NaPoWriMo 6/30

Respect for the Father of Loud
In memoriam, Jim Marshall

This is the time for respect
but not for silence
for Jim Marshall,
the quiet giant of rock.

When the names of the greats are read:
Hendrix, Clapton and the mighty Led
Blackmore, Beck, Who and even Slade,
They all owe a debt to amps Jim made.
Making music electric
with such warmth and tone,
they were even used by the Rolling Stones
(and you know how hard they are to satisfy).


Visionary, engineer,
mean musician and pioneer
putting the soul into rock ‘n’ roll
from teenage bedroom kicks
to classic riffs and licks
that fired us to heaven.
This was life, full-lived:
turned up to eleven.

So all hail the Lord of Loud,
from rehearsal rooms to festival crowd
So though I’m too old
and in no way cool
and I’ll cop a lot of flack ,
I’m going to plug in, turn it up
and play it loud
on a 100 watt Marshall stack.

I’ll be doing that instead
of singing solemn hymns.
It’s seems the most appropriate way
of saying “Thank you, Jim”.