Written in the months after my mother’s death. I haven’t created much since we moved here, but sometimes things need to be written, so it was back to the computer and keyboard.
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This is a reworking of a song that appears on the Music from Holy Vale CD. Holy Vale is a very special place on St. Mary’s in the Isles of Scilly. It is right in the centre of the island, and although the sea only a mile or so away it is about as far away as it gets, and it is, of course, only a matter of time …
I wanted to simplify the music a bit and add a few words, without completely reinventing it so it has kept the mandolin and recorder feel. The percussion sounds are quite different to the original.
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The first verses and chorus of this song were written at the time of my father’s death, some of it as I sat by his bedside, some as I walked beside the River Usk in Brecon a few hours later. (If you are interested you can read my version of those events here.) The people named are his brother Don, sister’s Joyce, Joan, Hilda and May, mother Laura, father Charles, and wife Mary.
The rest of the song followed quite quickly, apart from the usual tweaks and alterations that happened during the recording, a few months later. As well as the sadness of the death and its impact on me, I wanted to capture the joy of nostalgia – stories and memories of his life, both his own early memories, and some of my later ones. The river Nene runs through Wisbech, where Dad lived for almost 80 years. As a child he lived right on the riverbank but the river featured throughout his whole life and was the obvious place for his ashes.
Writing songs is clearly how I deal with things – I wrote two when my mum died … ‘Do you still walk?‘ and ‘Before time‘.
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This is the Rain Song, created at the beginning of the year when it was raining … a LOT. Actually I dreamed it – woke up with it rattling round my head.
I actually don’t mind the rain, although some times it can be pretty relentless around here. That said, being on the side of a hill we do get off lightly, however hard it rains, unlike other parts of the UK. January and February 2014 were a particular nightmare for some folks. Despite the flippant tone of The Rain Song we’re not forgetting that here.
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Dance version of ‘Island heart’ from Music from Holy Vale. It’s very laid back but with the piano mantra of the original supported by a drumbeat the whole thing feels much lighter. The vocals are by Amy Clapinson, Ruth Egglestone and Louisa Page from Crediton.
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