Written for Michael Stanhope 4.12.1962 – 27.1.2024.

Lyrics by Preethi Manuel, Music by Rob Crisp (Inspired by The Ramones)

Lyrics

 

Sunday, Monday, Tuesday to go
I wanna be venti-lated
Breath grating, infuri-ating oh no
I wanna be venti-lated

Wheel me to the ward, prop me up in bed
Drip, drip the meds messing with my head
Sod the catheter, damn the chest drain
Oh, no, oh-oh, oh-oh

Sunday, Monday, Tuesday to go
I wanna be venti-lated
Breath grating, infuri-ating oh no
I wanna be venti-lated

Slip me through the back door

(Preethi Spoken word:) When you feel shut in, confined, gates closing in on you …
you dread it and ask yourself “Is this for eternity?” …. Do you know what frees one
from this captivity? “It is very deep, serious affection”, he says it, Van Gogh. “Being
friends, being brothers, love, that is what opens the prison by supreme power, by
some magic force.”

Every inch of me’s tested to oblivion
I wanna be venti-lated
Breath grating, infuri-ating oh
I wanna be venti-lated

Sunday, Monday, Tuesday will be
I wanna be venti-lated
Driving there, driving round the bend
Anxiety drivers I’ll attend

Sunday, Monday, Tuesday will be
I wanna be venti-lated
Drip, drip the meds messing with my head
I wanna be venti-lated

G and T, G and T on i.v. ga-gah ga-gah gee
I wanna be venti-lated
G and T, G and T on i.v. ga-gah ga-gah gee

I wanna be venti-lated
Intubated
Intravenously rejuvenated
G and T, G and T on i.v. ga-gah ga-gah gee
Don’t let her know the state of me
Or she’ll pee right off me
Gone half my size and pale as ice
Oh, no, oh-oh, oh-oh
G and T, G and T on i.v. ga-gah ga-gah gee
I wanna be venti-lated
G and T, G and T on i.v. ga-gah ga-gah gee
Oh, no, oh-oh, oh-oh

(Preethi Spoken word:) So we’re celebrating – me in the dog house, you on a
hospital bed in St James’ – all the years of intimacy… so much fun, laughter, all
those late-night deliberations setting the world to rights – gin in hand, music playing,
me begging for bed, remember? Michael-Sewelo, Sewelo a ‘rare find of a diamond’,
thank you for being the man who made me feel so alive, so buoyant! I adore you, the
life between us will remain cherished for ever….

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