Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley door pickup 10am - 7pm 3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611

  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
P.S.

P.S.

Murphy, Paul

Paperback

General Poetry

ISBN13: 9798287416607
Publisher: Independently Published
Published: Jun 9 2025
Pages: 264
Weight: 0.79
Height: 0.55 Width: 6.00 Depth: 9.00
Language: English
P.S.

Paul Murphy

The lyrics to the songs written by singer/songwriter Paul Murphy during June 2025 - an amazing 48 somgs in just 30 days.

Volume 30 in the series, this collection presents all the material composed during what turned out to be an 'addendum' month; stricken with progressive paralysis due to an incurable auto-immune muscular degenerative disorder, Paul intended the preceding month's anthology, Over Time, to be his final works. But, as he says with typical candour in the closing essay - 'The songs kept coming... and all I had otherwise in my diary was die ...'

As might be expected, given the circumstances, many of the lyrics focus on mortality, questions, reflections, and remunerations. Works such as 'No Man Fights The Enemy (Like He Fights Himself)', 'The Final Night, And More' and 'I Guess It Must Be Time To Go'. But also present, angry about injustice to the end, the master political and social commentator crafted such works as 'Wallow While You Can' and 'The Last Wagon'; and even 'Oh, Juliette' - a risqué 12-bar in which, as Paul says, 'No entendre was left un-doubled'.

Also present, and one of the highlights of not only the volume but also his composing career, the astonishing 'Hangman's Gap' - an elegiac Western tale of injustice, redemption, friendship and, ultimately, salvation. Written (by hand) on his 64th birthday, this amazing 102-verse song was written in one almost-unbroken 10-hour spell, in the order it reads in. [Also presented in a stand-alone hardback volume, Hangman's Gap, which reproduces the story not only as here, but in its original handwritten manuscript form].

The works are presented in their final form, plus each lyric is accompanied by a photograph of its original handwritten manuscript, where one existed (stricken with paralysis, several of the lyrics were composed live-to-camera, and then transcribed).

Also included is an essay by Paul, 'Old Dog Yet, a song-by-song commentary on the back-story to, and the creative process behind, each work.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

'I Guess It Must Be Time To Go' [extract]

I was outside your gambling den

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