I’ve always like the haunting melody of “Farewell to Tarwathie”, particularly Judy Collins’ version of it. I recently had the occasion to listen to Dylan’s “Farewell Angelina”, for which he uses the Tarwathie melody with an added three line chorus. That got me to thinking that i should write my own “Farewell” song — while i still have the intellectual facility to do a good job on it. Hence, “Preemptive Farewell”, in which i say goodbye to family, friends, and our country.
I am especially proud of the couplet
“Disdain for compassion troubles me most / And haunts, i feel certain, Thomas Jefferson’s ghost.”
I’m not a big fan of Thomas Jefferson; i think he was a major class hypocrite. I rationalize using the name because i think of his ghost as the fond, mythological image that most Americans have of the historical man.