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Be My Guest (Franco Parella)

from Help Yourself by Songs of Tom Smith

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lyrics

Franco Parella's beautiful version of Be My Guest, recorded in his cellar in the Adelaide Hills.

Franco is currently working on recording some of the songs I think from his massively successful Adeliade Fringe Show Giri. He took some time out to record this great version of a song that has a lot of personal significance for me. i love his version which has a touch of the Rodriguez/Jose Feliciano about it.

It's a song I wrote about the privilege of hearing people's stories and working with them to turn them into songs, which is something i get to do a lot of.

The twist is the story in this song is my own. So its a song about myself that I wrote about writing songs for other people performed by someone else again! It contains memories of early adulthood in Adelaide and going back to childhood haunts looking for clues in places to find they have all but evaporated.

it's a bit like a weather cycle. some of the things you thought were important evaporate only to reappear when you least expect it. You can hear the rain in the background of Franco's version bringing me back full circle to Adelaide and the people that nurtured, shaped me and help me grow. Thank you Franco for re-affirming my bond and all of the connections we share.

Lyrics:

In a house with red roses I never thought to pick for you
I cannot recall the view from a single one of those rooms
U really wanna feel ur sure, moment you walk through the door
When we moved the furniture in, it’s beginning and it’s ended
So we meet just you and I, I feel like I’m stealing time
Doors n floors n the creak of doubt, in the garden u hear me out

CHORUS
Be my guest, come sit down
Take these words, Throw them round

The rent was cheap, street lights shone in the flat above the charity shop
I love a hum, high street racket, who wants curtains when u got no brackets
If the draught blew under the door, the bar heater never kept you warm
Whats the smell at the bottom of the stairs, did a tom-cat spray scent down there?
Tried too hard wanted it too much, so I kept you from each other
I stand before you as I am now, I’d give it all back if you’d allow it

CH

Bridge
Make some space, hear these thoughts
Give them meaning and a voice
Make some space, hear these thoughts
Give them meaning and a voice

I come home to my childhood haunts, never knowing what I wanted
Shadows blend, path grows dimmer, c the light thro stained glass window
M’ childhood self ran right past me, by the look on his face he was laughing
I don’t know if I got the joke, wherever he was heading I couldn’t go
When it stops being all about me, a space and freedom I bequeath
I love to see you come together, I know you’ll accept my blessing

CH
Bridge

Be my guest…

credits

from Help Yourself, released April 23, 2021

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The Songs of Tom Smith Brisbane, Australia

The Songs of Tom Smith is a recording and performance project created by Tom in 2012. It has a large pool of musicians across Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide.

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