DROWNING MOON

 

I MADE A CROSS OUT OF STICKS AND BONE
THEN I WALKED TO TOWN
KEPT IT IN A POCKET HID
SO THE DEVIL WOULDN'T SEE IT

I WAS SHIVERING LIKE A DROWNING MOON

TALKED TO A CROW IN A SYCAMORE TREE
HE SAID NOW GO CAREFULLY
'COS I'VE SEEN THE DEVIL WALKING IN FRONT OF THEE
I WAS SHIVERING LIKE A DROWNING MOON

THE DEVIL BETTER BE AWARE
I'M NOT GONNA LET HIM STOP ME
SEEING MY DARLING MARIE
'COS SHE MEANS THE WHOLE DAM WORLD TO ME
AND I'M SHIVERING LIKE A DROWNING MOON

THE CROW SAID HE'D SEEN BETTER MEN THAN ME
THROWN BY THE DEVIL IN THAT DARK COLD STREAM
BUT I FEEL NO FEAR WITH MY CROSS ON MY CHEST
I'LL SEE HER BECAUSE I FEEL BLESSED

THE DEVIL TOOK MY BABY AWAY FROM ME
NOW I'M SHIVERING ALL OVER

 

A local character in the village of Blewbury , Oxon photographed in Victorian times.

This song recorded in Cowley, Oxford on Harmony semi-acoustic and old red Marshall amp. Weird harp playing all my doing. My best attempt yet to grab the Thames Valley Daniel Johnston crown!

What's it about. Well the devil basically. The idea of the talking crow came from a folk tale recounted on'Travellers : Songs, Stories and Tunes from English Gypsies'Lp on Topic. Here the original cover photo .....footnote...my father's mother was originally a Lee...so in the blood....

Also the ending is a very bad memory of The Pirates 'Shakin' All Over' which had resurfaced ( possibly the greatest English Rock n' Roll song ever) and also a trace of Marty Wilde's 'Endless Sleep' which has the refrain 'The sea took your baby from you away' if I remember right. One of the first singles I ever owned which I got from a jumble sale at my Mum's playgroup. This means that my formative influences were Cliff Richard and Frank Ifield as well as Marty!