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Dick says:
If ever we picked the wrong time for a collab ;-) ….... Mark and I have both been absolutely rammed with work over the past few months and neither of us really had time for this. I'd do bits every now and again whenever I had a few spare moments so the song was put together like a jigsaw designed by committee.
I spent a week on the Normandy coast this summer and visited the beaches and some of the cemeteries, particularly the American Military cemetery (my picture above). What got to me most of all was the ages of the dead. Young kids, probably never even got to fire at the enemy. The only thing you can say in its favour is that at least they knew what they were fighting for. The “enemy” is no longer so easily identifiable.........
I had the original idea, Mark came up with the main riff (that I then did to death ;-) ) . I threw some lyrics at Mark and he came back with some more and some great ideas for development of the song. It was great to work with Mark but it's real pity that neither of us had time to really explore what we could have done, but given the circumstances I'm pleased we did as much as we could. Hopefully we'll find time in the future to work on something else and be a bit more focused. At least we had some great Skype conversations :-)
Alan Gentle (who wrote the lyrics for Big Dog) helped me out on the verses I wrote. I told my old mate Graham Hodges (who wrote the words for Top Man) about the project and he threw in a Shakespearian reference to endless winter and then came up with some words as well.
Mark played lead guitar and put some extra vocals in there as well.
The whole thing needs a good polish but neither of us have the time to do it so here it is warts and all :-)
Lyrics: Alan Gentle, Grahame Hodges, Mark and me
Mark says (and he's too modest)
I have long respected Dick's musical abilities. When the chance came to work with him I was like "alright!!!" but then life came along and decided to make things difficult... Dick did the heavy lifting on this tune. We talked initially on skype about where we wanted to go. I was thinking some kind of surf tune but Dick told me about how much the war graveyards affected him during a recent vacation and he convinced me that "summer" didn't mean "sun and surf". Dick's music always has a message and the lyrics he began to pound out certainly tell a story. We bounced them back and forth a bit. I laid down a rough guitar track and he took it from there and laid out the entire song based on that track and his lyrics. Dick brought in a ton of dynamics and additions to the tune... A few days ago he sent me his rough draft and said add whatever I felt. Well dang... the thing was almost done... So I did some backup vocals, a little guitar but really Dick is the artist here everyone!
Dick thanks for working with me! I hope to do it again real soon! Hopefully life for both of us will calm down.
Summer's Lease
Summer of 1944
A Norman beach, forbidding shore
Run from the guns and run some more
At least they knew what they were fighting for
A young man died
Never fired his gun
A mother cried
at what they'd done
How could they take away her son
At least she knew what they were fighting for
Longest winter, longest ever
Grey skies mean it's summer never
Grey dawn grey seas floating waiting
Winter's cold light summer hating
Summer's here but winter's staying
Spring is gone, autumn's delaying
Summer's lease is all too short
Winter's nothing to report
They'll sell a bullet with your name
They're saving you a cross
They can take the profit
And you can take the loss
Jungle wars, new ways to fight
Hidden traps and bamboo spikes
Orange throws a deadly light
And no one knew what they were fighting for
A crowded train, the 8:01
standing room the seats have gone
Easy meat for rucksack bombs
They think they know what they're fighting for
If ever we picked the wrong time for a collab ;-) ….... Mark and I have both been absolutely rammed with work over the past few months and neither of us really had time for this. I'd do bits every now and again whenever I had a few spare moments so the song was put together like a jigsaw designed by committee.
I spent a week on the Normandy coast this summer and visited the beaches and some of the cemeteries, particularly the American Military cemetery (my picture above). What got to me most of all was the ages of the dead. Young kids, probably never even got to fire at the enemy. The only thing you can say in its favour is that at least they knew what they were fighting for. The “enemy” is no longer so easily identifiable.........
I had the original idea, Mark came up with the main riff (that I then did to death ;-) ) . I threw some lyrics at Mark and he came back with some more and some great ideas for development of the song. It was great to work with Mark but it's real pity that neither of us had time to really explore what we could have done, but given the circumstances I'm pleased we did as much as we could. Hopefully we'll find time in the future to work on something else and be a bit more focused. At least we had some great Skype conversations :-)
Alan Gentle (who wrote the lyrics for Big Dog) helped me out on the verses I wrote. I told my old mate Graham Hodges (who wrote the words for Top Man) about the project and he threw in a Shakespearian reference to endless winter and then came up with some words as well.
Mark played lead guitar and put some extra vocals in there as well.
The whole thing needs a good polish but neither of us have the time to do it so here it is warts and all :-)
Lyrics: Alan Gentle, Grahame Hodges, Mark and me
Mark says (and he's too modest)
I have long respected Dick's musical abilities. When the chance came to work with him I was like "alright!!!" but then life came along and decided to make things difficult... Dick did the heavy lifting on this tune. We talked initially on skype about where we wanted to go. I was thinking some kind of surf tune but Dick told me about how much the war graveyards affected him during a recent vacation and he convinced me that "summer" didn't mean "sun and surf". Dick's music always has a message and the lyrics he began to pound out certainly tell a story. We bounced them back and forth a bit. I laid down a rough guitar track and he took it from there and laid out the entire song based on that track and his lyrics. Dick brought in a ton of dynamics and additions to the tune... A few days ago he sent me his rough draft and said add whatever I felt. Well dang... the thing was almost done... So I did some backup vocals, a little guitar but really Dick is the artist here everyone!
Dick thanks for working with me! I hope to do it again real soon! Hopefully life for both of us will calm down.
Summer's Lease
Summer of 1944
A Norman beach, forbidding shore
Run from the guns and run some more
At least they knew what they were fighting for
A young man died
Never fired his gun
A mother cried
at what they'd done
How could they take away her son
At least she knew what they were fighting for
Longest winter, longest ever
Grey skies mean it's summer never
Grey dawn grey seas floating waiting
Winter's cold light summer hating
Summer's here but winter's staying
Spring is gone, autumn's delaying
Summer's lease is all too short
Winter's nothing to report
They'll sell a bullet with your name
They're saving you a cross
They can take the profit
And you can take the loss
Jungle wars, new ways to fight
Hidden traps and bamboo spikes
Orange throws a deadly light
And no one knew what they were fighting for
A crowded train, the 8:01
standing room the seats have gone
Easy meat for rucksack bombs
They think they know what they're fighting for
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Peter Bauckham
Really enjoyed this one. Very well put together.
Peter