Sitting in the kitchen
Coffee on the boil
Staring at the bacon
Goodbye olive oil
Think another feeling
Have another smoke
I’ve got money in my pocket
But I’m feeling broke
– Flash and the Pan, “Lights in the Night”
Unitarian Universalists have a reputation as big coffee drinkers. They make fun of themselves by singing a parody hymn (sung to the tune of “Holy, Holy, Holy”):
*Coffee, Coffee, Coffee,
Praise the strength of coffee.
Early in the morn we rise with thoughts of only thee.
Served fresh or reheated,
Dark by thee defeated,
Brewed black by perk or drip or instantly.
Though all else we scoff we
Come to church for coffee;
If we’re late to congregate, we come in time for thee.
Coffee our one ritual,
Drinking it habitual,
Brewed black by perk or drip instantly.
Coffee the communion
Of our Uni-Union,
Symbol of our sacred ground, our one necessity.
Feel the holy power
At our coffee hour,
Brewed black by perk or drip or instantly.*
Ojalá que llueva café en el campo.
Que caiga un aguacero de yuca y té.
Del cielo una jarina de queso blanco
y al sur una montaña de berro y miel.
Oh oh oh oh oh ojalá que llueva café.
[If only it would rain coffee in the fields,
and a shower of yucca and tea would fall,
from the sky a sprinkling of white cheese,
and in the south a mountain
of cress and honey.
oh, oh, oh-oh-oh…
If only it would rain coffee.]
–Juan Luis Guerra, “Ojalá Que Llueva Café”
I drink so much coffee
My hair stands up like
Startled squirrels
–The Gourds, “Tearbox”
Victoria’s reading of strong astrological forces.
Cheesecake and coffee, and columns of Reno divorces.
Victoria’s feet are tired she wants to go home,
She orders her coffee with cream, and drinks it alone.
Victoria Dines Alone–Tom Paxton
Get up Jimmy Newman, the morning is gone.
The engines are rumbling, the coffee’s all brewed.
Get up Jimmy Newman, there’s work to be done.
And why do you lie there still sleeping?
Jimmy Newman–Tom Paxton
Another cup of coffee and another cigarette
You’re waiting for your baby but she hasn’t shown yet
And when she comes in walking looking fine as you please
you want to stop and drop right down on your knees
Steve Miller Band
Steve Miller’s Midnight Tango
artist Squeeze
song Black Coffee in Bed
…There’s nothing of your love
That I’ll ever miss
The stain on my notebook
Remain all that’s left
Of the memory of late nights
And coffee in bed
I am colorblind
Coffee black and egg white
-Counting Crows, “Colorblind”
You in the corner with a good-looking drifter
Two cups of coffee and ten packs of sugar
-The Hold Steady, “Cattle and the Creeping Things”
And theres a story, a kind of fable
On a card at the corner table
On it is a message; been there some time
It starts off, the coffee tasted so fine
–Cream, “The Coffee Song”
Can I get an honorable mention for tea, Cowboy Junkies style?
If I pour your cup, that is friendship
If I add your milk, that is manners
If I stop there, claiming ignorance of taste, that is tea
But if I measure the sugar
to satisfy your expectant tongue
then that is love
Tom Waits Eggs & Sausage
I’m on my second cup of coffee and I still can’t face the day
I’m thinking of the lady who got lost along the way
And if I don’t stop this trembling hand from reaching for the phone
I’ll be reaching for the bottle Lord, before this day is done
– Gordon Lightfoot, Second Cup of Coffee
You’re the cream in my coffee,
You’re the salt in my stew,
You will always be my necessity,
I’d be lost without you.
Or, from How to Succeed…
If I can’t take
My coffee break,
My coffee break,
My coffee break,
If I can’t take my coffee break,
Something inside of me dies…
*“Excuse me” she said, it took him by surprise
That first taste was bitter and sweet
They had to share a table by the window
Backpacks sitting like hounds at their feet
Her lips were redder than a new Miata
His mustache held flecks of foam
They hung out in the corner cafe
Tapping on a laptop, don’t they have a home?
In the morning that fine aroma
Wakes me from a nightly coma
In a cup or in a mug
Coffee is my favorite drug
All around people are getting wired
The room is ringing you can hardly hear
A caffeine current running in his veins
He moves over to whisper in her ear
Drummin’ on the table he sings a little song
Her fingers dance in a delicate way
Talking and tasting turns to touching
Coffee breaking is the highlight of the day
In the morning that fine aroma
Wakes me from a nightly coma
In a cup or in a mug
Coffee is my favorite drug
Let the buzz of conversation
Be a steaming background sound
Can the jukebox -- fan the chatter
Aiming for a higher ground --
They're gonna do it
After two weeks meeting for a cup
They have an outing of a different kind
At her apartment they can’t open up
That fire in the body is only in the mind
They need much more stimulation
Pump the pressure – perk em up
Espresso aphrodisiac
Hope to get the juices flowing with another cup
In the morning that fine aroma
Wakes me from a nightly coma
In a cup or in a mug
Coffee is my favorite drug*
-The Bobs, Cafe
C-O-F-F-E-E
Coffee
Is not for me
It’s a drink some people wake up with
But it makes you nervous, that’s no myth
Slaves to a coffee cup
They can’t give coffee up
- Some song the nuns taught my aunt when she went to Catholic school
I’ve sat and flippped yesterday’s news
Refilled my cup of coffee over and over and over and over
For you, dear
I’ve let them play grunge all the day
Reread 'zines, designed tatoos over and over and over and over
'Cause it’s over
I belong to you - Rufus Wainwright, “Last Cup of Coffee”
…and from the spoken introduction:
“… I’d order my veal cutlet … and it left the plate and walked down to the end of the counter … my veal cutlet come down and try to beat the shit out my cup of coffee … coffee just wasn’t strong enough to defend itself …”
(had to pull out the vinyl for that one)
A bit of a stretch, but I always assumed the “cup” contained coffee (leaving aside the double entendre):
Don’t buy sugar,
You just have to touch my cup;
You’re my sugar,
It’s sweet when you stir it up.
Roddy
Starts me up.
Makes my day.
It opens up my eyes right away.
Before I even head for the door, you know I’ve had four.
And you might
take it sweetened.
Some sugar and some milk if you pleasin’
The only way I take it is hot!
Now guess what I want?
One cup of coffee …
From Paul Shaffer’s Coast to Coast, 1989
“Leave me to lay but touch me deep,
I don’t sleep, I dream
I’ll settle for a cup of coffee
But you know what I really need”
- R.E.M., I Don’t Sleep, I Dream
I’m with An Gadai and Greg C., lovin’ that “java jive”. Hey, hep cats, here’s something to listen to while you reread this thread: http://youtube.com/watch?v=pULXnVTRynY
“Waiter, Waiter, percolator…” heh.
Love, Phil
Yep, somewhere I have that incredible 2 record set. He sure has a way with words.