Maggie May is an iconic song, loved and cherished by all of a certain generation. On Friday I probably scuppered that for a lot of people when I rearranged it as a song for a retirement party.
I’ve been a governor at my son’s former primary school for quite a few years now so I was invited to the retirement do for our Bursar, Margaret. We were having a hog roast in a marquee at a local hotel and, on speaking to one of the teachers, there didn’t seem to be anything silly planned regarding the speeches. I thought this was a shame as Margaret/Maggie was always game for a laugh and was such a warm, well-regarded lady, she needed a bit of a send-off.
I’m not sure what possessed me to take it into my own hands to come up with a little ditty. Acutally I do know. I have always loved doing this kind of thing. When I worked at John Lewis I could always be relied upon to drag up people’s past misdemeanours in the form of a song or poem. The Spice Girls Wannabe and Bobby Vinton’s Blue Velvet are two I remember though I have no idea what my lyrics were – should have kept copies.
So I sat down on Thursday looking at the lyrics of Maggie May and made up my own version. It was quite handy that the original words say, Wake up, Maggie, I think I’ve got something to say to you, It’s late-September and I really should be back at school. All I needed to do there was change it to mid-September, say you really should be back at school and it fitted the bill exactly.
The rest of it was slightly more difficult but I managed to get in a verse about how she always used to email the governors attachments without ever attaching them (getting that to scan was a bit of a bugger) and how we had to check our diaries as the dates frequently didn’t match.
I cobbled it together, typed it up, and shoved it in my pocket on Friday evening. The invitation said “between 7pm and 10pm” so we arrived, fashionably late at 7.20pm, only to find the whole thing had begun, including the speeches. As other governors snuck in behind us, I told Dougie that I couldn’t stand up at the front and perform straight away so I would see how the evening panned out.
In the end, about 9.15, pudding finished, the time seemed ripe to do my bit. I stood up, piece of paper in my hand, and tried to guess what key I should begin the song so I didn’t have to sing down in my boots. I guessed it about right, gave it my best shot and, I have to say, it went down remarkably well.
I heard later that one teacher had remarked to the people on her table:
“Wasn’t Trish great? She wrote it herself and sang it a capella!”
To which someone on the table had replied,
“Yes…and with no music or accompaniment!”
I will now live in fear of someone singing Do You Think I'm Sexy when I'm lucky enough to retire (aged 96 the way things are going)!
Steve – I was thinking more, "You Wear It Well"?
Wow – very brave. Or were you well "fortified" at that point?
Better than singing it "a capello" – ie. in a very dodgy Italian accent.
Expat Mum – well I had a glass or two of Dutch courage! But I did wonder, as everyone was sitting around eating and feeling relaxed, whereas I felt sick and nervous, that I only had myself to blame.
Troy – haha! I like that.
You are an incredibly brave lady. Mind you, you can sing which probably makes a huge amount of difference.
Very Bored – actually I think I'm just an idiot (with too mcuh time on my hands trying to find words that rhyme with retire) and funnily enough it was easier without music as no-one knew if I was following the tune!
….mire, dire, pariah, liar, deep-fat fryer….. Yes it's harder than you think isn't it?
And singing in a Spanish hat must have added to the occasion.
Fantastic.
Madame SG – tell me you'll never stop adding your genius comments on my blog. I can't stop laughing at the thought of using deep-fat fryer in the song when all I could manage was 'admire'.
And in my Spanish hat. Ole 😉
You are an admirable woman! And a very brave one. Shame there's no video though!
CJ xx
CJ – thank heavens for small mercies!
Did you wear your handbag and your gladrags too?
At least it wasn't on a cruise ship because we all know what you'd have had to sing then.
You have guts, Trish. Real guts.
I always used to love the line 'the morning sun when it's in your face really shows your age', and I used to think 'how horrible to get old and have lines showing in your face like that'…..now I don't like looking in a mirror myself so much, especially if the sun is shining and giving unfair (?!) lighting! Very, very brave of you – thank goodness it went down well and didn't bomb!!Can you imagine!! (don't! It didn't! I'm just a worrier!)
Deer Baby – If I'd done Sailing then I could have got everyone to wave their lighters – missed a trick there.
Diney – Yes, give me dusk any day! Oh and I practised on Hubby and told him if there was any chance it was crap then he had to let me know!