lyric sheets

Portrait of the young man as an artist

by Martin Newell

In overcoat and looking harsh

With most of Ian Beale's moustache

The tyre-mark of a beard below

Begs Shave Me Off Before You Go-go

The image more mature somehow

Asks, "Daddy, can I come down now?"

It's serious and that's what shocks

The look that says, "I Want Your Sox".

The Georgian house which Michael built

Austere without its early gilt

As moany Sony sets him free

For forty million transfer fee

Is this the face Teen-Heaven sent

So like a Russian dissident

Now singing "Jesus to a Child"?

Or is it Croesus-U-Restyled?

Martin Newell's third volume of poetry, The Illegible Bachelor, is published by Festival Books through Password. Or mail order from Festival Books, Lit Department, Essex University, Colchester CO4 3SQ