Moderate Debauchery Poem by David Welch

When I was fifteen my friend 'Riff' and I
started our very own garage band,
and for the first year we truly stank,
but I've always been a dedicated man.

I pushed Riff, and we quickly got better,
soon started writing songs of our own,
got a drummer, 'Bomber, ' and bassist, Caplan,
folks were ing our songs to their phones.

Soon we attracted big league attention,
and at twenty I signed us to a deal,
our album sold big, our s bigger,
all of our rock star dreams become real.

It was at this time I sat and thought
of the musicians who had gone before,
the mistakes and pitfalls that had dogged them,
and would be the end of many bands more.

I had no desire to exit this world,
as had the great Bonham and Mercury,
made myself a goal, even wrote it out,
I would moderate my debauchery.

This was no easy thing for a young man
now living the celebrity life,
it's not like I didn't sleep with groupies,
hell one of them would become my wife!

But I tried to avoid the easier ones,
which is a difficult thing to do,
could you turn away a smoking hot girl
wearing just a smile and tattoo?

But more often than not my will won out,
an I always used good protection,
no use throwing all your health away
in the name of temporary fun.

And it isn't like I did not drink,
I have always enjoyed a cold beer,
but I'd get drunk no more than once a week,
and hired drivers to assuage our fears.

It's also fair to say that I smoke some pot,
though honestly, it was never my thing,
but I used it to draw a hard line,
because the hard stuff was damn frightening.

The result was that I managed to keep
my head despite all the money and fame,
unfortunately I just kind of assumed
that all my band-mates would think the same way.

I guess that's a common human mistake,
as Caplan's problems soon would attest,
he wasn't satisfied with Mary Jane,
and was soon fond of heroin and meth.

He missed interviews, he even missed shows,
even woke up naked in Central Park,
whenever he was called out about it
he'd say, "Guys, I'm just having a lark! "

But it got so bad that Caplan was fired,
on him we could no longer rely,
a year later he overdosed at home,
only twenty-seven and he died...

When we heard of his loss we took it hard,
at first it was very hard to believe,
and it made me double my efforts to
moderate my own debauchery.

But within a year it all began again,
this time with Bomber, our hammer on the drums,
he was always something of a wild man,
and ever sober could be somewhat...dumb.

I know it sounds awful to talk like that
since I always really liked the guy,
but he was a man who lived for the moment,
and difn't reflect on things deep inside.

He also spent cash on powerful cars,
and one day after a big drinking glut,
he got in his Porsche and managed to wrap
his car around an old-growth chestnut.

Bomber somehow survived the big crash,
but would soon face long imprisonment,
the groupie in the passenger seat
took the brunt of it, died in an instant.

Bomber has never forgiven himself
for taking away someone's daughter,
they say he still cries, serving twenty years
in jail for vehicular manslaughter.

Now the band was back to Riff and myself,
hired sessions hands to fill in the gaps,
even decided it was best to go clean,
just to avoid these destructive traps.

But the damage had already been done,
two years later Riff didn't feel well,
the doctor confirmed he had H.I.V.,
and he quit touring, to conserve his health.

Now before you ask, he's doing okay,
today's drugs really knock down the disease,
the doctors all say he'll live forty years,
which is about what I expect for me.

Maybe he got it from dirty needles,
he dabbled in the hard drugs, he did,
but more likely he got it from a groupie,
hell, he has two out-of-wedlock kids!

Riff has always liked chasing the trail,
I think it goes back to his high school days,
before stardom he'd just been a band geek,
too awkward to ever get a date.

When famous he overcompensated,
he was always slipping off with a girl,
and when he received the diagnosis
it altered pretty much his entire world.

He went out and found those two children,
raises then now as a stay-at-home dad,
want them to have a good family life
and I a cannot blame the man for that.

He did built a home recording studio,
still writes and plays on all the albums,
but he'll never strut the stage with guitar,
I guess that phase of his life is now done.

And though I miss Riff playing shows with me,
I can't say that his decision is wrong,
I'll take my best friend however I can,
I need him to stay healthy and strong.

As for me, I guess I have become
the land band member truly standing,
I still use the name, hired a support band,
and every year do three months of touring.

I've been married now for seventeen years,
in this business that's remarkably run,
and my three daughters do not go to sleep
worrying that I'll drink to much and be done.

Some younger bands do criticize me,
that I'm 'fake, ' don't live the rock-star life,
how many of them will still do what they love
when they reach the age of forty-five.

How many of them will crack the top forty-five
each year going on twenty-five years?
How many won't make a mess of their lives?
How many of them won't even be here?

Tet I still get to play to a packed house,
make them scream, them put tears in their eyes,
knowing that words I thought up did this,
all of their joy is my natural high.

Hell, I'll still be here in twenty years,
bringing the people a grand revelry,
the greatness does not ever have to end
if you moderate the debauchery.