Miss Goodbar did bondage to the two-backed beast
with a body decked out like a picnic feast
turned a few smart tricks every night at least
she prayed would last forever.
The neighbours they lamented the noise she made
and petitioned to get that good lady spayed
we've all got a particular stock and trade
who believe love lasts forever.
All the tenants signed in that apartment block
all except the Skinhead called Janitor Jock
who had a bunch of keys to fit any lock
because nothing lasts forever.
They took that petition to the Councillor
and rapped loud and long upon his redwood door
didn't hear him screwing on the parquet floor
the world spins on forever.
The weekend rolled on and the weekend rolled by
for Janitor Jock had a wondering eye
slipped on his sneakers and buttoned up his fly
whose soul shall burn forever.
Late Sunday night about ten it must have been
not a creature stirred except the streetwise Queen
issued from Miss Goodbar's pad a high pitched scream
that echoed on forever.
They called in the coppers with guns on the hips
they called in the priest with a prayer on his lips
they dusted down Miss Goodbar for finger-prints
and a bed gone cold forever.
Next to her body lay a bunch of brass keys
not what you'd expect to be the normal fees
was slit wide open from her neck to her knees
the blood flowed on forever.
They took Jock away and they gave him a trial
then tied him to a chair and fried him awhile
yet no-one could account for that wayward smile
frozen on his face forever.
Her first great lover was Christ upon the Cross
her second-rate lover an Insurance Boss
Miss Goodbar lies tucked in a bed of green moss
and there she sleeps forever.
Excellent examples of this form may be seen in Lawrence Durrell's
'A Ballad of The Good Lord Nelson' and James K. Baxter's
'Lament for Bamey Flanagan'. The opening stanzas are:
Lawrence Durrell: