I'm the King of Portobello

Soy el Rey de Portobello

 

A stylus carving on my chest,

Once scarlet and bold,

Now grey scar tissue which bleeds no more

As unlively as the concrete platforms of the underground

I traced the lines with my stylus and found

None of them leads to the Rome;

They all double back, and entrap us,

In this town we’ll always call our home

 

I saw you on the Métro on a cold New Year’s Eve

A cigarette burning and crumbling to ash

With cotton wool catching in your throat

And time moved ever so slow

Like those deathly seconds between the bridge and the river

 

Ol’ Murphy slapped me on the back as I pulled down the shutters

Fireworks’ll be cancelled this year due to adverse weather

I’ll see you on Monday, Murph, say hello to the Missus

Handshakes, best wishes, forget the dirty dishes and goodnight kisses

 

But the shop was shut when Monday came

And by Sunday Ol’ Murphy was in his grave

 

The funeral looked like a Norman Rockwell painting

And we all stood in the snow

Fireworks are cancelled

And the priest’s teeth were yellow

But I used to be King

Con dinero y sin dinero

I’m still the King of Portobello

 

And I remember sitting in the brown grass

Drinking tonic from the bottle

As the Queen of Portobello wrote our names in red

Upon the crumbling overpass

 

And I carved our crest with a stylus

On my pale and panting chest

Our motto:

“Con dinero y sin dinero”

Our anthem on the cello

It echoes

From the Catholic barrios to the Calvinist ghettos

We’re still the King and Queen of Portobello

 

Take a hammer to every heart-breaking memento

Douse them in petrol

Pour a toast to old Murph

Of whiskey and Amaretto

Fall asleep on the cigarette singed carpet

The King is dead

Long live the King of Portobello

 

But, today, you probably don’t even know my name

Perhaps you’ve seen me on the Métro on a cold New Year’s Eve

A cigarette burning and crumbling to ash

With cotton wool catching in my throat

And time moving ever so slow

Like those deathly seconds between the bridge and the river

Con dinero y sin dinero

I’m still the King of Portobello