{"id":7200,"date":"2016-07-17T06:11:00","date_gmt":"2016-07-17T06:11:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/westsongs.uk\/?p=7200"},"modified":"2025-07-09T05:49:51","modified_gmt":"2025-07-09T05:49:51","slug":"swan-plane","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/westsongs.uk\/?p=7200","title":{"rendered":"Swan Plane"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"171\" src=\"https:\/\/westsongs.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/swan2-1024x171.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-7123\" srcset=\"https:\/\/westsongs.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/swan2-1024x171.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/westsongs.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/swan2-300x50.jpg 300w, https:\/\/westsongs.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/swan2-768x128.jpg 768w, https:\/\/westsongs.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/swan2.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-audio\"><audio controls src=\"https:\/\/westsongs.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Swan-Plane.mp3\"><\/audio><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Sorry about the quality of this recording, but nevertheless I wanted to post this song as it means a lot to me. This tune has stuck with me for years and surfaced in several different ways &#8211; this recording is the second version. It was originally written on a harmonium in the South Africa Hare Krishna Temple where I stayed in 1976\/77.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A few years later in London I went into a studio with some friends to make this recording. It&#8217;s hard to imagine, but that was really the only viable way at the time &#8211; no portastudios existed and home recording was just a dream waiting to happen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The friends:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>George&nbsp; Mitchell on guitar, who really gave me the confidence to make it happen.<\/li><li>Warrick Sony on tabla.<\/li><li>Pippa Hardman on vocals.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>I already played with George in the fabulous Fighting Pigeons &#8211; somewhere there are other tracks with him singing which I would dearly love to find, but they may be lost to time now. Warrick was on holiday from South Africa after finishing his national service, emerging from the army as an amazing musician. Pippa, I had heard sing in The Rocky Horror Show (she played Janet at Kings Road &amp; Comedy Theatres), and I just knew her voice was perfect for this song. I don&#8217;t think I&#8217;d&nbsp; have the gall to do it now, but I just asked if she would sing and \u2026 she said yes!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You can hear my other takes on the theme here &#8211; &#8216;<a title=\"Breathing The City\" href=\"https:\/\/westsongs.uk\/?p=7051\">Breathing the city<\/a>&#8216;<br>and here: &#8216;<a title=\"Cherry Blossom\" href=\"https:\/\/westsongs.uk\/?p=6956\">Cherry Blossom<\/a>&#8216;<br>and here: &#8216;<a href=\"https:\/\/westsongs.uk\/?p=7473\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"7473\">It&#8217;s Just The Rain<\/a>&#8216;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Swan bird, they say the gods ride on your wings<br>Remembering ancient lives of ancient kings<br>The man whose power shone just like the sun through clouds<br>The man whose flesh and blood had been devoured by ants<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Swan bird, I saw your shape against the night<br>Telling of the man&#8217;s ascetic fight<br>The man whose breathing ceased and turned the heavens cold<br>The man whose weight increased and changed the planet&#8217;s poles<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Swan bird, your form alights on the lake<br>Swan plane, come for all the planets sake<br>The man who hold our lives is pacified by you<br>The man becomes a giant, becomes as strong as you<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sorry about the quality of this recording, but nevertheless I wanted to post this song as it means a lot to me. This tune has stuck with me for years [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7123,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3],"tags":[],"rishi__cb_customizer_meta":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/westsongs.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7200"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/westsongs.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/westsongs.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/westsongs.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/westsongs.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7200"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/westsongs.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7200\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7552,"href":"https:\/\/westsongs.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7200\/revisions\/7552"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/westsongs.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7123"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/westsongs.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7200"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/westsongs.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7200"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/westsongs.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7200"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}