DRINKING ALCOHOL TAUGHT ME HOW TO FLY
THEN IT TOOK AWAY THE SKY

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

SO-PHISTICATED A LADY?












"SOPHISTICATED" LADY

For some reason one of my all-time favorite songs keeps running through my head tonight, named "Sophisticated Lady". It is not a happy song, and depicts one of so many girls I watched slide themselves into oblivion in a time determined by a combination of choice and fate.

For quite a number of years I supplemented my income by tending bar (I was the bar-man) and I was good at it, played the violin, mixed the drinks, waited table, entertained, everything.  (That is when I had my two heart attacks, age 34.)

One bar owner in Naples just sort of set me up in business, and I ran the place--and ran myself almost to an early grave.  For several years the old "Captain's Cabin" was THE place to go after a party, dinner, or dancing. Well, you DID get to hear a violinist play "your song" right at your table, ya know?

Among the 70-80 guests nightly (seating capacity was 65) always were a small number of lovely girls looking (in the wrong place) for THE MAN.  I introduced a dozen couples, men and women mostly, who later married and would bring in their children to meet me...how's THAT grab ya?

But likely as not, the girls ended up in one-night-stand-type situations, which saddened me, because, even during the maintenance of my drunken condition, I could sense so many of these beautiful people heading down the road to oblivion. If any one of the girls had just waited one more hour while I cleaned the barroom, they could have had...well...ME!

Sophisticated Lady is a song about just one of these Peeps who looked so pretty when they arrived in the lounge about 7 PM, and aged about 15-20 years by 2 AM closing.  And I'd see some of them night after dark night.





Smoking, drinking, never thinking of tomorrow,
nonchalant,
Diamonds shining, dancing, dining with some man in a restaurant,
Is that all you really want? No, sophisticated lady,
I know, you miss the love you lost long ago,
And when nobody is nigh you cry.

They say into your early life romance came,
And in this heart of yours burned a flame,
A flame that flickered one day and died away.
Then, with disillusion deep in your eyes,
You learned that fools in love grow wise.
The years have changed you somehow;
I see you now...



Smoking, drinking, never thinking of tomorrow,
Nonchalant,
Diamonds shining, dancing, dining with some man in a restaurant,
Is that all you really want? No, sophisticated lady,
I know, you miss the love you lost long ago,
And when nobody is nigh you cry.



A Lana Turner vid to Duke Ellington's "Sophisticated Lady" performed by Sarah Vaughan.

Peeps , please keep coming back, because I Love you all, and send wishes for a sober and peaceful day.

21 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thank You Sweet Peep for such beautiful tribute to that sophisticated lady of mine...
Sweeter Hugs

Dulce said...

Sorry, I did not mean anonymous!!!

Silver said...

Yeah.. kinda remind me of the song by Johnny Lee's 'Looking for Love in all the wrong places'.

;)
~Silver

I Wonder Wye said...

Love that smoky Sarah Vaughn! Thanks for the retrospective of Lana. Poor thing always seemed so sweet and lost -- loved the line in 'Honky Tonk' when Clark Gable is talking about her and says he's "looked at a woman quicker before but never longer" - she was lovely.....

Shadow said...

i've seen this kinda thing happens too. and it saddens so...

Just Be Real said...

Nice tribute Stevie. Blessings dear one...

Syd said...

I think that there are a lot of people who are lost. They fool themselves into thinking that they don't want love but isn't that what everyone wants in the long run?

Scott M. Frey said...

ahhhh, the Duke :-) I was once lost, now I am found... Thanks to God and AA and peeps like yourself.

Silver said...

You are fall down funny! Glad you had a wonderful rehearsal and i am sure it went great, as usual.

Do you have any of it shared on U tube? It must be awesome.

:)s,
~Silver

Nessa said...

Bars are such sad places. Fascinating when you are young but very, very sad as time goes by.

Thursday Thirteen - My Drive to Work

Anonymous said...

I have been at a bar a few times in my younger days, usually not alone,. The last one, was with a sister of mine, it left me with a few feelings, one of lost souls, looking for love , in the wrong place, OR was it?, feeling of filling of the hours left before sleep not wanting to spend them alone, drinking away their sorrows and woes. I felt SOME there , or most were HORNY men looking for a quick roll in the hay. It was not for me, but one thing that caught my attention was the bartender, who I felt had to take allot on his shoulders, playing many roles, not just as serving the booze, but listening to everyone's ups and downs.
everyone needs to know love , feel loved,

TY steve

Jinx said...

Hey, buddy - have just taken a moment and read a few of your blogs. Man, you are one prolific writer - deep and insightful - intelligent and witty. I love you.

Annsterw said...

I have been waiting 22 hours for rage, rage, rage...maybe tomorrow...

Angeles said...

Is a beautiful song, a sad history, everyone has to learn something along the way, perhaps the violin have saved yourself and God of course!!
Thanks for your message, it's true God give us so many beautiful things to enjoy.
Happy day Steve!!
Amor y paz. Great your Spanish!!
We both are learn!!
Besos:)

Alice Audrey said...

I've seen a few of the type you're talking about, but I was always more of a Deadhead than a drinker. It was a different kind of dead end.

mile191 said...

Just stopping by...thanks for the HOPE.
mile 191

Anonymous said...

I know what you mean about those nightly bar girls. Your poetry is excellent today!

Secretia

Calli said...

My heart bleeds for the women who feel they need to 'find love' in a bar. He is not there and if he is, he's not a good situation. I am sure many people find their truest love even in a bar, but the chances are pretty slim.

These women lack self-confidence and in many cases, self-respect. I don't fault them as they probably do not know any better. If they did they would not search in such a lonely place. Besides, searching is not the way.
I have seen it soooo many times in my younger years.

I just aged myself with that statement...;)

Happy Day, Steve!

Dulçe ♥ said...

althouth I know this is about those lost women... am still humming this so beautiful song of that woman of mine...

*Mucho Amor y mucha paz* for my *lindo* Peep...

steveroni said...

We musicians, when going into a new town every day, would go to laudromats. THAT is the place to find GIRLS/WOMEN!

Anonymous said...

Love it