Published on Mar 23, 2016
Video by Beehive Productions
Written by Corin Raymond
Morning Glories Lyrics:
Luther
he’s a pension cheque gambler
he’s a park bench instructor
he’s a bread crumb handler
and a pigeon conductor
he’s an old ashtray miner
a half a lung hacker
a life’s-been-unkinder
and a penny roll stacker
Chuck
he’s a liquor store strummer
he’s a half a block howler
he’s the sound of my summer
he’s a “Dead Flowers” growler
he’s a sidewalk street singer
a Baldwin Spadina
old resonator slinger
and a drunken John Priner
Dolores
she’s a stray cat collector
she’s a landlord’s dilemma
she’s a mangy menagerie
marigold mama
she’s a plastic flower bike basket
Eaton’s Glider rider
a long Lola loiter
and a Pall Mall provider
I can smell the lilac from my room
the hollyhock sidewalks of June
where roses are blooming red as wine
but there are morning glories that only bloom
late in the chilly afternoon
and they might be the sweetest on the vine
they might be the sweetest on the vine
let’s float in the air
over Kensington Market
we could take your car there
but there’s no place to park it
up here with the pigeons
whom gravity pardons
we can see all the green bins
and sidewalks and gardens
we can look and there’s Chuck
singing ‘…Muhlenberg County’
and he’s already tucked away
two Old Milwaukees
and just two streets over
from Spadina and Baldwin
there’s Luther sittin’ under
the bronze of Al Waxman
and there’s goes Dolores
on her way down to Lola
to lounge in a chorus
of lit-up low rollers
she gives Chuck a smoke
and he gives her a song
Luther’s still broke but
he shuffles along
and she hands him one too
‘cause she can afford it
and the twilight falls blue
on their cherry tip auras
and it’s plain to see now
that the darkness is growing
that you’re not down and out
when you’re down and out going
I can smell the lilac from my room
the hollyhock sidewalks of June
where roses are blooming red as wine
but there are morning glories that only bloom
late in the chilly afternoon
and they might be the sweetest on the vine
they might be the sweetest on the vine
they might be the sweetest on the vine
This song is a love letter to The Kensington Market, the Toronto neighbourhood where I began it in 2010. I chipped away at it for four years and it was finally finished - after an inspiring songwriter’s session at Blue Rock Studios in Wimberly, TX - just as Jonathan Byrd and I pulled up to Concerts in the Attic in Forth Worth, on May 1st, 2014. A good time of year to finish a song populated with flowers and sidewalk characters. It's dedicated to Katie Lameck (1975-2015), my housemate whose front yard-garden morning glories were the kind - I'd never heard of this before - that didn't open til the end of the day.
Note: Key of A. I’m capoed on the 2nd fret, using a G shape. Chords: A, D, E. Shapes I’m using: G, C, D. Numbers: I, IV, V.
This video features: M.C. Hansen on lead guitar, Jacob Chano on snare/snare case, Treasa Levasseur on keyboard/vocals, and Brian Kobayakawa on upright bass.