My Narrow Home by Peter Clement © 2020 Performed by Peter Clement My home it may be narrow But I have all I need My destination’s up to me The view it changes constantly I live my life completely free In my narrow home (You see) I awoke one morning And something dawned on me What I did and what I had Left me empty, left me sad Surely things couldn’t be as bad In my narrow home I looked around my modern house And cast a critic’s eye Realised with little doubt There wasn’t much I cared about And many things I could do without In my narrow home So I downsized – only kept The few things I would need Sold the rest and bought my boat Sent my friends a goodbye note And so began my life afloat In my narrow home My home it may be narrow But I have all I need My destination’s up to me The view it changes constantly I live my life completely free In my narrow home Passers-by on the towpath say hello but they can’t know that I could never feel alone, as long as I am free to roam ….. in my narrow home…. If old friends come to visit We spend a pleasant day They enjoy the novelty The tales they hear the things they see Then they go and leave me be In my narrow home Notes from the song writer : My brother lives on a narrow boat and I love going to visit him and see how he has pared things down until he really does have ‘all he needs’ – just laid out in a snug and economical linear fashion. We also have an acquaintance who sold her house and moved to live on a canal boat and she recalls what a liberating experience it was - having to determine what she actually needed to furnish her new floating home. She also mentions that she is no longer tempted to buy items she thinks she might need until she has really considered where she is going to put them – and most times she concludes the possible purchase is something she really can ‘do without’. Pete Clement