An Ode To Anthony H Wilson

St Anthony St Anthony, Please come round
Because something is lost that cannot be found
Talk to me of Albion of Anderton and of art
Of the Arndale, Alan Turing, Acid House, Alexandra Park
Of Bez the Buzzcocks the bouncing bombs
And the beautiful Busby Babes
Of Curtis, Cancer Christies Catholicism
Crack and Kurt Cobain
Talk to me of all these things and there's one thing that's for certain
That I'll see the face and I'll hear the voice of Anthony H Wilson
Dance Design Durutti Devoto, Development of a dirty Northern City
De La Salle, Dignity, How in the end you hated all the pity
Elvis Engels and ecstasy, And a girl called Emmeline
And the hours that I spent watching you on me black and white TV
From So It Goes To Sunday Roast, You're enchanting, You're endearing, You're extreme
I saw you with elephants hosing down some dwarves on black and white TV
Factory fame financial muck ups, Poetic Form and The Fall
The 4th of June 1976 at the lesser Free Trade hall
Oh talk to me, Oh talk to me
Of Gretton God and Granada
And of Hooky and of Hannett, And how the fighting just got harder
Hamlet Ibsen The IRA, Jesus Mary and Keith Joseph
Joy Division, Judaism, The importance of the moment
Of Liam, London, Lust for Life, Of Louie Louie and Linneas Banks
Of Manchester, Music, Marijuana, Majesty, And Karl Marx
Of night Clubs new bands New Order Oppenheimer, Orchesteral Manoeuvres in the Dark
And all those topical Late night intellectual chat shows like The other side of midnight and After Dark
Come and talk to me of all these things and there's one thing that's for certain
That I'll see the face and I'll hear the voice of Anthony H Wilson
That I'll see the face and I'll hear the voice of Anthony H Wilson
Talk to me of Peterloo of praxis police and pride
Talk to me of Pontius Pilot of Power, Corruption and lies
Of the Queens and the queers and the quiet ones all shy and self effacing
Just like Morrissey but not Mark E Smith or Shaun Ryder when he's been free basing
Johnny Rotten, Regeneration, Richard and Judy, And Vini Reilly
That stupid yellow circular face now known simply as a smiley
Righteous red rebellious ridiculous, down Rochdale and Regent road
You see I want to hear the sound of the Salford soft boy moan
Tony Talk to me in the sacristy of a school called De La Salle
Of the poets preachers philosophers Tony, talk to me I'm feeling sad
Of Saville, Shaw the Smiths Stone Roses, That smile so smug the swagger
I want to hear it from the mouth of an honest Northern Blagger
Tony talk to me of the Sex Pistols, Of Substance, The streets the sounds
The sniffed and snorted stolen swigged multi million pounds
Then talk to me of the Greatest ever Man United team
Greg, Burns, Jones, Edwards, Robson and Roy Keane
Was it Best, Law, Charlton, Stiles and Eric Cantona
All the unknown Pleasures of the doubles and the Trebles, Incantations from the stars, Tony
Talk to me half pissed, Talk to me half stoned
Talk to me as a boy when I'm sat in my Fallowfield council home
Talk to me on the telly, Then talk to me on the radio
Talk to me at the opening of some arty farty show
Talk to me of vision virgin victory and violence
But don't leave me sat in the Hidden Gem listening to the buzz of the silence
And talk to me of Warsaw, Drug wars trendy flats within warehouses
But when it comes to footy Tony – don't talk to me about the scousers
And all the Xray Spex, And all the X Ray tests, And X Ray therapies
And all the X wife chats on XFM, The best youth worker I ever dreamed
You're me Yin and Yang, You're me master plan of an independent Northern scene
Talk to me of Yoric, Yonkers, Youth club banter, Yeats – come and talk to me
Wilson Talk to Me, Yeats Talk to Me
Zeitgeist talk to me, Tony Talk to Me
Wilson talk to me, Zeitgeist talk to me
Tony Talk to Me, Tony Talk to Me, Come on Talk to me
Wilson talk to me
Wont you talk to me, Come on talk to me

Author: Mike Garry