David Keenan
David Keenan & Gavin Glass & Gareth Quinn Redmond & Graham Hopkins & & David Keenan
David Keenan
David Keenan
David Keenan
David Keenan
David Keenan
David Keenan
David Keenan
David Keenan
David Keenan
While performing this song live on tour with Hozier, David Keenan explained that he wrote this song after having a dream where he “met James Dean for a few pints, and he told [Keenan] that he didn’t want to be an icon anymore, didn’t want to act, didn’t want any of the bullshit that goes along with...
It stabbed me in the chest like the pimp prudent's knife
Into poor wandering Becket under a mother of Pearl sky
At the back of the wall, I bawled, cursing all in reel and rhyme
While feeling out of sorts like a road sweeper dressed up to the nines
As the multi-colored kite over shoulders taking flight
And the local matador gives two fingers to the girl next door
I had a dream that James Dean was alive and well today
Looking for the quiet life, working for Irish rail
And in me father's clothes with a bloody nose I sang "Isn't it so sweet?"
There by the slot machine, there's James Dean out cold beneath my feet
And the disciples from the street
They all burst in through open doors
And the creaking of the chairs and the running down the stairs
Pure ecstasy
The circus master smiles pointing his finger at the mime
I hear the distant call of a boy named Paul who was taken before his time
And all the precious stones or the mongrel's bone won't entice me, you silly child
You just run on home for your tea's gone cold
And your mother cursed you blind
And the backdoor man feels wrong for switching off when signing on
And the double-jointed thief wins an award for pure indecency
I had a dream that James Dean was alive and well today
Looking for the quiet life, working for Irish rail
And in me father's clothes with a bloody nose I sang "Isn't it so sweet?"
There by the slot machine, there's James Dean out cold beneath my feet
Then the disciples from the street
They all burst in through open doors
And the creaking of the chairs and the running down the stairs
Pure ecstasy
I had a dream that James Dean was alive and well today
He's working for Irish rail
James Dean was written by David Keenan.
James Dean was produced by Gavin Glass.
David Keenan released James Dean on Fri Jan 10 2020.