My relationship with Girlfriend 26 did not actually end, formally, until 1 July 1974. However, the months leading up to that date were, to say the least, uneasy. We still got on together in a genuinely romantic way, but distances were growing between us, and there was a certain chilly coldness about the whole thing. This situation produced a great deal of doggerel, mainly recording my growing dissatisfaction with her. Possibly the “least unpoetic” of these was one not directly on point at all, but does give a feel for the prevailing mindset:
“Phil’s Song” 6 May 1974
In the bus queue stands a man, and he looks like all the rest;
It’s early Monday morning, and no-one’s at his best;
No-one speaks and no-one smiles, he blends in with the crowd;
Each one’s mind an empty hole, and each one’s face a shroud.
At work works a worker, and he doesn’t need his mind;
He does his job by instinct, he does it deaf and blind;
His fingers press the buttons, the numbers count themselves;
His brain, released from thinking, down to his feelings delves.
In his lunch break sits a slimmer, he’s wasting away;
He doesn’t want to slim, and he’s too thin anyway.
On his desk lies a photograph; he gazes and cries;
And the food that he lives on are the tears from his eyes.
In his bed reclines a sleeper, crying in his sleep;
Whatever state his body’s in, all he does is weep;
And the one from the photograph fills all his dreams,
And reduces each night-time to a series of screams.
More importantly, it had become self-evident by her appearance on stage with the band that Sandy Denny had indeed rejoined Fairport Convention.
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