Man Down is a love letter to my dear departed friend Tim Graham who died in the early hours of 6th September 2015. I helped arrange his Wake two weeks later. We could only accommodate 120 mourners at his club, The House Of St Barnabus, yet we could have easily invited 500 such was the popularity of our pal. So many expressed a special bond with him. How can one man have so many "best friends?" Empathy and stardust are the best words I can use to explain the phenomena. I miss him every day. A new book comes out, I hear a song in a bar, I hear a funny story .. each time I think "must text Sainto about that." The first of the gang to die, for sure, but our Man Down is so, so, so much more than that ...

Man Down

 A hundred photos fan my floor,
Stardust memories, nights on the town,
Now you’re gone, like a corpse washed ashore,
I’ll have one last Old Fashioned, we’re a Man Down.
We travelled a bit, the photos don’t lie,
Positano, Taormina, we certainly got around,
Now you’ve gone, with barely a goodbye,
Have one last Marlboro; we’re a Man Down.
So many holiday snaps, all of yesterday’s parties,
Arms entwined, is it the Cape ..or Kentish Town?
Now you’re gone, no more Soho Safaris,
Like a thief in the night, we’re a man down.
You’re grinning in all the pictures, or so it seems,
Sprinkling glitter on our hearts, the sweetest dreams,
Almost more than I can bear, Send in the Clowns,
Let our teardrops explode; we’re a Man Down.