HAPPYTOWN
Words by S & D Jones
Music by S Jones
Time sits, a proud king gloating over me
The kingdom of the blind
with an eye to see
what happens when you loose the ties
Everything flies to the sun.
These are happy sounds, this is a happy town
and we are happy going crazy here, ‘cos
our happiness depends on nothing, yes
we are happy going crazy here.
Time swings like a dead thing hanging over me
a meaningless reward given worthlessly
on a night when the moon was the prize
the stars and the skies to be won.
But these are happy sounds, this is a happy town
and we are happy going crazy here, ‘cos
our happiness depends on nothing, yes
we are happy going crazy here.
Time kneels like a mantis praying (preying?) over me
choking on a mouthful of blasphemy
he’s just a devil in disguise
hiding his eyes from the sun, and his ears from the happy sounds….
This is a happy town and we are happy going crazy here.
I wrote the beginnings of this song a long time ago, in the autumn of 1999. A friend, Brian Connor, had been staying with me in my flat in Dublin, under which was a Montessori nursery school. Every morning I would get woken by the mayhem of a hundred kids squealing their heads off… to be honest it used to drive me mad. Pillows over the ears, I would try and sink back under the purple cloak of slumber. It was only a one-bedroom place, so when Brian was down, I gave him the bedroom and slept on the couch. On the first morning I asked him how he dealt with the racket, to which he just replied, “Ah, yes, such happy sounds!” Something making me insane was so happy to him.
A week later I was at Brendan Perry’s church, Quivvy, auditioning for his world tour. On the front of the church is a plaque that says “IN THE KINGDOM OF THE BLIND THE ONE-EYED ARE KINGS” So true. And that was it. Drove back to Dublin that night, having been offered the gig, and recorded the track. The middle section was a sample of my brother Mole and good mate John McBride having the following argument:
MOLE: “How many roads must a man walk down before you call him a man?”
JOHN: “That all depends on what your definition of a man is, and that varies as much as varies the hairs on a pheasants back”
That settles it then… Bob Dylan, your mystery has been solved.
The track was mostly finished, but not quite sitting right. Then one morning, while I was back in Ireland during the Christmas holidays in 2002, my dad came downstairs, put the kettle on and said, “I’ve been thinking about Happytown. I think it needs more meat.” When I asked him what he meant, he suggested shortening the section with Mole and John and adding another verse. Next morning, he came downstairs, put the kettle on again and presented me with a line – “Time kneels like a mantis praying (preying?) over me… ” When I read that the rest popped out in minutes. It was a very astute piece of songwriting, syllable matching my ideas and rhyming schemes for the other verses. Actually he was quite encouraged by that, and has gone on to come up with other sketches of song ideas which might make it to record sometime.
You’ll see it on the album – DJ gets a writing and production credit for Happytown.
I loved the bit with Mole and John so much, it was a shame to lose it. So on the final day of mixing with Alastair McMillan, I suggested doing a short remix – the mp3 of it is here. Hope you enjoy it.
SJ