Take It or Leave It (with music video)

Cherry

By Turlough

Tue, 07 Dec 2021
  • 1856 reads
14 comments
 

I first posted this poem on the ABCTales website in November, during the week when our Inspiration Point was ambivalence.

Please forgive me if you have already seen it but since I wrote the poem there has been a significant development. A dear friend of mine, Anthony Healey from Leeds, has put my words to music and made a short video.

Here is a link to our musical production, and I have repeated the words below in case you would like to sing along in a sort of Turlough Ó Maoláin karaoke party.

Take It or Leave It - video

I love to see the sun come up through early morning mist.

I quite enjoy a pint or two without ever getting pissed.

I like to walk around the town, my wife upon my wrist

And then go home and try my hand as a gynaecologist.

 

I can't abide that Chelsea lot or Manchester United

Or noisy little bonfire squibs whenever they're ignited.

I have no time for all those folks who've pompously been knighted

And politicians who close their eyes to wrongs that should be righted.

 

Oh how I love my two big dogs and seven little cats,

And all the food I shouldn't eat with saturated fats.

I love the Beatles, Rolling Stones, the Who, the Kinks and that's

A sign that I am getting old and going slightly bats.

 

I disagree with fossil fuels and nuclear reactors.

I'm not a fan of Hollyoaks, of Strictly or X Factor.

Years ago my teacher saw my loathing of protractors.

I hated all the maths she taught and hoped her boss had sacked her.

 

I just adore when we explore the mountains and the coast.

It makes me ill when Brussels sprouts are served with Sunday roast.

A roaring fire with wine and friends is what I like the most,

But get irate at the letters page in the Yorkshire Evening Post.

 

There's one small thing I often sit and think about all night.

When I tell you this I know you'll say my head isn't quite right.

I've discussed it with our local shrink and now I think I might

Be the only person in the world who can take or leave Marmite.

 

Image: Created by me at Teatro Salone Margherita in Rome.

Certificate 15
Poem
Poetry in Commotion
Humour
Autobiography

Comments

Submitted by donignacio on

I like the song you wrote. Reminds me a little of Syd Barrett.

 

Submitted by Turlough on

Thanks very much indeed, but I think you're being a little bit harsh on poor Syd Barrett.

laugh

Turlough

Submitted by celticman on

yep, we've all got our prefernces. Marmite even. 

 

Submitted by Turlough on

It sets us apart from the Antipodeans and their poor substitute.

Turlough

Submitted by airyfairy on

That's great - what a splendid thing for your friend to do. 

Take or leave Marmite, eh? Stay well away from keen scientists. They'll have you in a lab, scanning you for traces of alien DNA. Life, but not as we know it surprise

Submitted by Turlough on

They've already done that. They poked about a wee while, scratched their heads, put me back in the cage and went to the pub.

Thanks very much for taking the time to read / listen to this and for leaving a comment. 

Turlough

Submitted by skinner_jennifer on

This is brilliant Turlough, I laughed so much at the video. smiley Thank you for making my day brighter.

I wonder if it will get in the charts for Christmas! wink Imagine a number one hit. Well! One can only dream. 

Thank you for sharing.

Jenny.

 

 

Submitted by Turlough on

Ah, Jenny, thanks!

It's good to know that it made you laugh.

I've already been on the phone to Tony Blackburn about the Christmas Top of the Pops. I'll let you know how I get on.

wink

Turlough

Submitted by D G Moody on

It has cheered me up no end; and they did say before - cheer up things could be worse; so I cheered up and blow me down - they just got worse! But this will fight off the covid blues - well done! 

BTW; Marmite vs Vegemite? No contest! As an adoptive native of the great Antipodes I was raised on the V; and glad that the poms sell it here. I tried M once and found it a poor substitute.

Keep on rocking

Dougie

Dougie Moody

Submitted by Turlough on

That reminds me of one of Spike Milligan's lines ...

Money can’t buy you happiness but it does bring you a more pleasant form of misery.

And I'll be honest with you ... I've never tasted Vegemite. I've been to Australia but the Vegemite shop was shut that day.

It cheered me up to read that I cheered you up. 

Good on you!

Turlough

Submitted by D G Moody on

We had some Canadians staying, and we put out the Marmite (it could have been Vegemite). They tried it on their toast and nearly spat it out; not able to conceive how we could eat it. I made things worse by my usual method of spreading it thick - so my teeth left an impession in the black stuff! 

Dougie Moody

Submitted by Turlough on

Good for you.

I always say that if you can't make an impression yourself you should at least let your teeth make an impression.

Turlough

Submitted by David Kirtley on

I did enjoy your poem when I first read it before, but the music, speech, and video certainly put another slant on it! It feels like an Englishman, or Yorkshireman's take on life, matters of taste and personal choice, but even more humourous with the music and video! If there was a chart anymore it might just make it! Even the kids might enjoy it, even if they don't understand all the references!

Submitted by Turlough on

Hello David.

Thank you for your comment. What you say describe more or less what we were aiming for. Both my friend who did the music and singing and I are half Irish half Yorkshire and have known each other for more than forty years so we're sort of in tune with each other.

As for the music charts ... now that would be really funny.

Good on you!

Turlough