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Description
This is one of the songs that's going on my forthcoming album, a tweaked mix of a song I originally did a year or so ago while I was still working with mandolinquent. It features me on vocals, piano, 12-string guitar, celtic harp and MIDI drums, with a sprinkle of mandolin and violins by mandolinquent.
I originally wrote it in a kind of stream of consciousness based on an image I had in my head, and only had a vague idea what it was about. Since then I've decided it's about someone who has to leave a place they love very dearly to go and serve in the First World War, without knowing whether or not they'll ever come back. "Ring o' roses" was a slang term in the trenches for shrapnel wounds.
It's a rare appearance by the harp on one of my songs because although it's a gorgeous-sounding instrument it's an absolute bugger to play. :)
Words and music by Rebsie
© Rebsie Fairholm 2007
I originally wrote it in a kind of stream of consciousness based on an image I had in my head, and only had a vague idea what it was about. Since then I've decided it's about someone who has to leave a place they love very dearly to go and serve in the First World War, without knowing whether or not they'll ever come back. "Ring o' roses" was a slang term in the trenches for shrapnel wounds.
It's a rare appearance by the harp on one of my songs because although it's a gorgeous-sounding instrument it's an absolute bugger to play. :)
Words and music by Rebsie
© Rebsie Fairholm 2007
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Lyrics
I wish I could swim the river
(Singing for a ring of roses
Shrapnel beads are raindrops that fall)
I wish I could breathe it forever
(Clustering down from a glowering sky
Crater to crater the trespassers crawl)
Behind the green rimmed mirror
Postcards pinned to the wall
Come unstuck at the edges
And the night starts to fall
Changes are gathering quickly
In from the western sky
He watches through the round window
Fast moving clouds going by
I wish I could swim the river
(Singing for a ring of roses
Shrapnel beads are raindrops that fall)
I wish I could breathe it forever
(Clustering down from a glowering sky
Crater to crater the trespassers crawl)
The house murmurs on its foundations
As a passing train
Rattles the blue and white china
Above the noise of the rain
(Singing for a ring of roses
Shrapnel beads are raindrops that fall)
I wish I could breathe it forever
(Clustering down from a glowering sky
Crater to crater the trespassers crawl)
Behind the green rimmed mirror
Postcards pinned to the wall
Come unstuck at the edges
And the night starts to fall
Changes are gathering quickly
In from the western sky
He watches through the round window
Fast moving clouds going by
I wish I could swim the river
(Singing for a ring of roses
Shrapnel beads are raindrops that fall)
I wish I could breathe it forever
(Clustering down from a glowering sky
Crater to crater the trespassers crawl)
The house murmurs on its foundations
As a passing train
Rattles the blue and white china
Above the noise of the rain
Your description brought back memories of my grandfather who came to America from Ireland and ended up fighting in the war. In 2003, when attending the funeral of one of his daughters, his remaining daughter showed me for the first time pictures of him and his fellow soldiers that were taken in the trenches. They looked so young but with old eyes.