REMINISCE PART ONE: LYRICS & CHORDS

C Dm G

(Repeat throughout)

Yeah, uh, let me go back further. Let me go back further, if I may. (Yeah please do. Go on, yeah.) It was, um, it was a rainy afternoon it was two, maybe three months ago I first started to reminisce. I first... I first started to reflect. I was walking by the Thames at the time and I started to think about the summer of 1980. Uh, so what I did, I wrote this down on a piece of lined white paper while I still felt strong about it. Here's what I recall:

It was August 1980, I was searching for the spirit of Brendan Behan in the bars of Dublin. Uh, I mean, at this point, you know, I had... I had a bit of a reputation as something of a searcher. (Oh, I see, I see. Oh, right, yeah.) Yeah. Only I still have for that matter but perhaps even more at this point.

Anyway, I went from one bar to another. I mean, I started off with a couple of friends but after a short while I think they just decided to abandon the search. Well, you know how it is, they probably had other plans or something. (Sure. Yeah, sure.) But, I mean, me, I carried on, you know, I was determined, I went from one bar to another. I went to Brannigans, I went to Flanagans. You know, like in the song, you know, the one about the donkey. You know that one? (Yeah, I've heard it, I've heard it. Oh yeah, yeah, I remember that.) I mean, like... cos the thing is, I've got to confess, you know, at this point I wasn't feeling on top of the world, you know? (No?) No. Frankly, no. No, sir. (What, in other words, you wasn't exactly laughing?) I mean I wasn't exactly walking down the road with a spring in my step. You know, "happy-go-lucky" wasn't... wasn't my middle name. (I know what you mean.) I mean, I'd heard that blind man, the man with the glasses, I heard him singing. Um... I didn't like the song, you understand. (Hey, of course, yeah. Alright. I know what you mean.) But I did know what he meant about the "higher ground". I knew what he meant about the "higher ground" (You did, yeah?) I did. (You understood it.) So anyway, I went into this one bar, I can't remember the name of it, doesn't really matter now, but I mean, you know, by this time I was getting... I was getting really impatient. So I plucked up the courage to ask somebody and I noticed a man he was, uh, probably in his early thirties. He was... he was well-built, he had... ginger hair and a big, fierce, powerful face.

"Ah, he looks like the type who'd know" I thought. (Yeah)

"Excuse me, do you know where I can find the spirit of Brendan Behan?" Said I.

"Brendan Behan?" Said he.

"Yes." Said I.

"New York." Said he.

"New York?" Said I.

"New York." he said again quickly.

(New York?) Yeah. (Well, man, that's three thousand miles due west.) I know. (I mean, you was on the wrong side of the world.) I know. (Well, so what did you do?) Well, what could I do? I just got out of there. I put my coat on. I got out of there. I walked straight out of there and I walked down the road and I started to sing:

Don't matter much lately. Don't... don't matter much lately.

It don't, it don't. It doesn't matter much.

Well, it doesn't matter. Don't matter.

It doesn't matter. Who matters?

It don't matter. Don't matter much lately.

(No?) No.

It don't matter. It don't.

(It don't matter, it don't matter.)

And then, you know, there's always, uh, one or two things that you learn... that you learn from an experience like this. And I... I, uh... I know one thing. (What's that?) Ken Livingstone is a folk hero. (What are you talking about?) You know what I'm talking about. (I don't know what you're talking about.) You know what I'm saying (No.) I'm making perfect sense. (That's rubbish.) You're the one who's coming out with it. (That's crap.) You know what I'm saying (No, I don't know what you're talking about.) It's the truth. It's the truth. Oh yes.

(It don't matter, it don't matter.)