I should be a bit more careful writing stuff like this, expecting everything will just "know" my sources and intentions - don't want to be accused of plagiarism! Anyhow, it is based on Nick Cave's song of the same name, and I suppose one could call it an "interpretation", although perhaps it's just a CliffNotes version of it!?! There is a deliberate point of difference with the song, though, in the very first line (which was in fact my inspiration for writing this).
When I first came to town, people didn't gather round; no drinks did they buy. Their cold silence whistled through my bones, and I knew then what it was to be alone. Those dark rumours followed me till the end, when, with tears, I knew the heavens would send me no mercy. I knew though that my curses were in vain, for the next town, as always, would be the same.
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i might be giving away my ignorance here but where is this from?? or did you write it? because its really really good and almost certainly makes me aware of my absolute lack of talent-- i get a lot of that these days.
I'd like to say it's "inspired" by a song by Nick Cave with the same name (which I believe is in turn based on a folk song) - although I do borrow the general theme, not to mention a couple of phrases as-is from the lyric (all in the name of "art"!), which I hope is not plagiarism! The relevant bits are:
When I first came to town
All the people gathered round
They bought me drinks
Lord, how they quickly changed their tune
...
Suspicion and dark murmurs surround me
Everywhere I go they confound me
As though the blood on my hands
Is there for every citizen to see
http://lyricwiki.org/Nick_Cave_And_The_Bad_Seeds:When_I_First_Came_To_Town
(I only just found out that it's "murmurs", not "rumours" in the song!)
I'd like to think it's an "interpretation" of the song, but maybe it's more accurate to call it a four-line summary of it :)
As for it being good, well I think that's more from Mr. Cave's contribution than mine ;)
I think its a really cool re-interpretation. The conclusion is almost the same, the way I see it. The only difference is the mechanism. In cave's song the person isolates himself out of guilt, and in your case its society I guess. It would still suck to be him though.
Incidentally, the lyrics that I put up also owe their first line to an original-- Thunderclap Newman's "Something in the Air"
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