Strange from Sociable! by Old Man Flanagan's Ghost

I wrote this song based on a summer I spent working as a bouncer in Port Elgin, On. I had spent many summers as a child up in that area as we had a family cottage in Southhampton, On. The verses are pretty accurate as to experiences I had there during that specific summer, including fights every night and a red light that would light up near the front of the bar to indicate to the bouncers that there was a fight happening in the back billiards area that couldn't be seen, which we would then run back to like a train divided drunks and dancers in our wake. It was kinda insane looking back now. The song refers to a single regret which was basically me not opening my mouth to a girl I liked (what can I say, I was shy and hated rejection-sue me). The second theme of the song though is the idea of how much it has changed from having a really small town feel at the beginning, to a touristy place with paved streets and a, "Hey we have a Tim Hortons!" mentality which is more a reflection of how I viewed the town change over a much larger span of time from when I spent summers there as a child. The bridge of the song speaks of the realization that time always moves forward and the idea that 'you can't go back', so a warning to tomorrow's youth, that simpler days and missed opportunities are the stuff of regret, so try to limit them and don't waste time dwelling on it.

Tracklist

9.	Strange	3:04

Lyrics

Home's been all over the place, this town's been lost somewhere in space
Summer crowds and seasonal shops, local flirts and small town cops
A place that I so wanna forget, a place I left with one regret

I just came back to see your smile
I don't plan on staying awhile
Your face it hasn't changed
But all around it seems so strange

Swung down to old Jim's bar, two fights a night would make for par
Remember working tossing drunks, drinking late and teenage punks
Red light for the back room, some escaped but for most it was a tomb

I just came back to see your smile
I don't plan on staying awhile
Your face it hasn't changed
But all around it seems so strange

And I can see that now, the past has had it's bow
Time's a one way street, where there is no repeat

I just came back to see your smile
I don't plan on staying awhile
Your face it hasn't changed
But all around it seems so strange

Credits

from Sociable!, released May 15, 2015
Written by Stephen Lamb

License