Abraham John Waian (1944-2012)
John Waian was his show name
pronounced John Wayne he liked
the joke/confusion, i first heard him
playing your song on Cinco de Mayo
in nineteen eighty one
for a street dance celebration
John was a regular at the Drifter
until they banned Rock n Roll
(we rock’n’rollers didn’t drink enough)
oh Sloopy, wish you’d have heard him
singing “Take another little piece of my heart”
and seen him, between lights and stage smoke
ending Janis’ song on bended knee
he asked me to dance and we did
for a few months and here, now
are the stories he told me:
Hang on Sloopy:
you were the girl next door
(both pre-teens)
with a mother who dressed you
pretty, with a long pony tail
when sitting side by side he asked
you to let your hair down, you did
he softly cuffed his hands
and fluffed the ends and oh
it made him feel So good
he wrote this song for you
Fever:
a teenage boy in love with his teacher
If Loving You Is Wrong I Don’t Wanna Be Right:
a 16 year old babysitter…
he had two little children, a wife
and included her in family outings
to a California beach, he told me
his desire for you was only to look
not touch, but his wife asked who
the song was about – he told
she divorced him for this, said she
when John died one month and one day ago
i googled his name with Sloopy to sadly find
credits for his songs live elsewhere
don’t know
if he lied or sold his copyrights
it don’t matter to me
it don’t matter to him now
R.I.P. John Abraham