I met him a few years after I came to love his music. I wasn't surprised by his iconoclast personality, but I was taken aback by something he said to me. "You have the eyes of a poet. I'm sorry." His impish grin is still vivid in my memory.
A year later he was dead. Here was a man who, for all his quirks and flaws, was a true philosopher. His music reflects that, and he understood, I think, what it means to live, and to struggle to live well.
It's hard for me to pick a single song of his that reflects those values, but this one will have to do.
Written in 6/1999
Kevin Gilbert, "Goodness Gracious", from Thud (1995)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KSVetAleJLw
Goodness Gracious is there nothing left to say?
When the ones that get to keep looking
Are the ones that look away
It's pabulum for the sleepers
In the cult of brighter days
Goodness Gracious at the mercy of the crooks
We're broke and stroking vegetables
And there's way too many cooks
In every pot a pink slip, In every mouth a hook
Goodness Gracious I'm not listening anymore
Cause the spooks are in the White House
And they've justified a war
So wake me when they notify
We're gonna fight some more
Goodness Gracious not many people care
Concern is getting scarcer
True compassion really rare
I can see it on our faces. I can feel it in the air
Goodness Gracious me
Goodness Gracious my generation's lost
They burned down all our bridges
Before we had a chance to cross
Is it the winter of our discontent or just an early frost?
Goodness Gracious of apathy I sing
The baby boomers had it all and wasted everything
Now recess is almost over
And they won't get off the swing
Goodness Gracious we came in at the end
No sex that isn't dangerous, no money left to spend
We're the cleanup crew for parties
We were too young to attend
Goodness Gracious me
Goodness Gracious my grandma used to say
The world's a scary place now
Things were different in her day
What horrors will be commonplace
When my hair starts to grey?
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