NIGHTS IN WHITE SATIN

 

Originally released by the Moody Blues in 1969, Nights in White Satin was re-released in approximately 1974 as a single.  With “FM” stereo still in it’s infancy, the pop “AM” stations, who would not play songs longer than two minutes, left off the chilling “poem” (early rock-rap?), that was an integral part of the original song.  Being a rock purist and aficionado, even in middle school, I had the original recording on vinyl.  MANY years later, I still remember the words by heart…

NIGHTS IN WHITE SATIN, ending poetry

Breathe deep, the gathering gloom;

Watch lights fade in every room.

Bedsitter people look back and lament-

Another day’s useless in years spent.

Impassioned lovers wrestle as one;

A lonely man cries for love and has none;

A new mother picks up and suckles her son;

Senior citizens wish they were young.

Cold hearted orb, that rules the night;

Removes the color from our sight –

Red is grey and yellow white.

But we decide which is right;

And which is an illusion.

©1969 The Moody Blues, from the album version of “Nights in White Satin”.

THE LAST DAY

If today were to be my last day

Would anyone know that I’d gone away?

How many days do you think would pass

Before someone would miss my ass?

How many days would fly right by

Before someone just wanted to say “high”,

hello! 

And after no answer for a day or two,

Would they come by and say, “hey you!

Anyone home? I rang the bell,

But inside your house is as quiet as hell.

I’d like to visit, if you’d answer your door,

I got no money to go elsewhere and score.”

 

If this was to be my last night,

If I suddenly was gone and out of sight,

How long would it be before anyone came?

Someone who knew me and knew my name?

A day, a week, a month or two

After I’d moved on into the blue

Will anyone miss me or even care

That I’m no longer here to share?

I pose this question in deep despair

Wondering how and when and why and where

I lost my way on this winding road

And strayed from family friends and the crowd.

Righteous and indignant, my path was my own

Never afraid of the day I’d be alone.

After two failed marriages, both in short time

I accepted that love would never be mine.

The past was gone, and with it all I knew

I started over from scratch at the age of thirty two.

To redeem the person that I could be

Meant to mother the children God gave to me.

 

If today was to be my last day,

Would anyone know I’d gone away?

I thought myself good and thoughtful and wise

To be so alone to me is a surprise.

I must have missed something along the way

For to be alone at the end of the day

Came insidiously through the long years

Of quiet nights and hidden tears

And somehow managed to come into line

With my final destiny…

At least this time.