pdf booklet of lyrics and information
Post on 15-Dec-2016
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TRANSCRIPT
LUKA BLOOM
head & heart
It feels like we’re a dying breed, those of us who love records. We love to record them. We love to buy them. This is how I wish to present my work, and how I wish to experience the work of other singers. Make a record. Buy a record.
Go away for awhile, be quiet, create, and make a record.
As ever, this began with a song.
After hearing Keith Jarret’s stunning instrumental version of ‘My Wild Irish Rose’, I decided to learn the song. A sentimental Irish American song from the 1890s, it was a surprise to me, how much I just loved singing it. Immediately. And of course, this began a process of challenging myself to find songs like this; and maybe even write a few.
I’ve always been a sucker for sad songs. Sad songs make me happy. So, over the next 18 months or so, I learned or wrote about 30 songs. During 2013, I knew this was leading to a record, but there was a problem. Because the songs were simply a joy for me to perform, I could have delivered a record in my sleep. Easy arrangements in a familiar setting … no risk, no danger. Something told me to be patient. Perhaps the songs (and me) needed something fresh, otherwise why bother? Some of these songs have been recorded many times; often brilliantly.
So, don’t bother, unless a fresh feeling for the songs can be found.
Then one day in late November I met my friend Paul G. Smyth outside Tower Records in Dublin. Paul is a great piano player. We got to talking about these songs I had, and the seed was sown for piano involvement in the project. I sent Paul the songs. He voiced his approval and interest, but with typical generosity and humility insisted I needed to work with the Phil Ware trio. Paul suggested I check out the trio’s version of ‘Nobody does it better’ on YouTube.
I did, and was hooked.
Immediately I contacted the lads.
This was new territory for me. I wanted to crete a landscape for the songs which would enhance them, but also somehow expose them in a very naked way.
So came about the mad idea to meet in the studio and instantly record with no rehearsal. Just feel the songs; play them, record them, release them. We met at 11.30am one Friday morning in the new year, and over the next two days recorded about ten songs. Six of the songs on the record come from these two days.
Phil Ware, Dave Redmond, Kevin Brady and myself met each other through these songs, playing live together. No headphones, no overdubs, listening to each other and creating space for each other, and most of all, trying to serve the song.
Of the other six songs on the record, five are solo, and the sixth?
We had decided ‘My Wild Irish Rose’ would be best with just piano, vocal and guitar.
A SHORT NOTE
ABOUT THIS
ALBUM
Booked the studio for another day. On the day, Phil was ill, and couldn’t come in, so Brian Masterson and myself were in the studio in Wicklow wondering what to do …Then in came Paul Wade, who had the task of tuning the piano for Phil. As he was tuning and playing away, I commented to Brian that the piano tuner was also a pretty tasty player.
‘Hey Paul ’, says I, ‘Have you ever been recorded?’ ‘Nope’, says Paul. ‘Would you like to be?’ says I. ‘OK ’, says Paul.
And so, the piano on ‘My wild Irish Rose’ is played by Paul Wade, who was in the building to tune the piano for Phil Ware. Well done Paul!
In making this record, I took a risk I’d never taken before, going to studio with three men I’d never even met, hoping for a meeting of hearts and minds and maybe a little magic. It was one of the most enjoyable experiences of my working life with songs. Thank you Phil, Dave and Kevin for bringing your gifts to the table and helping me find my way into these songs.
Thank you Fiachra and Carmel, and Ivan for making the recording so enjoyable too.
And most of all, thank you Brian Masterson for bringing all you bring, and being all you are. Brian and I started recording together in 1977. We’re beginning to get the hang of it.
Yep it feels like we are a dying breed; we who love to make and buy records. But it is what it is, and we are who we are.
I love records.
I hope you like this one.
HEAD & HEART
Luka Bloom
1_ HEAD AND HEART (john martyn; warlock music, 3.26)
2_ BANKS OF THE LEE (trad; arr luka bloom, 4.13)
3_ EVERY GRAIN OF SAND (bob dylan; special rider music, 4.14)
4_ THE FIRST TIME EVER I SAW YOUR FACE (ewan maccoll; bicycle music, 3.17)
5_ GIVE YOU WINGS (luka bloom; imro ireland / mcps / lukabloom music, 5.02)
6_ GENTLE ON MY MIND (john hartford; acuff-rose music, 3.57)
7_ MY WILD IRISH ROSE (chauncey olcott; arr luka bloom, 4.14)
8_ LONESOME ROBIN (bob coltman; collegium music, 4.12)
9_ AND I LOVE YOU SO (don mclean; songs of universal / benny bird co. inc, 4.13)
10_ LIFFEYSIDE (luka bloom; imro ireland / mcps / lukabloom music, 3.51)
11_ DANNY BOY (weatherly; arr luka bloom, 3.17)
12_ THE JOY OF LIVING (ewan maccoll; bicycle music, 4.16)
www.lukabloom.com
LUKA BLOOM vocals & guitars
PHIL WARE piano
DAVE REDMOND double bass
KEVIN BRADY drums
PAUL WADE piano (on my wild irish rose)
Band tracks recorded at Meadow, County Wicklow:
Engineer; IVAN JACKMAN,
Production Assistant; FIACHRA TRENCH
Solo tracks recorded by BRIAN MASTERSON
at Soundscape Studios, Dublin & Bloom Tunes, Co. Clare
All tracks mixed and mastered by BRIAN MASTERSON,
at Soundscape Studios
Produced by LUKA BLOOM
Cover painting by CHRISTIAN, Fremantle, Western Australia
All photography by MRS REDHEAD PHOTOGRAPHY,
Lahinch, Co. Clare www.mrsredhead-foto.com
Design by SARAH JUNE FOX, Dublin www.sarahjunefox.com
Very special thanks to Paul G. Smyth who introduced
me to the Phil Ware trio
BSCD008© and ® 2014 BigSky RecordsAll rights reserved
HEAD AND HEART
There’s just now way to say how much I love you
You never made me cry and that’s just fine
Only got my fear to put above you
You know we all get scared from time to time
chorus: Love me with your head and heart
Love me from the place it starts
Love me from your head and heart
Love me like a child
There’s just no way to play the things I’m feeling
No way to tell you all the things you need
Every day I only feel like stealing away
To where I know I can be clean
Love me with your head and heart
Love me from the place it starts
Love me from your head and heart
Love me when I’m wild
Laying down the ways to say I need you
Scared of looking tall and feeling small
Running through the days I have decided
Scared of being wrong and that’s it all
Love me …
BANKS OF THE LEE
When two lovers meet down beside the green bower
When two lovers meet down beneath the green tree
When Mary, fond Mary, declared to her lover
“You have stolen my poor heart from the Banks of the Lee”
chorus: I loved her very dearly, so true and sincerely
There was no one in this wide world I loved better than she
Every bush, every bower, every sweet Irish flower
Reminds me of my Mary, on the banks of the Lee.
“Don’t stay out late, love, on the moorlands, my Mary
Don’t stay out late, love, on the moorlands from me”
How little was our notion when we parted on the ocean
That we were forever parted from the Banks of the Lee
chorus
I will pluck her some roses, some blooming Irish roses
I will pluck her some roses, the fairest that ever grew
And I’ll leave them on the grave of my own true lovely Mary
In that cold and silent churchyard where she sleeps ‘neath the dew
1 2
EVERY GRAIN OF SAND
In the time of my confession, in the hour of my deepest need
When the pool of tears beneath my feet flood every newborn seed
There’s a dying voice within me reaching out somewhere
Toiling in the danger and in the morals of despair.
Don’t have the inclination to look back on any mistake
Like Cain, I now behold this chain of events that I must break
In the fury of the moment I can see the master’s hand
In every leaf that trembles, in every grain of sand.
Oh, the flowers of indulgence and the weeds of yesteryear
Like criminals, they have choked the breath of conscience and good cheer
The sun beat down upon the steps of time to light the way
To ease the pain of idleness and the memory of decay.
I gaze into the doorway of temptation’s angry flame
And every time I pass that way I always hear my name
Then onward in my journey I come to understand
That every hair is numbered like every grain of sand.
I have gone from rags to riches in the sorrow of the night
In the violence of a summer’s dream, in the chill of a wintry light
In the bitter dance of loneliness fading into space
In the broken mirror of innocence on each forgotten face.
I hear the ancient footsteps like the motion of the sea
Sometimes I turn, there’s someone there, other time it’s only me
I am hanging in the balance of the reality of man
Like every sparrow falling, like every grain of sand.
3
GIVE YOU WINGS
I hear you with your friends outside
I see you walking through the door
I’d freely give my one last breath
To hold you just once more
People tell me I’m so brave
People ask me to be strong
I fumble through these empty days
Wondering how I’ll carry on
For You
You should always come home
You my child
You should always come home to me
They tell me I should give you wings
They tell me spirits never die
In the brokenness of everything
I sit, and wait, and cry
For You
You should always come home
You my child
You should always come home to me
They tell me I should give you wings
They tell me I should let you go
They tell me I should give you wings
But how?
I don’t know
Someday I might give you
Give you wings
THE FIRST TIME EVER I SAW YOUR FACE
The first time ever I saw your face
I thought the sun rose in your eyes
And the moon and the stars were the gifts you gave
To the dark and the empty skies
The first time ever I kissed your mouth
I felt the earth move in my hands
Like the trembling heart of a captive bird
That was there at my command my love
The first time ever I lay with you
I felt your heart so close to mine
And I knew our joy would fill the Earth
And last, and last, and last till the end of time
The first time ever I saw your face
4 5
GENTLE ON MY MIND
It’s knowing that your door is always open
And your path is free to walk
That makes me tend to leave my sleeping bag
Rolled up and stashed behind your couch
And it’s knowing I’m not shackled
By forgotten words and bonds
And the ink stains that have dried upon some line
That keeps you in the backroads
By the rivers of my mem’ry
That keeps you ever gentle on my mind
It’s not clinging to the rocks and ivy
Planted on their columns now that binds me
Or something that somebody said
Because they thought we fit together walking
It’s just knowing that the world will not be cursing
Or forgiving when I walk along some railroad track and find
That you are moving on the backroads
By the rivers of my mem’ry
And for hours you’re just gentle on my mind
Though the wheat fields and the clothes lines
And the junkyards and the highways come between us
And some other woman crying to her mother
‘Cause she turned and I was gone
I still might run in silence tears of joy might stain my face
And the summer sun might burn me ‘til I’m blind
But not to where I cannot see you walkin’ on the backroads
By the rivers flowing gentle on my mind
I dip my cup of soup back from the gurglin’
Cracklin’ caldron in some train yard
My beard a-rufflin’cold cowl
A dirty hat pulled low across my face
Through cupped hands ‘round a tin can
I pretend I hold you to my breast and find
That you’re waving from the backroads
By the rivers of my mem’ry
Ever smilin’ ever gentle on my mind
6
MY WILD IRISH ROSE
If you listen I’ll sing you a sweet little song
Of a flower that’s now drooped and dead,
Yet dearer to me, yes than all of its mates,
Though each holds aloft its proud head.
Twas given to me by a girl that I know,
Since we’ve met, faith I’ve known no repose.
She is dearer by far than the world’s brightest star,
And I call her my wild Irish Rose.
My wild Irish Rose, the sweetest flower that grows.
You may search everywhere, but none can compare with
my wild Irish Rose.
My wild Irish Rose, the dearest flower that grows,
And some day for my sake, she may let me take the bloom
from my wild Irish Rose.
They may sing of their roses, which by other names,
Would smell just as sweetly, they say.
But I know that my Rose would never consent
To have that sweet name taken away.
Her glances are shy when e’er I pass by
The bower where my true love grows,
And my one wish has been that some day I may win
The heart of my wild Irish Rose.
My wild Irish Rose, the sweetest flower that grows.
You may search everywhere, but none can compare with
my wild Irish Rose.
My wild Irish Rose, the dearest flower that grows,
And some day for my sake, she may let me take the bloom
from my wild Irish Rose.
7
LONESOME ROBIN
Rise up from your bed of straw
See if you can bend that short bow one last time
Speak from your wounds and say you don’t care
You know it’ll prey on your mind
Wherever your arrow it falls to the ground
Lay lonesome Robin down one last time
No more, Robin, no more
Your outlaw days are over
When you were a little boy
You had to go to bed early while the sun still shone
Just like sleep was the end of the world
And tomorrow would never never come
So now lonesome Robin won’t you close your eyes
So that the sun it will rise one last time
No more, Robin, no more
Your outlaw days are over
It’s funny how hot is the sun
Now that you can’t run away from the city
Just lie there and think of the deer you have run
And of all the games that you’ve played
And wondering what Marian’s bound to do that’s better
Than coming to see you one last time
No more, Robin, no more
Your outlaw days are over
And time’s taken your time away
Time and deceptions have whittled you down
All of the times that ever you had
Have took to their heels and run
Hold on to whatever is closest to you
That’s all lonesome Robin can do one last time
No more, Robin, no more
Your outlaw days are over
8
AND I LOVE YOU SO
And I love you so
The people ask me how
How I’ve lived till now
I tell them I don’t know
I guess they understand
How lonely life has been
But life began again
The day you took my hand
And yes, I know how lonely life can be
The shadows follow me
And the night won’t set me free
But I don’t let the evening get me down
Now that you’re around me
And you love me too
Your thoughts are just for me
You set my spirit free
I’m happy that you do
The book of life is brief
And once a page is read
All but love is dead
That is my belief
9
And yes, I know how loveless life can be
The shadows follow me
And the night won’t set me free
But I don’t let the evening get me down
Now that you’re around me
And I love you so
The people ask me how
How I’ve lived till now
I tell them I don’t know
LIFFEYSIDE
The sweet smell of gorse in the summer
The touch of blue mountain so near
The bloodrush of horses at sunrise
The song of the old oak I hear
Your bluebelled woodlands I’ve rambled
I’ve seen swallows preparing to fly
Rested my tired old heartaches
In a cradle below your big sky
And oh the Liffeyside
Noble river, flows so free
No matter where I wander
You are home to me
Sometimes this world makes me weary
I see troubles all over the land
Pollardstown’s long grassy breezes
Remind me where goodness began
The sweet smell of gorse in the summer
The touch of blue mountains so near
The bloodrush of horses at sunrise
The song of the old oak I hear
And oh the liffeyside
Noble river, flows so free
No matter where I wander
You are home to me
DANNY BOY
Oh Danny Boy the pipes, the pipes are calling
from glen to glen and down the mountain side
The summer’s gone and all the roses dying
‘tis you ‘tis you must go and I must bide
But come ye back when summer’s in the meadow
or when the valley’s hushed and white whith snow
‘Tis I’ll be there in sunshine or in shadow
Oh Danny Boy, Oh Danny Boy I love you so
And when ye come and all the flowers are dying
If I am dead, as dead I well may be
You’ll come and find the place where I am lying
And kneel and say an Ave there for me
And I shall hear tho’ soft you tread above me
And all my grave will warmer sweeter be
If you will bend and tell me that you love me
Then I shall sleep in peace until you come to me
10 11
THE JOY OF LIVING
Farewell you northern hills, you mountains all goodbye
Moorland and stony ridges, crags and peaks goodbye
Glyder Fach farewell, Cul Beag, Scafell, cloud-bearing Suilven
Sun warmed rock and the cold of Bleaklow’s frozen sea
The snow and the wind and the rain of hills and mountains
Days in the sun and the tempered wind and the air like wine
And you drink and you drink till you’re drunk on the joy of living
Farewell to you my love, my time is almost done
Lie in my arms once more until the darkness comes
You filled all my days, held the night at bay, dearest companion
Years pass by and they’re gone with the speed of birds in flight
Our life like the verse of a song heard in the mountains
Give me your hand then love and join your voice with mine
We’ll sing of the hurt and pain and the joy of living
Farewell to you my chicks, soon you must fly alone
Flesh of my flesh, my future life, bone of my bone
May your wings be strong, may your days be long, safe be your journey
Each of you bears inside of you the gift of love
May it bring you light and warmth and the pleasure of giving
Eagerly savour each new day and the taste of it’s mouth
Never lose sight of the thrill and the joy of living
Take me to some high place of heather, rock and ling
Scatter my dust and ashes, feed me to the wind
So that I will be part of all you see, the air you are breathing
I’ll be part of the curlew’s cry and the soaring hawk
The blue milkwort and the sundew hung with diamonds
I’ll be riding the gentle wind that blows through your hair
Reminding you how we shared in the joy of living
12
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