on the stairs i smoke a cigarette alone

keep art alive; photograph by little jeans

fourth of july (demo) ~ x
fourth of july (album version) ~ x

"what ever happened,
i apologize.
so, dry your tears and baby walk outside,
it's the fourth of july."

my absolute favorite fourth of july song. this song is los angeles to me, it is summer and living on my own for the first time. the memory of climbing on the top of the roof, at that old apartment on truslow avenue, and watching the kids next door shoot off fireworks in the street.

i have written stories with this song playing in my ears. i have written a lyric from this into a poem i wrote. i think i have even imagined john and exene into characters i've created.

i'm not a fan of this day, for a variety of reasons, but i do love this song - and some of my fourth of july memories.

today's the fourth of july

fourth of july ~ aimee mann

"today's the fourth of july,
another june has gone by,
and when they light up our our town i just think,
what a waste of gun powder,
and sky.

i'm certain that i am alone,
in harbouring thoughts of our home;
it's one of my faults that i can't quell my past,
i ought to have gotten it gone.

oh baby, i wonder if when you are older,
someday,
you'll wake up and say,
my god,
i should have told her;
what would it take?

but now here i am and the world's gotten colder,
and she's got the river down which i sold her.

so that's today's memory lane,
with all the pathos and pain;
another chapter in a book where the chapters are endless,
and they're always the same;
a verse,
then a verse,
and refrain.

oh baby, i wonder if when you are older,
someday,
you'll wake up and say,
my god,
i should have told her;
what would it take?

but now here i am and the world's gotten colder,
and she's got the river down which i sold her."