Photographs in Empty Houses
One of 9 original songs, 1 instrumental piece, 2 covers and 2 theatre songs on my first musical cabaret album.
More details.
Sarah Collins
piano
Des de Moor
voice
Marcus Holdoway
cello
The theatre work was probably the biggest factor that inspired me to return to solo work and the dramatic singer-songwriter style. And just as the Falklands War had acted as an inspirational spur back in 1982 when I recorded A Bloody Row, so did the Gulf War almost a decade later. My initial response was 'Scorchmark in the Sand', collaged together from contemporary radio broadcasts as the war raged and also recorded on Photographs in Empty Houses (although not shown in the lyrics section since it doesn't have lyrics as such). A later, more considered, response, turned out to be the second songwriting watershed, and appropriately closes the album: 1991's 'Aeroplanes', in which I tried to widen my compositional vocabulary with elements of lieder and jazz. The acoustic instruments, courtesy of Sarah and Marcus, provide a final breath of fresh air after the wall-to-wall samples.
Flew low above the leafy lanes,
Above the farms and fields and hills.
They rattled pots on windowsills.
Their hulls were bright with painted eyes
To sight their targets from the skies.
What crimes, what ill-begotten gains
Could raise the wings of aeroplanes?
How do you view an aeroplane?
What does it bring to mind?
A flight to Greece, a flight to Spain,
A fortnight to unwind?
A Spitfire or a Hurricane
In wars of yesteryear?
Or do you hear an aeroplane and fear?
It's crossed our minds we'll meet our fate
In skies above, but contemplate
Instead the view from lower eyes
That turn above to watch the skies
As warplanes' wings from Northern lands
Cast shadows on the desert sands.
Your eyes may widen now with dread
At vultures circling overhead.
How do you view an aeroplane?
What does it bring to mind?
A flight to Greece, a flight to Spain,
A fortnight to unwind?
A Spitfire or a Hurricane
In wars of yesteryear?
Or do you hear an aeroplane and fear?
The birds of prey are on the wing.
Their claws can scratch, their spit can sting
And worse, their droppings drop you dead.
The dream's untrue. I wake instead
To find the nightmare demon flies
To stake its claim in Southern skies
And from the West the cries of war
Are calling aeroplanes to fly once more.
Written: Deptford, London, May 1991
Words |
Music |
© Copyright Des de Moor 1992
From the album Photographs in Empty Houses (see left).
All rights reserved. No material on these pages can be reproduced in whole or in part in any form, except for short passages for the purpose of quotation or review, without prior written permission of the copyright owner.
More lyrics |
Holy Water
The Family Way
A Million Stars
Fear of Bodily Fluids
Out of Step
Open the window softly (Brendan Behan; Mikis Theodorakis)
L'Ivrogne (Jacques Brel; François Rauber/Gérard Jouannest)
The Same Old Game
Under the Needle
Old Anne's Song (Christopher Logue, adapted from Bertolt Brecht; Des de Moor)
Picnic in the Free World
Adjusted
I saw the sun (August Strindberg translated by Jonas Finlay; Des de Moor)
Aeroplanes
Lyrics Index