Working Gal Rock and Roll Poet: Baby, You’re The Greatest

Tuesday, January 1, 2013

Baby, You’re The Greatest

Subways don’t get me to work on time,
so my mate shouts me up,
“Don’t you make the unemployment line
get up! Get out in the cold, cruel world.
Do your job, girl.
Do it now, dude.”

Do! Do! Doobie doobie do!
I do it for me, I do it for you!
I do it for bread, I do it for food
for me-- for you
‘cause you are the greatest,
baby, you’re the greatest!

The bus just suits me fine,
the driver’s smiling and thinking;
He’s working for his bride
whose earning for his dreams.
Think big! Think about your lifelines,
do your thing, girl.
Do it good, dude.

When the traffic is crammed
I pray for a day between us
when the sun shines and the rain falls
and I see you in my eyes
so beautiful to me--
baby, baby, baby
you are the greatest.

Do! Do! Doobie doobie do!
I do it for me, I do it for you!
I do it for bread, I do it for food
for me--for you
‘cause you are the greatest,
baby, you’re the greatest!

My book is called THE LEIGHTON EXPLOSION, which is a title I've played with throughout my entire adult life. It's based on The Music Explosion who rocked with a favorite song, "A Little Bit Of Soul." It's optimistic, and self-empowering, which is a quality I love in art... Three things have been constant in my life—- writing, music, and animals. Likewise, I've adapted the words to Frank Sinatra’s hit, “That’s Life.” I sing, “I’ve been a poet, a pauper, a publicist…. up and down…..” My poetry book, The Leighton Explosion (Soul Asylum, Canada) shows my range of emotion and different interests, especially rock music. My publisher Ken Cowle says I “made him laugh.” Jethro Tull frontman Ian Anderson, who writes the book’s foreword, praises my “lilt” and “personality” in an encouraging note. While I usually work as a music publicist with musicians including Jethro Tull, Joe Deninzon & Stratospheerius, Sharon Katz & The Peace Train, and Michael Veitch, I've also made money from my poetry. This includes the Grammy-nominated album, Healthy Food for Thought: Good Enough to Eat, (Audio & Video Labs) with me reading my poem “Feed Your Parents Well.” My poems have been published in The Indie Collaborative’s “Holiday Program,” “The Literary Parrot Anthology,” “Elephant Journal,” “BOG GOB,” “Powerline,” “the Aquarian,” and “Nickel.” I've performed live at the Nuyorican Poets Cafe and Peter Max’s Studio. Some of my plays have been performed live—one by the Poets Repertory Theatre of Long Island and another by the San Antonio Living River Church, and at New York City’s Howl Fest. My other books are Paws For Thought: How to Understand What Your Cat is Thinking (Rockwell Books, UK), Using Your Art & the Media to Comfort People (Free To Run Books, West Hills, CA), and the self-published e-book, Get the Gig (Common Sense Career Consulting). I recently started producing pop music singles, which can be heard at soundcloud.com/leightonmedia/sets/anneleightonsongs.