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A song with a smooth groove ““ almost aspiring to be a jazz piece.
A self-consciously secular song. Irreverential, it certainly is. The lyrics popped out in an evening rather than were mulled over for any time. The guitar bit, being so simple, didn’t take long either. A sm-o-o-o-o-th one, to paraphrase a Charlie Christian title, with a folk-funk topping. At least, that’s how my febrile imagination sees it.
The Outfidel
I don’t mind the Salvation Army
Shaking them tins at me
But if they think I’m gonna go down and get saved on Sunday
They’re barking up the wrong tree
Well I don’t mind the pious and the pilgrims
Sending their children to them faith schools
As long as them kids grow up and make up their minds
Which one of them faiths rules
Life used to be so simple
I used to pray before I went to bed
Did I put up my stocking on Christmas Eve? You bet!
But I was so young and impressionable
I still can’t get it out of my head
Now, nothing would please me better
Than to have some Gods watching over me
But Zeus, and Apollo and Aphrodite
Are all dead now unfortunately
There was a man at the school I went to
Made me pray before I got fed
He was a figure who filled me with dread
If I could only turn back the clock
I would slap him upside his head
© 2008 Dave Keir
