Xanadu
(The Alzheimer’s song)
Down in the caverns measureless to man beside the sunless sea
In the legions of the lost and found it’s there I’ll likely be.
Won’t you tell the Gentle Lady with the tragic haunted eyes
I’ll see her in the common room if she’ll promise not to cry.
My Guardian Angel wakes me up with a morning cup of tea
My angel’s name is Mary…or maybe its Marie
Or maybe…wait a minute…what am I trying to say?
My mind seems to be wandering quite a lot these last few days.
But the Gentle Lady visits me at least three hours a day
And she seems so lost and lonely it’s only kind to let her stay
And because she seems bewildered and so badly needs a friend
I just sorta go along with her as she sits there and pretends.
And to light the lanterns in her eyes and keep at bay the tears
We pretend that we were married the best part of forty years,
And we pretend I built a house for her on a hill above the sea
Where we’d sit outside at sunset – herself, the kids and me.
And we pretend that I was clever, we pretend that I was strong
And though I made a lot of money yet I still knew right from wrong.
But sometimes glancing in her eyes as we play her foolish game
I catch echoes of a time and place and of something I can’t name.
There was a man at our Christmas Party and he played the violin
And my fingers started trembling – you know it was the strangest thing
For there was something in his music that swept me far away
To a far off distant time and place in another world and day.
Was it somewhere that I used to go before it slipped away
That warm spider web of safe old friends who’d sing and talk and play
And the ghostly faces flame and burn and flicker in my head
Till the Guardian Angel breaks the spell when she says “It’s time for bed”.
I’ve got some important things to do, what they are I can’t recall
But I think I’d like to be alone if you don’t mind at all.
For when I weep from not remembering no matter how I try
I just sit out in the Garden Room and watch the clouds go by.
Down in the caverns measureless to man beside the sunless sea
In the legions of the Walking Dead it’s there I’ll likely be.
Won’t you tell the Gentle Lady with the tragic haunted eyes
I’ll see her in the Garden Room and we’ll watch the clouds go by.