The Old Man Laughs

This is a song that has been published as a poem at least once. I haven’t recorded it before because rangewise, it’s a bit of a stretch, but I do think it’s a decent tune.

backup:

The Old Man Laughs (Harley)

The old man laughs and the room is that much warmer
for memory puts his one-bar fire to shame
huddled in the afterglow of a younger sun
that burned with a sweeter flame.

He smiles to recall the fertile spring
when the rain on his flesh was soft and warm:
the grass burst into tall green flames
and he held a thousand stars in his arms.

The old man laughs remembering how he chose
a harvest moon to light his lullabies
and offered into fruitful nights
the rose that blossomed behind his eyes.

He smiles, recalling autumn nights
golden leaves and golden days
when the fledglings tried their wings
and flew into the Southern haze.

The old man laughs….

Dives and Lazarus/The Butterfly

A remastered version of an instrumental recorded in an 8-track studio in the 80s, originally as the playout for a song called ‘The Weekends’, which was put to the same ‘Dives & Lazarus’ tune. I need to re-record that song, though. When I say remastered, I’m stretching a point. I don’t have the mix tapes, so could only tweak the mastered version as best I could.

Unfortunately, the mastertapes from those sessions didn’t survive very well. They were restored by baking(no, really) to enable the tracks to be transferred to CD, but the quality was still not what it should be, especially on the slip jig. In particular, the fiddle is harsh and the bodhrán muffled, but it is what it is.

Guitars by me, fiddle by Pete Wilkes, bodhrán by Gail Williams, who also sang the original version of ‘Weekends’, but the vocal track is just too damaged to use.

Backup:

Death of a Marriage

Backup:

Alternative master:

The blinds are down, the locks are changed,
His cases packed and sent:
Some boxes for collection gather dust.
They’re shaking hands like strangers – that’s all that either dares:
It’s just the death of a marriage and there’s no room left for trust.