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.
Des de Moor
voices, keyboards and programming
Simon Walker
electric guitar
This song and its companion 'The Family Way were written quickly early in 1989, and formed a part of the set for the Irresistible Force's Dutch tour. The music was written fairly spontaneously as a product of overtiredness after an all-night recording session; the lyrics were inspired by a newspaper piece about the Palestinian intifada. Simon Walker takes Morris's place on nasty rock guitar.
You may tear them from their groves but surely they will rise again.
A million stars are rising though you try to hide the sky.
You may destroy the body but the spirit will not die.
A day when our shops and schools can open.
A day we can feed our poor.
A day when our children smile -
That's what we're fighting for.
A night when there is no army curfew.
A night we can walk in peace
Forgetting the fear of soldiers
Marching on our streets.
You took the map of history and drew a bloody line
But there's one name you can't erase and that is Palestine.
And now the stars are rising into a pale night sky.
You tried to kill a nation but it's people will not die.
A day when the olive groves are planted
And harvested for our gain
And when we mark the boxes
With our country's name.
A day when the prison cells are emptied.
A day when our youth are free.
A day when the fallen leave the world
With dignity.
A day when we know our children's future
Is held in our people's hands.
A day when our exiles hold again
Their stolen lands.
A day when your squalid camps are emptied.
An end to invaders' law.
A chance to rebuild a nation's
What we're fighting for.
The olive trees are swaying in the gentle summer rain.
You may tear them from their groves but surely they will rise again.
A million stars are rising though you try to hide the sky.
You may destroy the body but the spirit will not die.
Written: Deptford and Camberwell, London, February 1989
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