Chords for Interview with Philomena Lynott

to Ireland for New Year.
So I said okay.
So when I got to London he had the big
Christmas tree, all the presents, everything was grand.
He had some funny
little toys that you wind up and you leap up and down and he said no they're for
their stockings and everything was great and all of a sudden he just took ill.
And I'd got him a doctor and the doctor gave him some a prescription for to make
his tummy better, he'd been ill.
And it just didn't seem to be getting
any better and I was getting terrible frightened.
And then _ Christmas
Day at about three o'clock, _ _ I wasn't satisfied and we were ringing
around for doctors and Caroline rang to wish me and Philip and the children a
happy Christmas.
And I started crying on the phone and said Caroline,
Philip is not well at all and she said I'll be there in an hour and a half.
And
she arrived and she said she'd already booked to get Philip into a clinic.
And
with that it all happened and they took Philip away.
And then the next morning at
five or six in the morning a police lady [G] came to the door and said Philip wasn't
responding to treatment.
So we had to take off and it was an hour and a half
journey down to where he was.
And we got down there and _ _ well it was awful.
And I
spent from the time we entered the hospital, I never left it until the last.
[G] Was he conscious at all before he died?
Oh he was conscious, he was in the hospital, he
was grand.
Like how can I put it, not so much.
He was just, he was aware, he was
conscious.
We were talking, I'd sit at the end of his bed and I'd be
because it was Christmas time, there wasn't much staff on in hospitals.
Naturally they have to have holiday.
And we'd be putting gowns on and we'd go in
and I'd be washing his eyes and his face and doing all the things.
And the sister had taught me what to do.
I knew he was quite ill and I
I _ _ _ knew he was ill and I kept saying to him, come on love, we'll make it.
You've
got to make it.
I'm not going to leave you, you've got to make it.
And he'd say,
oh ma, I'm sorry ma, you know.
That got me, that one.
_ Do you think he knew
himself at that point?
I think he, _ yes, I think he knew he was quite ill.
_ _ But also
I don't think that he thought he was going to die.
You were extraordinarily
close as a mother and son.
You were more like two buddies, weren't you?
We were, yeah.
He was [C] the best friend [G] and best pal anybody could wish to have, but
especially me.
_ _ [Eb] How do you feel about the music?
Can you listen to his music?
I've been [G] able to listen to any music.
I watch television, movies, you know, the old
movies and things.
But if I see any modern, say I'm flicking on a television
thing to go to different channels, if I see a music program I have to come off
it immediately because I just have to leave the room.
I've had to go out in
the back garden a few times and scream, _ _ get it out of me.
And then I have, there's a
doctor down here in Sutton, Dr.
Kelly, and he came to visit me a few times and he
said to me, _ I haven't got a cure for grief, he said, and especially your grief
being that it's for a young person, he said, but, he said, you've got to be
strong, you've just got to be strong and time will help.
And I thought, no, time
will never help me.
What do you miss most about him, Philomena?
_ Because he was away so
much, I now put it into my head that he is away.
That helps me, that helps me.
But I
do miss the old phone calls.
He used to come on the phone, you know, chat
away to me, but he never put the phone down without saying, I love you, ma.
Yeah.
And I'd say to him, and I love you too, you know.
We were like that.
Or he was a
romantic fool, he used to send me roses all the time, especially on birthdays,
Christmas, and perfumes.
It was great one for buying you beautiful perfumes or
introducing a new perfume that had just come out and he thought it was great.
So
I've got a few bottles left that I'll only use on special occasions that he
bought.
[E] What about the children, have they been [G] a great consolation to you?
Children, once again, when _ _ he'd gone, everybody used to say, but you've got your
grandchildren.
And I used to think, _ _ yes, but it's not enough.
I won't fill it
back. _
_ But I'd like to say now that it is enough.
They help me no end.
When they're here, we do all sorts of funny things.
Do you see [Abm] bits of Philip in them?
Do they sing?
Oh yeah, yeah.
[G] Kathleen and Sarah, they do cabarets for you, you know.
They're into singing and dancing.
They've learned to play the
violin.
_ And _ everybody loves them as bridesmaids because they're so pretty.
And they've been bridesmaids three times this year.
And _ they've been in the Laura
Ashley Christmas catalogue and also the Harper's magazine.
Did they talk about Philip at all?
Yes, they always mention their daddy, just in conversation.
And they say
little things to you.
You get a lump in your throat.
But _ _ I try not to show that
to them because I just want them to be happy.
And when they get older, they
will ask the questions and we'll be able to answer them.
And that, so I've
only just put all his pictures back up around the house because they were
coming.
I wanted, you know.
But this was Philip's room, wasn't it?
This was his study, yeah.
And did he write his songs in here as well?
When he'd be home, yes.
Yeah, he used to
come in here and he'd write and that was his old roll-top desk he bought that years ago.
[Cm] How do you [G] feel about the release of the record yesterday to coincide with the
first anniversary?
Do you feel that it's too soon to release a new record? _
_ _ _ _ Um, well, so long as I don't see it on the television or hear it yet.
I don't, I'm not
able to hear his voice yet or see a video of him yet.
I know it's going to
happen to me one day and, but I have just got strong again.
You know, I went, I
really feel I went to the depths of despair at one time.
_ And now, _ somehow or
other, since Halloween, I rang Caroline and I said, would you let the children come and
spend the Halloween week with me?
And she said yes.
And up to then, I just, I'd nearly
gone out of my mind.
And I went over to the cemetery one day, just a bit, you know,
and I just stood there and I said, Philip, if you need me, I'll come to you because
I'm wasting away.
I said, I can't bear the pain of the loss of you, but _ _ if, I know
you're happy with where you are.
I said, if you can manage without me, so you do,
you talk to, I said, if you can manage without me, I will be strong for the
children and everything.
And I left that cemetery and I come home and I haven't
looked back.
I don't take a sleep in Dublin anymore.
You know, it's, that was
it.
And that prepared me to get over through the sad Christmas.
Now, tomorrow
is his anniversary and I've gone up to the church and we pray and a lot of
friends will be around us.
And please God, each, _ as time goes by, I'll never forget
him.
Well, it's a silly thing to say that, but_
What is your most fond memory of him?
What's the really cherished memory of him?
I've thought about that one.
Father Darcy at the mass
last Monday said, everybody in the church must [F] have a fond memory of Philip, [G] all
his friends, you know.
And I thought, well, my fond memory was the day they put him in
my arms.
That was one, but there's hundreds of others, but that one, it's got to be.
[Gm] One last question.
Are you, do you feel [Gb] any anger at all at the people who gave
[G] him drugs along the way that contributed to his death?
Well, yes. _
How can I put it?
The drug situation is out, it's there and there's many a family going through what
I'm going through and many more will go through it.
_ I _ was terribly angry when it
all happened.
Terribly angry.
I wouldn't speak to any of his friends and this sort
of thing.
But now, the hatred is leaving me, but I think it's terrible that _ more
is not done by governments of countries of the world to stop the drugs getting
through and making some people rich and _ killing