The Shaun Ryder Memorial Rest Home for Aging Ravers

 

 

I am feeling chilled out

I have been feeling chilled out now

For quite some time

Cabbaged, we used to say

I can’t seem to remember

What time is love?

I can’t seem to remember my name…

You’re in the home, dear

You’re in the rest home

The Shaun Ryder Memorial Rest Home

For Aging Ravers

I was at Shoom, you know!

Yes, yes

We know

We know you were

I was the Mister Big

Behind Acid House

I was down with the posse

We were havin’ it

We were mental

We were wicked

 

Somewhere, a pair of thin, pursed lips

Come together to whistle

The opening bars of ‘Voodoo Ray’

And for a few seconds

The whole room is patting its legs

And swaying from side to side

And remembering another room

With thousands of arms raised in celebration

When the lights were flashing

And the bass was pumping

And everyone looked so beautiful

But just as it had started

The tune falters

And they find they can’t remember

Quite how it goes

And whatever did happen to

That nice young man

Called Gerald?

 

Is that it, then?

Was it all just pints of lager

And badly rolled joints?

Did we measure out our lives

In little white pills?

Oh and tell me

Is there still a Cream?

And will there still be Disco Biscuits for tea?

And does Carl Cox still play

Does he play the old tunes

The tunes we used to know?

 

There was a girl once

I’m sure

A brown skinned angel

With a smile like the stars

What happened to her?

What happened? I was caned

I was

Wasted…

There, there

Drink up your Lucozade

Nurse will be here soon

To turn over your tape

 

But what happened?

What happened to the night?

We painted it dayglo

We were burning so bright

And it all seems

So long

So very long ago

I’m nearly thirty, you know

Yes, dear

Yes

Of  course you are

Of course you are

Tags: 1990s, A Guy Called Gerald, aging, Carl Cox, chemical generation, Disco Biscuits, drugs, Happy Mondays, humour, KLF, rave culture, satire, Shaun Ryder, techno, Voodoo Ray, What Time Is Love