For Valentine’s Day, I present a sad song of lost love written in early 1979. Lyrics are same, but I made an alternative melody in 2014 that is lighter than the original’s more somber tone.
I wrote this song back in my cat-despising youth. If you asked why, I could present no answer for the attitude. Regardless, it is what inspired the verse, to which I soon after put to melody. I knew little about romantic love and nothing about loss then.
“Cries by Day, Cries by Night” is the fifth lyric posted since the new year. The others: “Dank Deep Eyes the Darkness“, “Disco Queen“, “Empire State“, and “Surrealistic Pillow“. More will follow.
Cries by Day, Cries by Night
Miphy and Herman the squirrels of the tree
Decided to be wed
Alfred was mad and bit off his tail
Poor Herman lies cold and dead
And she cries by day, and she cries by night
Always from the tree there shines a light
And Miphy is sick of the world these days
Waiting to see Herman’s eyes
Alfred prowled by the tree all day
The feline laying in wait
He captured George so effortlessly
Another friend’s life the cat takes
And she cries by day, and she cries by night
For another of his friends losing a life
And Miphy is sick of the world these days
Waiting to see Herman’s eyes
She stayed in the tree when the fires came
She tried not for an escape
She’s laid to rest so peacefully
No more for Herman she waits
And she cries by day, and she cries by night
Always from the tree there shines a light
And Miphy is sick of the world these days
Waiting to see Herman’s eye—eyes
Waiting to see Herman’s eye—eyes
Waiting to see her man’s eyes
©1979 Joe Wilcox
Note: The lyric’s copyright is one of this blog’s exceptions: All Rights Reserved. Because the work as presented here is only partial. Melody is missing.
Photo Credit: Tom Pickering