Reg Barnes Songtext
von Jimmy Barnes

I remember the first day I met Reg Barnes
I was at home and I seen a car pull up out the front of the house
My mum was in the car with this bloke, right, this fella
He didn′t look the fellas that we knew
All the guys we knew, were like mates of my mum and dad's, were Scottish, from Glasgow
They probably looked like me, no you know, they were five foot ten or less

But, this guy, was with her, was six foot six and a half
He was skinny, he had a big nose
I think he was wearing a cardigan, and he looked slightly effeminate
He got out of the ah the car, and walked across the lawn
And I think my dad said something like "Look at that big fuckin′ streak of nothin'"
It was Reg Barnes, right


You know I was a nervous kid and I was, you know, he must've known
He took me by the shoulders right, and looked me straight in the eye and said
"What′s goin′ on, what can I do to help ya, how can I help?"
Ah, my mum worked with his cousins and she was over at their house one day and Reg happened to be there
But ah, Mum was telling them how um, if she didn't find someone to help her with the family
We were gonna be taken away as wards of the state, she said that we were being abused and all this
And Reg Barnes put his hand up and said "I′ll marry ya, I'll look after them"

So anyway, like I said, I was scared of everything by this point
And I had trouble sleeping at night, I′d wake up screaming, you know, having nightmares
And Reg Barnes said to me one day, he said
"I'm gonna go up my mum′s place and get something for ya, right"
So he goes, and he comes back with this, he said "This is a lighthouse
When I was little, you know, I was scared of the dark, and my dad got me this lighthouse
And he told me that lighthouse shines light across the stormy seas, and guides boats into safety"
He said "this lighthouse will do the same for you"
But I kept it on, and I kept it on all the time after that, because it reminded me of Reg

I told ya at the start of the show, I'd tell ya how I became Jimmy Barnes
Well, Jim Swan was my father, but Reg Barnes was my Dad