BEAUTIFUL WORLD

My my my it's a beautiful world.
I like swimming in the sea.
I like to go out beyond the white breakers
Where a man can still be free
(or a woman, if you are one).
I like swimming in the sea.

My my my it's a beautiful world.
I like drinking Irish tea
with a little bit of lapsang souchong.
I like making my own tea.

My my my it's a beautiful world.
I like driving in my car,
roll the top down, sometimes I travel quite far.
Drive to the ocean, stare up at the stars.
I like driving in my car.

All around is anger, automatic guns.
It's death in large numbers,
no respect for women or our little ones.
I tried talking to Jesus, but he just put me on hold.
Said he'd been swamped by calls this week
and he couldn't shake his cold.

And still this emptiness persists.
Perhaps this is good as it gets
when you've given up the drink
and those nasty cigarettes.
Now I leave the party early.
At least I leave with no regrets.
I watch the sun as it comes up.
I watch it as it sets.
Yeah, this is as good as it gets.

My my my it's a beautiful world.
I like sleeping with Marie.
She is one sexy girl, full of mystery.
She says she doesn't love me,
but she likes my company.
For now that's good enough for me.

My my my it's a beautiful world.
I like swimming in the sea.
I like to go out beyond the white breakers
Where a man can still be free
(or a woman, if you are one).
I like swimming in the sea.

--- Colin Hay

My friend, Chris, burned a highlight CD of Colin Hay's music for me recently. I like every song on it, and I've been spinning it regularly ever since I brought it home. If I were a music critic, and it were a proper album, I'd give it a solid A. If you don't already know, Colin used to be in a group called Men at Work, who were big news for a brief period way back in the early-to-mid eighties. Their most famous song claims they came "from the land down under", but I think Colin is, actually, from Scotland. (Chris would know better than I.) Hay's solo music is more introspective, mature, and organic than his old band (who were zany and synthetic). The song above has a great feeling, I think, and says something interesting about life here on the third rock out. (I've printed the lyrics only because I can't reproduce the song, itself, on my blog.) Colin's work is a bit obscure, but he has a track on the Garden State soundtrack. His Transcendental Highway CD and his best-of, Man at Work, are available for order any number of places.

I'm plugging Colin Hay's music for him , so I hope it's okay that I used his image and lyrics on my blog.