Hoorde ik laatst dat de beginverzen van Billy Bragg’s A new England ontleend zijn aan Simon & Garfunkel. Nou moe, hor ik dat na 42 jaar? Maar inderdaad – een gelegenheid deze klassieker weer eens te plaatsen.
I was twenty-one years when I wrote this song
I’m twenty-two now, but I won’t be for long
People ask when will you grow up to be a man
But all the girls I loved at school are already pushing prams
I loved you then as I love you still
Though I put you on a pedestal, they put you on the pill
I don’t feel bad about letting you go
I just feel sad about letting you know
I don’t want to change the world
I’m not looking for a new England
I’m just looking for another girl
I don’t want to change the world
I’m not looking for a new England
I’m just looking for another girl
I loved the words you wrote to me
But that was bloody yesterday
I can’t survive on what you send
Every time you need a friend
I saw two shooting stars last night
I wished on them, but they were only satellites
It’s wrong to wish on space hardware
I wish, I wish, I wish you’d care
I don’t want to change the world
I’m not looking for a new England
I’m just looking for another girl
I don’t want to change the world
I’m not looking for a new England
I’m just looking for another girl
Looking for another girl
Looking for another girl
Looking for another girl
Het zijn de beginregels van Leaves that are green dat inhoudelijk dunkt mij verder geen verband houdt met A new England of omgekeerd.
I was twenty-one years when I wrote this song
I’m twenty-two now, but I won’t be for long
Time hurries on
And the leaves that are green turn to brown
And they whither with the wind
And they crumble in your hand
Once my heart was filled with love of a girl
I held her close, but she faded in the night
Like a poem I meant to write
And the leaves that are green turn to brown
And they wither with the wind
And they crumble in your hand
I threw a pebble in a brook
And watched the ripples run away
And they never made a sound
And the leaves that are green turn to brown
And they wither with the wind
And they crumble in your hand
Hello, Hello, Hello, Hello
Good-bye, Good-bye
Good-bye, Good-bye
That’s all there is
And the leaves that are green turn to brown
– Uitgelichte afbeelding: By Kris Krug from Vancouver, Canada – Billy Bragg – Body of War Concert – SXSW 2008, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=7735512
