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As Old as I am Now

from Record of Life by Joe Goodkin

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lyrics

When I was four or five on a morning in July
I road the train downtown with my dad
We did it every week, our Saturday routine
We’d take it to the end of the line
Along the I-290 rush I couldn’t get enough
Of the city passing by stop by stop
My dad would read a magazine, watch me watch the scenery
He was in his 30’s at the time
He must have been as old as I am now

I remember going through a book of the pictures that we took
Of all our family trips and birthday cakes
There was one shot of my mom with sister as a tot
Taken in the living room of our first place
My sis can barely stand so my mom gives her a hand
With a look upon her face I can’t describe
At this leaning little child with her crooked baby smile
My mom was in her 30’s at the time
She must have been as old as I am now

I was lucky growing up, I didn’t want for much
My loved ones always stayed and never left
Sure my heart was broken once and I lost some friends too young
But compared to others’ pain I feel blessed
Now I’m getting to the age where people start to go away
Lost my Bubbie on Two Twenty-Two Thirteen
She was ninety-seven years of more laughter than tears
She took her second husband’s name which was Green
For her last days on the earth she had a Nigerian nurse
Who bathed her and held her and sang to her at night
And when she finally passed in her easy chair she sat
And her nurse was there waiting just outside
We gathered in her flat, aunt, uncles, mom and dad
To eat and drink and talk about her light
And I looked at all the smiles of the people who shaped my life
And I knew someday they’d all be gone
And once they were as old as I am now
And once they were as old as I am now

credits

from Record of Life, released June 30, 2015

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Joe Goodkin Chicago, Illinois

Chicago-based singer/songwriter Joe Goodkin has released albums as both a solo artist and under the name Paper Arrows. He tours the country performing one-man folk opera retellings of Homer's Odyssey and Iliad.

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