Greco & Green - Letter to Jude - lyrics
Dear Jude
My time in Paris has almost come to a close. I did not find what I was looking for, but man, did I look – in every nook and cranny of those art-imbued streets, and deep inside myself too. Whatever I was seeking wasn’t there. Perhaps it was never there. And I know for a fact now that talent isn’t enough. And maybe love isn’t either. The two most wonderful commodities in the world just don’t seem to be worth a damn anymore. Except to us, maybe, and a few people who ‘feel’ existence rather than just pass through it like a car wash
Please find the enclosed 300 euros, which I want you to convert at the earliest opportunity into nice grubby tenners and twenties. This is yours. You’ll see why in a bit
It’s time for me to go, you see. Away from Paris and away from painting. By the time you get this letter I will be gone. Found, like a porcelain–pale Chatterton, dead on this threadbare chaise lounge beneath a grimy garret window. Maybe I’ve gone through it in my head so often that I’m detached from it now. Just like you used to say that being a gravedigger detaches you from death
I want you to celebrate with me but without me one last time. Take that money and spend it in Bradley’s Spanish Wine Bar. Take a day off work and get hammered right up to the gills
By the way - it’ll take a few days for this letter to arrive, and I’m shuffling off this mortal coil tonight. So if something goes wrong, I’ll have to call you and tell you not to read the letter. But assuming that I haven’t called, and that you ARE reading this letter, the deed is done, and I’ve had my last slap- up tea at Brasserie Lipp - Steak, oysters and a fine bottle of Margaux
Don’t waste a second old friend. Not a second
P.s. Chagall was always better than Matisse
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