maylands - matt, my musical neighbour
in the middle of 2018, i bought a secondhand banjo and began to learn how to play it from watching youtube tutorials. jim pankey taught me to play cripple creek in the bluegrass style and then clawhammer. the lyrics go:
oh i got a girl by the edge of the creek
i go around to see her bout the middle of the week
i kiss her on the mouth as sweet as cherry wine
wraps her legs around me like a sweet potato vine
chorus:
goin up to cripple creek, goin in a run
goin up to cripple creek to have a bit of fun
goin up to cripple creek, goin in a whirl
goin up to cripple creek to see my girl.
there are a dozen more verses, each more sordid than the next. i love this song. i would carefully follow jim pankey's instructions, until i got good enough to sit with my banjo on the balcony overlooking the field, playing it for the whole entire neighbourhood.
one day a grinning man with long hair poked his head over the colorbond fence next door. "aayyyy" he said, holding up a bass guitar and amp. dragged them up the stairs and we played cripple creek together with him on bass and my friend tim on harmonica.
matt was a cool guy. one time he showed me his new samurai sword. i ran into my house to get some fruit and vegetables, throwing them into his backyard so he could chop them out the air with his sword.
he and his wife had a baby shortly before we moved away. i am sad that i never got round to keeping in touch. so many people are cameo appearances in ones life and too often we take their levity for granted.
thank you matt for being my musical neighbour.
COMPASS
TO THE NORTH: kissing man's house
TO THE NORTH EAST: angry man's house
TO THE EAST: brickworks
TO THE SOUTH EAST: brickworks
TO THE SOUTH: double g heaven
TO THE SOUTHWEST: kirkham field
TO THE WEST: kirkham field
TO THE NORTHWEST: kirkham field