Down at Harry's

MP3

Written: 1986
Released: 2003 on 'Fame'
[Brel moment] Perhaps the most Brelian of all
my songs, a virtual re-write of Brel's 'Knokke-Le-Zoute
Tango', and a song that I actually stopped singing at
one point because I felt so awkward about it - but people
liked it and kept asking to hear it, so I keep doing it.
Though I have fleshed the song out differently, the
skeleton is definitely pure Brel.


Tonight I'm going down to Harry's
A little bar with a sordid smile
Tonight my name is Casanova
Tonight I'll find myself a girl
Even if she's American
One part flesh four parts silicon
Even if she dyes her eyes
To look like lapis lazulis
Even if she pads her brain
To make herself human again
Even if she plays for time with promises
She'll still be mine and we will run
To find the centre of the sun
Tears of laughter
And happy ever after
Tonight down at Harry's

Tonight I'm going down to Harry's
A little bar with a sordid smile
Tonight my name is Romeo
Tonight I'll find myself a girl

Even if she's an English rose
Not so much cold as comatose
Even if she's got buck teeth
And rides her horse from underneath
Even if she's of good breed
With skin as smooth as Harris Tweed
Even if she kills her time killing foxes
She'll still be mine and we will run
To find the centre of the sun
Tears of laughter
And happy ever after
Tonight down at Harry's

Tonight I'm going down to Harry's
A little bar with a sordid smile
Tonight my name is Don Juan
Tonight I'll find myself a girl
Even if she's a French madame
Who falls in love ad nauseam
Even if she's a Catholic
A lot less pills a lot more French stick
Even if she's from gay Paree
Though she says it's not as gay as me
Even if she drinks her wine by the litre
She'll still be mine and we will run
To find the centre of the sun
Tears of laughter
And happy ever after
Tonight down at Harry's

Tonight I'm going down to Harry's
A little bar with a sordid smile
Tonight my name my name is Harry
Tonight I won't find myself a girl

Tonight they'll drink at love's expense
Tonight they'll laugh at my expense
Cheers to Harry and here's to Harry
Batchelor boy he's got good sense
Well I'll tell them all but all in vain
I'll turn them all out pissed again
And I'll walk home in the falling rain
To find myself alone again
And I won't run
To find the centre of the sun
No tears of laughter
No happy ever after
Well not tonight down at Harry's

But
But...

Tomorrow I'll go down to Harry's
My little bar with a sordid smile
Tomorrow I'll be Casanova
Tomorrow I'll find myself a girl
Even if she's American
One part flesh four parts silicone
Even if she dyes her eyes
To look like lapis lazulis
Even if she pads her brain
To make herself human again
Even if she plays for time with promises
She'll still be mine

© Philip Jeays 1986