Ladbroke Grove Symphony

I had a basement flat
Off Portobello Road
In my cowboy hat
Down the Grove I strode
With my buckled boots
And my blue striped pants
I knew how to groove
I didn't know how to dance
I wore a teenage rockabilly
Coat from Johnstons
My head full of lyrics, wonder
Love and magic, stuff and nonsense

The counter-culture was fading
But echoed everywhere
Rastas promenading
Reefer smoke on the air
Behind my wooden door
I'd blast out my sounds
On my back on the floor
With the lights all down
Like Dorothy adrift
In the land of Oz
Sometimes I'd open my eyes
And wonder where the hell I was

I was in love with a girl
I saw one afternoon
Wearing duffle coat and pearls
In the middle of June
Nikki Sudden would call
In his velvet and tat
And sleep in my spare room
And wear my spare hat
As carnival approached
The pot got stronger
Reggae sound systems fired up
On every crumbling street corner

I remember a hot
Sticky summer night
I was in a sweet spot
I was hungry to write
The sound systems roared
They made the houses shake
My imagination soared
And like a storm that breaks
Savage Earth Heart
Tumbled through my brain
A bolt or a download
From another wilder, higher plane

Landlord sold my place
Needed the cash I suppose
And I left in haste
The day between shows
I packed everything up
In one night, it's the truth
Didn't even sleep
That's the power of youth
On the bus next morning
And away we drove
Never said a proper
So long and thank you baby
To my beloved Ladbroke Grove

I tried moving back
When an age had passed
The stage was still intact
Only with a different cast
In a different play
A whole new pantomime
And I was just in the way
And I was way out of time
Some things I guess you
Ain't meant to repeat
I retired to lick my wounds
And scheme again
On some other street