Bells 'n Whistles

If life were all bells and whistles we would all go jangling along wherever we walked. Not anybody could surprise a thing, not even a deaf horse could be unaware of your trumpeting attempt at sneaking up to it. I guess that’s why the world ain’t all bells and whistles, some of us have maracas and harps. Me? I’d like to think I’ve got a clarinet; overwanted but not that interesting once you get to know it. I wouldn’t mind trying out the flute one day; beautiful, soft but you got to blow into it just right to make it work. There’s a knack I’ve heard, one that either you work hard to learn or you’re just lucky enough to be born with. The drums would be pretty unfortunate; banging away at the back unseen in the same rhythm day after day with nobody really noticing how you’re keeping the whole thing together. The flutes they’re pretty and all; a bit of glitz and glam and that’s what people see, but really they just add frills. That’s how it is; flutes at the front, drums at the back, with everyone grouped together with their own kind. A clarinet doesn’t get to sit with a flute any old day and how the order of the world be ruined if someone happens to glimpse the drummer. I doubt the flutists ever look back. In the end the world ain’t all bells and whistles and even a deaf horse wouldn’t know the difference between a trumpet and a triangle. We just got to jangle along at our own pace, in our own sneaky way, trying to remember that there’s tambourines, trombones and violins all around us playing their own beautiful sounds.