The devil stands for entropy,
with horns and tail and claws,
for jazz played live in a smokey dive
no time to deal with bores.
The devil’s for complexity,
for colours, sex, and sin
the music’s loud, there’s a dancing crowd,
play a card, you just might win.
The devil plays the trumpet,
and his party’s lots of fun
unless you blink, or you stop to think
of the way that things might run.
The devil stands for chaos,
so he always stands for war.
He loves the change, and he’s got the range,
give blood, give guts, give gore.
When the times are still and static
then the devil stands for life
but when all is calm then he stands for harm
for mess, for plague, for strife.
Still, his toes are always tapping.
and he always loves to dance,
when the times are slow it’s the place to go
and the devil stands for chance.
18th November 2004
