang, der nok viser en ung sangskrivers tendens til det lidt prætentiøse, men det er også en dejlig, ærlig sang som ungdommens appetit – ja, sult – på verden og livet, ikke mindst ‘the townie, brownie girls’. Og så er det – som det oftest er med Loudon Wainwright – altid med tungen i kinden, et glimp i øjet, en drys af den humor, der har rødderne helt nede i den dødelige alvor. Det er stor sangskrivning i min optik.
School Days kan pt. høres sammen med alle de andre numre fra Wainwrights 40-års jubilæumsudgivelse 40 Odd Years – her. Her i en senere BBC-optagelse fra 1998