Jason Khaw

Written and composed by Jason Khaw
Jason Khaw : vocals, guitars
Phil Sheppard : bass
For Mags.

Lucky Magnolia
In June 2021, a ferocious storm hit the Dandenong Ranges, Australia. It was about 5am when neighbour Mick phoned, waking me up. Our cottage was hit by a tree, he said. I risked Covid travel restrictions and drove over. It was like a war zone. 5 huge eucalypts were resting on their sides in the property. One of them had hit the woodshed, landed right in the middle and folded its steel roof into a “V”. The largest tree hit the house, a branch penetrated the roof. Pause. Rewind 8 years. The magnolia tree in our garden was gravely ill when we first met. Every winter I would feed it with nutrition, rest my hands on its waist and plead with Mags (we nickname our closest friends) to not die on us. On the 3rd spring, Mags recovered and bloomed. Its white flowers would grace our garden every spring thereafter. Unpause. The huge tree that hit the house had a trunk that branched into two at the top, like a “Y”. Mags which was in the path of the tree’s fall, survived a direct hit by being nestled right between the two arms of the “Y”. You cannot get luckier than that! So, I started writing a song for Mags. Much later on a visit to check on repairs, I found Mags lying in the garden, roots exposed. Dead. Mags had to be removed while the fence was being repaired, he said. I was devastated again. This time the hurt is much deeper. Mags was lucky but all the luck in the world could not evade the incomprehensibility of man.