The Big Untidy Magazine

Alma Cogan

Alma Cogan lived in Reading

Quite some time ago.

Without Alma Cogan I never would have known

Not to tango with an Eskimo.

All these years, all this time,

I never even knew,

That Alma Cogan lived in Reading,

Opposite the Odeon,

Above a shop,

Quite a few years ago.

Tommy Handley, Uncle Mac,, early mornings

Yawning myself awake,

‘The railroad runs through the middle of the house.’

Get up! It’s summer for Gods sake!

There’s bikes to be ridden,

Mudslides to climb

Stagnant ponds to swing over and across,

And not a care to be found,

Anywhere.

Alma Cogan lived in Reading

And had afternoon tea in what is now John Lewis.

The girl with the laugh in her voice

Lived in Reading quite awhile before me

And many years later

I bought her Greatest Hits CD

In Smiths,

In Friar Street,

Opposite the Odeon,

Where Alma Cogan lived

Quite some time ago.

- Barry O'Brien

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