Story Behind The Song

I had been throwing about an idea for a song in my head for some time. I had a catchy chorus with a real rabble - rousing feel to it but had no lyrics or even theme to go with it. A couple of images had, however, stuck in my head: one of them was The Pogues playing 'Fiesta' on Friday Night Live sometime long ago with Spider Stacey spraying Shane MacGowan with party foam. They looked pissed as absolute farts; and the other was a scene from Wish You Were Here. A film based loosely on the early life of Cynthia Payne (better known as Madame Cyn) in which Tom Bell's character, Mr Stinky Finger, performed an uptempo country and western duet with a fat bloke. While the latter sung the tenor lead, Tom Bell's character played percussion by crashing a beer tray off his napper. They also looked pissed as absolute farts. Around this time I was perusing a book shop looking for an appropriate read for my forthcoming holiday to the wonderful island of Sicily. Real life crime isn't a genre that I normally go for but I picked up a book called 'Cosa Nostra - the History of the Sicilian Mafia' by John Dickie. A flick through the pages revealed a chapter called 'Dr. Gelati & the Lemon Garden' and I remember thinking..... 'Dr. Ice Cream & the lemon garden'? What a great name for a song! Any book with this as a chapter title, I think you'll agree, is worth a read. And it was. It read like a real life crime thriller - full of heroes, villains and vivid imagery. Anyway, at some point these two disparate threads of thought came crashing together and the title and theme for the rabble-rousing song that I had had in my head were found. The opera 'Rusticana Cavalleria' and the film 'The Godfather' helped inspire the music and the lyrics, thereafter, wrote themselves based on John Dickie's book. Only one slight problem.... the chapter in the book, I later found, is actually called 'Dr. Galati and the Lemon Garden'. I had misread it.

Song Description

Sicilian ska

Lyrics

Dr. Gelati & the Lemon Garden

Once in lemon scented Palermo
A danger lurks in the garden
A dark and sinister creed
Who lives for money and greed
And is bound by an oath of loyalty
A murderous secret society

We are many yet we are few
We are evil but we are you
We're the best with many heads
We're the nightmare in your beds
We've got lawyers, judges, bankers, soldiers too

I am beautiful and I am bold
I'm a killer and I am cold
Just remember when we meet
I have toothache be discreet
Or you'll end up lying, dying in the street

Chorus

Oh, you men of honour
Oh, you men of class
Behold, you men of honour
If you don't play the game
You will live a life of shame
And you'll feel the wrath of mafia tyranny

Bernadino, what a hero
A socialist like Sicily's never seen
With his peasant federation
He attacked our very nation
'til we ran him down and shot him in the spleen

Mussolini, fascist bastard!
A scum bag of right wing tyranny
He very nearly had us
With his leather and his blackshirts
'til the yanks delivered us 'liberty'

Chorus

Joe Bananas, Americanos
Sicilian by birth through and through
Narcotics we control
We destroy your very soul
And we'll kill you if you turn the other way

Luciano, he's the capo di capo
And you should live in fear
When you're lying in your bed
He will shoot you in your head
He's a crazy motherfucker, he's insane

Chorus

So here's a warning to all of Italy
You cut our throats? Be prepared for what you see
For the smell of mafia has a lure
To the rich, the powerful and the poor
And the blood that will flow from our veins
Won't wash away all your shame

Chorus