Instrumental – David Harley Words & Music

Moonflow instrumental

My instrumental Moonflow was written and recorded in Ludlow, using Garageband on a MacBook. Originally it was a short, improvised introduction to a recording of Bert Jansch’s Needle of Death. Later, I thought the instrumental introduction was interesting enough to stand as a tune in its own right. (And I’m not at all biased.) That recording of Bert’s song hasn’t been released commercially, by the way.

The acoustic guitar that comprises the first section is actually the entire improvised introduction to Bert’s song. The second and third sections are the same section, but electronically tweaked and with overdubbed instruments.

This is the version that was released as a single. It also got a mention in my book So Sound You Sleep. If it matters, acoustic guitar was a Gibson J160E, the slide guitar was a Gretsch Bobtail round-neck resonator guitar, and the electric guitar was a Variax Standard impersonating a Coral Sitar and then (if I remember correctly – it was quite a few years ago and I didn’t make a note at the time!) a Rickenbacker 370. And if it doesn’t matter, feel free to disregard the previous sentence.

Recording:

Acoustic, resonator and electric guitars by David Harley.

Additions to Selective Symmetry Substack

Information about two new sections to my Substack publication Selective Symmetry: one specializing in music, the other in verse. There will be others, since it occurs to me that not everyone who is interested in some of my output will want to read all of it!

Fairy Gold again (much more guitar…)

Words and music by David Harley.

Still needing work, but now with a fuller guitar accompaniment, and an instrumental improvisation that may find its way into the final version. (But only if I decide to speed up the song.)

There are many stories about Wild Eadric or Edric, his defiance toward the Norman invaders and eventual capitulation (seemingly historical fact); his marriage to a fairy princess; his imprisonment in the Shropshire Hills, emerging when England is in peril, and his association with the Wild Hunt. The Devil has long been associated with Shropshire, too, the Devil’s Chair being a rock formation on the Stiperstones.

The lyric arose from a sour conviction that in the 21st century we are in as much danger from the misdeeds of politicians and oligarchs, the rise of social media misinformation, and a badly broken electoral system, as we are from dictators in other countries. Like the witches and demons who select their king before the Devil’s Chair on the longest night of the year, it sometimes seems we are only allowed bad electoral choices.

The words have changed slightly since the original recording, as I wanted to make them less UK-centric. I’d like to think that in an age of incoming global catastrophe (and I don’t only mean Trump’s promise to abolish voting), Aedric’s remit might have widened.

In stately halls the dreams are bought and sold
The promises will melt like fairy gold,
While high up there among the Shropshire Hills
Wild Eadric sleeps, his bride beside him still:
Satan sits upon his midnight throne
In judgement on their archaic flesh and bone

The spirits summoned to the Devil’s Chair
Elect their leaders for the coming years.
The Devil surely looks on with a grin
As we condone the enemies within:
The conmen and their masters far and near,
Still feed upon our misery and fear.

Where is the Wild Hunt now? What will it take
To rid this world of devilry and hate?

The song:

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The improvisation:

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