Lay for the Day: 26th February

Lay for the Day 26th February

Someone wrote once that there were two kinds of country music – Willie Nelson and the rest. For quite a while I was of that opinion, and Johnny Cash – who was born on this day in 1932, in Kingsland, Arkansas – was one of those who first brought me round to a better understanding (thanks also to Hank, of course, and Jimmie Rodgers and the Carter Family, and Loretta Lynn and Tammy Wynette and Patsy Cline, and Flatt & Scruggs and Roy Acuff, George Jones, Bill Monroe, the Blue Sky Boys and the list keeps getting longer).

This is our idea of a Country & Western song, and if anyone wants to make it one, they’re welcome to try. You can hear it here.

Looking at the Rose
(Through World-Coloured Glasses)

Romance comes along,
Romance fades.
Sun comes up full strong
And then it shades
Into the night,
The failing light.
Start out full of hope,
Wind up frozen.
Eyes that start wide open,
They end up closed.
Everything that grows,
I’ve been thinking how it passes.
I’ve been looking at the rose
Through world-coloured glasses.

Babies learn to smile
And then to lie.
Laugh a little while,
Soon you’ll cry
Because you won
A love that’s gone.
Start out for the east,
End gone west.
Those who know the least,
They know the best.
Everything that grows,
I’ve been thinking how it passes.
I’ve been looking at the rose
Through world-coloured glasses.

Take them off, oh, take them off me.
Must be time to see
Through to eternity,
Clear through to eternity.
Take them off, oh, take them off me
And I will believe
Really how this world can be,
Really how this world can be.

Everything that grows,
I’ve been thinking how it passes.
I’ve been looking at the rose
Through world-coloured glasses.

Take them off, oh, take them off me
And I will believe
Really how this world can be,
Really how this world can be.

See, you are the rose,
You are the rose.

Words and music by The Children

The Lay Reader: an archive of the poetic calendar