DESMOND KELLY

“A RIGHT TO DREAM” My friends all tell me I’m a fool To be in love with you But they don’t know how much I’ve tried To care for someone new I’ll always be behind you, foolishly as it may seem If ir’s only to remind you That I’ve got a right to dream “CHORUS” I’ve got a right to dream That you’ll come back to me someday I’ll just go on pretending that You never went away And if someday on your finger, dear A wedding ring may gleam I’ll be in the background at the church Cause I’ve got a right to dream I know it’s useless to recall The happy hours we knew Those memories, however small Help me feel I’m close to you My hopes were washed away Like little pebbles in a sream But whatever might have happened I’ve still got a right to dream ...

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1948 VALE – MAX WALKER 2016. So very sad to hear about the death of a great Australian, taken away far too early, aged just 68. He was a Cricketer, bowled his “medium pacers” with a smile during the halcyon days when cricket was indeed “a gentleman’s game” Nicknamed “tangles”because of his bowling style, he also played “Aussie-Rules” football for Melbourne, was a “Speaker” who held his various audiences in the palm of his hand simply because, where there was Max, there was humour, both subtle & “hilarious”, was a “draughtsman” by trade, intelligent & well-read. In addition to all this, he was an Author, wrote as many as 14 books, the talents of this man were many. Max, I have many of your books and I read them with pleasure. You were a funny bloke, your smile certainly lit-up many a room. On behalf of all Lankans in Australia ...

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THE BULLDOG BREED There were not too many Lankan/Aussies around in Australia in 1954, when the A.F.L. Club “The Bulldogs” won their one and only “Premiership” in Melbourne. Not much can be written as regards that particular “Grand-Final” when the “dogs” fought and won the not too spectacular, but still precious “Cup” from the old “Melbourne”. Club. During those early years the 1954 winners called themselves the “Western Bulldogs”.because they were from the Western Suburb of Fooscray, originally, the Foorscray Football Club. Then, 7 years later, in 1961, I had still not heard about “Aussie-Rules” football simply because I was then getting ready to migrate to Melbourne, but, IN MELBOURNE, the Bulldogs played St.Kilda in the preliminary-final and unfortunately missed out on getting the Premiership cup for that year. Close, but not close enough. I arrived in Melbourne in 1962, but had no time whatsoever to worry about football of any ...

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” HAPPY CHRISTMAS “ Christmas comes but once an year And when it comes, it brings good cheer But, not in Australia, it’s dear (and) It’s always Christmas, over here. (anyway) D.K. I have been given to understand that, as far as our major “shopping malls” are concerned, mince pies & Christmas cakes are already available, and it’s only September, for crying out loud!. They have already celebrated Christmas in JULY as well. How many times was Jesus born? . Easter eggs adorn the shelves long before Jesus has risen fron the dead and gone to Heaven. This is great news for chocolate lovers, but the rise in diabetes type 2 is the result, especially with the Lankans living here. I now live in a Suburb called Hampton Park but if I could manage to come outside and “throw a stone”, it would most probably land on the head of a ...

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” NO-ONE NEED EVER KNOW “      NO-ONE NEED EVER KNOW      HOW MUCH WE MEANT TO ONE ANOTHER      THEY NEED’NT EVER KNOW HOW MUCH I CARED      NO-ONE NEED EVER KNOW      THAT WE PLEDGED TO ONE ANOTHER      ALL THE LOVE THAT YOU & I ONCE SHARED      HE’LL NEVER EVER REALIZE      THAT YOU WERE MINE & MINE ALONE      BUT IF HIS ROMANCE WITH YOU DIES      HE’S SURE TO FEEL THE PAIN I’VE KNOWN      STILL, NO-ONE NEED EVER KNOW      HOW MUCH I WANT YOU NIGHT & DAY      NO MATTER WHAT I SAY      MY LOVE FOR YOU WILL GROW      BUT NO-ONE, NO-ONE WILL EVER KNOW.                LYRICS & MUSIC BY : DESMOND KELLY. ...

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HISTORY REPEATS ITSELF – by Desmond Kelly “The Star of eLanka!”   Around 500 b.c. , people calling themselves Snhalese migrated from Mother India to the little Island that was once a part of it (India) as settlers, led by a man called Vijaya. “This”was also the name of the FIRST Ship, a mine-sweeper that was “presented” to our Senior Force “The Royal Ceylon Navy” in which I proudly “served” by “The Royal Navy” in England in appreciation for the “service” provided by our Sailors during World war 2. “H.M.Cy.S. Vijaya” was not a large ship but then, we were not a large Navy, still proud of a vessel that was like a cork in heavy seas, tossing around but still afloat just like this writer, in my endeavour to give my eLanka & Lanka Times readers a very brief but hopefully interesting “history” of ” my lovely Island home’, ...

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OUR ANNIVERSARY Now and again, any composer of songs can consider themselves very lucky indeed to “write” one, that, with the passage of time, remains popular with the listening public. Some songwriters accomplish this, while many more are not as lucky, and even though “their” songs might be considered “above average,”they “come & go” with monotonous regularity, much to the disappointment of the songwriters’ concerned. It is not an easy business, this song-writing. Firstly, there are the composers of music that have no idea of writing “lyrics” & of course, there are the lyricists who cannot write the “music” of a song. ...

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“READING BETWEEN THE LINES” How strange is the life we live? . “eLanka” has just published an article I wrote about Richmal Crompton, titled “Unforgettable Writers” & will publish (hopefully) an article I have not quite finished yet titled “My Moratuwa Story”, both of which, reading between the lines, shows the importance of READING, practically from the time one is able to open up their first book. As usual, I was seated in my armchair, watching Jenny Brockie on SBS television conducting her very interesting forum for debate, and powerful “first person” stories, and doing so with professionalism & tact. She has “covered” many subjects on “INSIGHT”, some funny, some serious, some happy & some sad, but this “show”, to my own way of thinking, was absolutely shocking!, as well. How many of my readers would even know that about 44% of Australian Adults are BELOW the” line “in Literacy ...

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JAZZMEN  EXTRAORDINAIRE – By Des Kelly Monday, the 1st of August,2016, just another Monday, heralding the last month of Winter in our Land Nothing “special” about it EXCEPT that sharp at 8 pm., I switched my television onto Channel 2, in Melbourne to watch “Australian Story”, another favourite “show”of mine, that I can strongly recommend to my “eLanka” readers. Naturally, I do not intend “takng-over” from “the box” & “filling-in” what viewers have quite possibly,already seen, but this particular episode intrigued me, in that, it featured two Aussie musicians DON BURROWS & JAMES MORRISON, who, in my own humble opinion, would “class” as two of the very best, not only in Australia, but in the entire “Music Planet,” as it is, at the moment. Don Burrows, for a start, was a “music-lover” FROM the start. A multi-instrumentalist, he not only lived for music, music, in his sensitive hands, lived for him. I remember ...

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DEFYING GRAVITY/THE EXECUTIONER’S SONG A sad , but true story about Gary Mark Gilmore, a young American criminal , convicted of the senseless murder of two men, sentenced to a long term in prison, begged and then fought to be executed for his crimes because he preferred to die rather than rot in prison, All “details” on this unhappy man are, of course, on the Internet, including several clever personal quotes he “penned”, while behind bars. One of them was “I’ve got problems & if you sentence me to additional time, you will only compound them”. Also, this one :- “We are sentenced to DEATH, on the day we are born” The main reason for “this story” to my eLanka, readers however, is the fact that I “recorded” the song ” Defying Gravity” which was sung by the “Country Great” Waylon Jennings and dedicated to Gary Gilmore who was not ...

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