Matters Of Time

 

My guitar skills seem to be improving. I'm obviously not as good as I used to be -good is certainly an exaggeration here- but the feeling seems to be intact. My technique is far from being perfect: my fingers struggle to find the strings (and I'm not talking about G-strings, please). But I definitely feel at ease on this instrument.

This afternoon I've rehearsed and played Badfinger's Sail Away. It's a really beautiful song. Simply amazing. I remember when my good friend C. and I used to play it, either at his place or at mine. Those were the days... It's a pity he doesn't play the guitar anymore. It's a pity we don't see each other these days.

I rediscovered Bob Marley's Chances Are, which I recommend you dearly. I still can picture myself at my parents' place, ten years ago, sitting in front of my majestic piano, with A.K by my side. We tried to figure out the chords to this song and didn't quite succeed. But we didn't mind, really. I used a pattern of chords based upon our guesses on Chances Are to write my third song, which I called Cold Evenings.

I was working at the seaside then, and we spent our days tanning and listening endlessly to our favourite records. A.K had his mind set on reaggae music and I was stuck with John Lennon's Imagine album.

When I moved to Switzerland, we kept seeing each other for a couple of years. We used to play with some friends. There weren't many songs that everybody could play by heart, so we kept on playing endless takes of Let It Be and Knocking On Heaven's Door. I think we also played Hey Jude a couple of times.

I haven't seen A.K for seven years now.

I haven't smoked for two weeks.

I haven't been laid for even longer.