Unkind and Unwise

I always told myself I'd never put song lyrics on this blog.

With Grant's passing, everyone is quoting Cattle and Cane. As well they should; Cattle and Cane is one of the greatest songs ever. But its sister, Unkind and Unwise, is what does it for me. It was the first Gobees song that really hit me, and I wish I could go back to the time when I was getting to know Spring Hill Fair and the Go-Betweens for the first time.

I recall driving my car around feeling so shitty about a girl and then the Go-Betweens spoke to me for the first time. They will continue to speak to me years upon years later. I will never forget the first time I realized that the Go-Betweens are brilliant. They are the greatest band ever.

***

He was brought up in a house of women
In a city of heat that gave its children
Faith in the fable of coral and fish,
Told them the world was something to miss.

I turn to hold you, you're gone.
Fingers, let go, I'm gone.
That's just a little unkind
And just a little unwise.

The salt in the wind moves over the mudflats
Sticks to your skin and rusts up the lights,
Blows in the ferns that breathe in the dark,
I try to forget, but it's so hard.

I turn to hold you, you're gone.
Fingers, let go, I'm gone.
That's just a little unkind
And just a little unwise.

What was once is a falling star;
I'll hit you and hurt you and open your heart.
Burn in a river tangled with reeds
While a crane on the water silently feeds.

I turn to hold you, you're gone.
Fingers, let go, I'm gone.
That's just a little unkind
And just a little unwise.

That's just a little unkind
And just a little unwise.

***

You weren't supposed to go yet, Grant.