Molly Wrestled; Another Special Song

We end off my very good year (2023) with one last post, since I missed out posting in November. I wrote this one to create a musical synopsis of a book I’m working on and to entertain my fellow writers at this year’s Christmas party. For anyone who wants to try singing it, use the tune for “Pearl’s A Singer” by Elkie Brooks. The song was not only one I like quite a lot, but it’s about much the same kind of character as in my story.

Verse 1

Molly wrestled;

She stood up to a gang who were stealing

In a hotel.

Molly wrestled;

She was trained in her husband’s gymnasium.

She started training for her fights

Around her chef’s job, working nights

In a hotel.

Verse 2

Molly wrestled;

She lived far from the Earth with her family

In the future.

Molly wrestled;

They all said she looked soft, but she wasn’t.

She gave it all between the ropes

To improve her children’s hopes;

She didn’t make it.

Bridge

Almost her century’s Ronda Rowsey;

Too bad her manager’s ethics were lousy.

Her phobias got her just before her first big fight;

And they dropped her the very same night.

Verse 3

Molly wrestled;

And she lived with her husband and family

In the future.

Molly wrestled;

And a space captain went there to watch her.

He thought it much too great a slight

To have her go back, working nights

In a hotel.

Finale

Molly wrestled;

Now she cooks for and trains up the crewmen

On a spaceship!

Molly wrestled;

Now she earns four times more than she used to!

Though it was hard to fly away,

She sends love home every day…

And she’s happy.

The Goodwill Song ; A Poem

I wrote this when my writer’s group challenged us to write a Christmas poem on the subject; “The Season of Goodwill.”

A time of the year far above any other!

There’s loving and giving and opening of hearts.

But what of those people who feel no contentment,

Who are laden with burdens, not gifts for their mother?

To the woebegone, I offer joyous outpouring,

Goods that hands cannot touch but the heart knows are real.

I drift far and wide like a leaf or a feather,

Casting out warmth and succour, to send a heart soaring.

They touch those without shelter, those working, or stranded,

And all those detained who have long paid their dues.

I reach out to those sneered at for loving our Saviour

And to those with good hearts to whom love is not handed.

I give eyes to the blind, to the weary give power

And all those already content, I insure.

The light of goodwill behind all gifts this season

Is my gift to the world in this singular hour.

A Very Good Career; A Special Song

This is one of two songs I recently put together based on an existing classic tune. The tune is the same as “A Very Good Year” by Frank Sinatra and was written for my colleagues in my (relatively) new job just in time for my first anniversary there.

Verse 1

When I was seventeen,

It was a very good year;

I’d held my very first job

In an Oxfam shop

And was learning to type.

I thought now time was ripe

For such skills to get keen,

When I was seventeen.

Verse 2

When I was twenty-five,

It was a very good year;

I’d got a science degree;

Now I worked for GSK.

Though my skills were few,

I trained up everyone new.

I gained passion and drive

When I was twenty-five.

Verse 3

When I was thirty-nine,

It wasn’t such a good year;

I’d staffed the library floor

For ten years or more

And although I excelled,

All the promotions were held

For names that weren’t mine,

When I was thirty-nine.

Verse 4

Now I’m with DLL;

It’s nearly Christmas ‘Twenty-Three;

And if you were to ask me

Now that twelve months have gone,

How am I looking back?

It’s regrets that I lack.

I’m glad to be here.

It’s been a very good year.