Planting yourself on the golden pedestal
they’re the ones who’ll pull you down
diving from their lofty towers
the necktied rain
only to evaporate into heaven
till the next convenience
watching…waiting
ready to plunge the knife in
      again
      the chrome people

A down to earth kind of person
the silver spoon’s about to be planted
in your mouth
then suddenly they yank it away
evoking that classic Pink Floydian scream
sending them further
into their own perverted dreams
     again
     the chrome people

On your way home from a day at the races
children stand on broken sidewalks
sticking their tongues out to catch the rain
but the copper rooves of parliament
are slowly corroding
proud statues eaten away
and you know very well who’s responsible
point your finger at them
     again
     the chrome people

© 1988

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Song Information:

Vocals: John Hummel aka Johnny Ballistic. Johnny appears courtesy of ZOEC Records
Recorded at BOUM Studio, Val des Monts, Quebéc (2001)
Music composed and programmed by Marc Boucher
Audio engineering and production by Marc Boucher

Poem Background:

As with some of my other work, Reign is one of those poems that took on a life of its own for a while. Oddly enough, it wouldn’t have been written at all if not for a request from local artist and musician friend, Marc Boucher. Marc and I have known each other for years, working together either directly or indirectly at Environment Canada. One day he presented to me a painting he’d done in water colors, and asked if I thought I might be able to write a poem to go with it; possibly even commercially print the combination as posters. He then gave me a bit of background. His painting was in fact based on the painting, Goncolda (1953) by René Magritte, a Belgian surrealist, popular in the early to mid twentieth century.

Marc and I sometimes spoke about the injustices heaped on the middle class by the government and upper echelons of wealth and power. And out of that came the painting, which he called Reign Of The Chrome People.

The next thing he pointed out was that the word “Reign’ was easily interchangeable with the word ‘Rain,’ and so it immediately took on a double meaning. Something that would also have to be worked into the poem. Although I usually have difficulty writing on demand, mainly due to not having any emotional attachment to the subject, this poem came easily. Not so surprising, considering some of Marc’s and my discussions and having had my own experiences/frustrations with ‘the system;’ the painting immediately struck a chord in me. And so what I tried to do then was capture some of that cynicism.

This all took place somewhere between 1987 and ‘88. Though not intentional at first, it came out more as a lyric than a poem. Happy with it, Marc thanked me, and after that, I never heard anything more. The painting and poem were soon forgotten by both of us as we moved on to other projects.

In 2001, out of the blue, Marc contacted me, and much to my surprise, informed me that he and John Hummel, another coworker and musician friend, had just recorded a surreal/blues version of the poem set to music; link above.

Synchronicity being what it is, Reign Of The Chrome People was written during the A Well Placed Mess period (1986-1989), and thus turned out to be a worthy companion piece to my equally cynical poem/lyric, The Untouchables (1987).

08/23/2015

Posted on 08/23/2015
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