It moved me then, and it still does.

Echoes

In a friend's apartment in Queen's Gate London, after a night at the Spider and Rock; Georges, a guitar, a record player and Lebanon on our mind. One example of how Culture Club, Madness, Del Amitri, Petshop Boys, Squeeze, Costello... and others were replaced for a short period of time.

The great divide.

Two major influences during my college days in England in an American college I would like to share.

Baron Von Tollbooth and me.

Many are the nights I have spent in the company of the Baron in the late seventies, dreaming of Grace and better days to come.

TFEH !!!

To my fellow countrymen on both sides of the divide, I dedicate (in two parts) the following with a deep feeling of shame that is eating me up inside.


1) Prophets of doom and gloom who gave up their rights for freedom and dignity thinking that one voice could not make a difference.
TFEH !




2) Half witted idiots willing to settle for "the lesser evil" claiming "beddna n3ish"
Once again TFEH !



Pride and Lebanese has become a contradiction in term lately.

TFEH !!!

Children of the eighties

Well I think it's fine, building jumbo planes.
Or taking a ride on a cosmic train.
Switch on summer from a slot machine.
Yes, get what you want to if you want, 'cause you can get anything.

I know we've come a long way,
We're changing day to day,
But tell me, where do the children play?

Well you roll on roads over fresh green grass.
For your lorry loads pumping petrol gas.
And you make them long, and you make them tough.
But they just go on and on, and it seems that you can't get off.

Oh, I know we've come a long way,
We're changing day to day,
But tell me, where do the children play?

Well you've cracked the sky, scrapers fill the air.
But will you keep on building higher
'til there's no more room up there?
Will you make us laugh, will you make us cry?
Will you tell us when to live, will you tell us when to die?

I know we've come a long way,
We're changing day to day,
But tell me, where do the children play?





We're the children of the eighties haven't we grown

We're tender as a Lotus and we're tougher than a stone.
And the age of our innocence is somewhere in the garden.

We like the music of the sixties

It's The Rolling Stones
The Beatles and The Doors.
Flower children
Woodstock and the war.
Ah
but it's getting harder to deceive us.
And we don't care if Dylan's gone to Jesus
Jimmy Hendrix is playing on.
We know Janis Joplin was the Rose
ah
but all the stuff she put in her arm.
We are not alone.
We're the children of the eighties haven't we grown
. . .

Some of us are the sisters and the brothers

We take a leatherjacket and a single golden earring.
Hang out at Discos
Rock shows
lose our hearing

Take uppers
downers
blues and reds and yellows.
Our brains are turning to jello
We are looking forward to the days when we live inside of a purple haze.
And the salvation of the soul is Rock and Roll

We are the children of the eighties haven't we grown
. . .

Recently have you looked in our eyes

Maybe with your conscience in disguise.
We're well informed and we are wise
please stop telling us lies.
We know Afganistan's invaded and we know El Salvador's dictated

Ah
but our lives have just begun
we are the warriers of the sun.
We're the golden boys and the golden girls
For a better world.
We are the children of the eighties haven't we grown
. . .

Many Rivers To Cross

Many rivers to cross
But I can't seem to find my way over
Wandering I am lost
As I travel along the white cliffs of Dover

Many rivers to cross
And it's only my will that keeps me alive
I've been licked, washed up for years
And I merely survive because of my pride

And this loneliness won't leave me alone
It's such a drag to be on your own
My woman left me and she didn't say why
Well, I guess I'll have to cry

Many rivers to cross
But just where to begin I'm playing for time
There have been times I find myself
Thinking of committing some dreadful crime

Yes, I've got many rivers to cross
But I can't seem to find my way over
Wandering, I am lost
As I travel along the white cliffs of Dover

Yes, I've got many rivers to cross
And I merely survive because of my will...

Holiday Inn 1975

One of the first signs that Lebanon was doomed and that the war would outlast the many cease fires, was the savage destruction of the heart of Beirut (what is now known as "down town").



The Holiday Inn hotel was newly built with high hopes and aspirations; but they were short lived. Although relatively young, I remember the big sign on the side of the hotel advertising the only movie that ever played in the the hotel theater. For the life of me (or maybe it was denial on my part) I can not recall if it was "the great Waltz" or "the last Waltz" . I decided that it was the latter,maybe because Dylan and the Band accompanied me through the years of war; so I leave it up to you to correct me.
Meanwhile and at the risk of being wrong, I will share yet another part of me with you via the follwing from the band, which remind me of the Holiday Inn hotel, and the those who decided to jump from its high floors in order to escape torture on the hand s of the "mourabitoun".


And funnily enough it was not only the first, but the last waltz this hotel played in it's movie theatre, and it sure was the "Last waltz" a dozen of martyrs even danced whilst falling down to their deaths.



"They say ev'rything can be replaced,
Yet ev'ry distance is not near.
So I remember ev'ry face
Of ev'ry man who put me here.
I see my light come shining
From the west unto the east.
Any day now, any day now,
I shall be released.

They say ev'ry man needs protection,
They say ev'ry man must fall.
Yet I swear I see my reflection
Some place so high above this wall.
I see my light come shining
From the west unto the east.
Any day now, any day now,
I shall be released.

Standing next to me in this lonely crowd,
Is a man who swears he's not to blame.
All day long I hear him shout so loud,
Crying out that he was framed.
I see my light come shining
From the west unto the east.
Any day now, any day now,
I shall be released."

Say it through Gainsbourg !

Before I go to sleep !

Just for you!





The glow
Around your face
When you see
The lightning race
I know
I'm very near
And I can hear
The thunder

A woman
Of perplexity
A woman
For eternity
A woman
Of the land
A woman
For a man
I'm down
On my knees
And I'm saying
Please believe me

It's hard
To fall out
Of love
Completely
It's harder
To find a way
To come back
Discreetly
To speak
Of things anew
To weep
In quiet blue

Brocade upon your bed
Memories should fade
At least of you
A scepter
Of ice and fire
A specter
Of my desire
A girl-child
Of such loveliness
The woman
Of my emptiness

A woman
Of famed
Renown
A woman
Who kicks the clown
A woman
Of the land
A woman
For a man

The days of Bernie, when Elton was great.

Friends I remember, but a few I kept. One sticks to my mind especially, Mitri. Playing guitar and singing. One thing we could agree upon was (then) the two following songs that we both recorded on a loop on a Maxwell tape which played over and over again.





You're not a ship to carry my life
You are nailed to my love in many lonely nights
I've strayed from the cottages and found myself here
For I need your love your love protects my fears

And I wonder sometimes and I know I'm unkind
But I need you to turn to when I act so blind
And I need you to turn to when I lose control
You're my guardian angel who keeps out the cold

Did you paint your smile on, well I said I knew
That my reason for living was for loving you
We're related in feeling but you're high above
You're pure and you're gentle with the grace of a dove






Holy Moses I have been removed
I have seen the spectre he has been here too
Distant cousin from down the line
Brand of people who ain't my kind
Holy Moses I have been removed

Holy Moses I have been deceived
Now the wind has changed direction and I'll have to leave
Won't you please excuse my frankness but it's not my cup of tea
Holy Moses I have been deceived

I'm going back to the border
Where my affairs, my affairs ain't abused
I can't take any more bad water
I've been poisoned from my head down to my shoes

Holy Moses I have been deceived
Holy Moses let us live in peace
Let us strive to find a way to make all hatred cease
There's a man over there what's his colour I don't care
He's my brother let us live in peace
He's my brother let us live in peace
He's my brother let us live in peace

Days long gone, but not forgotten.

In between Funky Town and Daddy cool I had Borrowed the LP entitled "Disco Boom" from my friend Phillipe. And when I deemed it appropriate, I relieved myself from my DJ duties and had my moment of glory with the one I thought at the time would be the mother of my 15 kids!
Heartache was to follow.



I listen to the falling rain play rhythms on my roof
takes me far away remembering a love song

Impossible for me to tell how many times I've tried
to describe to you the way I felt about you

Sometimes I felt that rock'n'roll no longer had no sense at all
the songs I used to sing never brought you closer

la,la,la,la baby I love you (X 3) oh I love you

I stopped beneath a falling star and wished I was a poet
Who’d express himself in beautiful confessions

I'd tell you how you cause me pain each time I stood before you
Betrayed by all the needs that burn inside me

Two Rogers, two different times in my life !

From Hazmieh to Broumana

A split from the crowd !

Yes Supertramp was popular, so were Pink Floyd in my troubled days; and the two Rogers decided to go their own way. Regardless of who made it bigger, both have provided me with some reprieve in my troubled youth.



Time is always on the run, we've only just begun, lovers in the wind
Life is all we have to share, you know we must take care
Lovers in the wind
There was a time, when it was hard to know
reaching out, reaching out for somewhere to go
There was a light born on the darkest day
but no one wants to know, and no one wants to try
Love is all I have to give, it's all I need to live, lovers in the wind
There was a time, when it was hard to know
reaching out, reaching out for somewhere to go
There was a light born on the darkest day
but no one wants to know, and no one wants to cry
Time is always on the run, we've only just begun, lovers in the wind.






Hello...you wanna cup of coffee?
I'm sorry, would you like a cup of coffee?
Ok you take cream and sugar?
In truck stops and hamburger joints
In Cadillac limousines
In the company of has-beens
And bent-backs and sleeping forms
On pavement steps
In libraries and railway stations
In books and banks
In the pages of history
In suicidal cavalry attacks
I recognise...
Myself in every stranger's eyes

And now from where I stand
Upon this hill I plundered from the pool
I look around, I search the skies
I shade my eyes, so nearly blind
And I see signs of half remembered days
I hear bells that chime in strange familiar ways
I recognise...
The hope you kindle in your eyes

It's oh so easy now
As we lie here in the dark
Nothing interferes it's obvious
How to beat the tears
That threaten to snuff out
The spark of our love


Take your pick, for I never could !