Story:

Perfection - summer 1977

Newport, Oregon, Brook Street

Supposedly this was about my dad but now I think it was really about me. Perfection will keep a person perpetually immobile. If I can’t do it perfectly why bother? If I do it and it’s not perfect, throw it away. Noncommittal, never too close or my imperfect humanness could be revealed. What a scary, lonely way to go through life. A friend told me that old Chinese potters would put every ounce of effort into the pottery they made, only to poke a thumb print into it as a final touch to represent man’s imperfection. “Only God is perfect,” he said. The slow beginning tempo of this song on the C.D. is the way the entire song was when originally written. It was a sad song.

MP3:  Stream: Perfection

Lyrics:

9-Perfection

You strive for perfection

How you ever gonna get anything done

You never lost and you never won

Never quite finished

What you’ve begun

Never seen good times

Or had bad ones

You strive for perfection

Don’t understand how you carry this load

Lift off the veil let it go let it show

You come to me

Wounds head to feet

Hurting so badly

Yet hidden so deep

Wouldn’t it be relieving

To admit defeat?

But you strive for perfection

You stumbled home from a night drinking wine

I didn’t catch anything in your eye

You never say hello

Never say goodbye

Never give answers

Or question why

You never lived

Maybe you’ll never die

You strive for perfection

Copyright © 2008 Gary Brooker

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Last modified: 04/27/08