I
built a bridge but the bridge fell down
 |
| "After The Battle", Prashker, 2013 |
I
lit a candle but the light went out
I
found a road but it led nowhere
Turn,
turn again
Turn,
turn, turn again
Turn
around my friend
When
every cause is lost
And
dust returns to dust
Turn
to the rain and the wind
If
I have hurt you please forgive my sins
I
swear that someday I will make amends
My
hands are open but they clutch at wind
Turn,
turn again
Beyond
the wasteland there must be some hope
Is
that a fire is it only smoke
I'll
hang my faith now upon reason's rope
And
turn, turn again
Out
in the desert where the jackals howl
Out
in the jungle where the cheetahs growl
Or
in the city where hyenas prowl
Turn,
turn again
I
found this is a notebook, twenty years after I’d written and completely
forgotten about it. At first glance, forgetting it for another twenty years
seemed the most sensible response, but on reflection I rather like its naivety
and it generates a lot of inward intensity when you sing and play it, which
validates almost anything for me. The punch-line is again Dylan, straight theft
(click here for the
Dylan); but then Dylan stole it from Shakespeare (Feste in “Twelfth Night”)
and Shakespeare stole almost everything he wrote, so he can say where the real
copyright belongs. Plus Dylan also admitted the melody wasn’t his; he stole it
from a guy called Paul Clayton, but probably Clayton got it from an old
Scottish ballad called “The
Two Sisters”. Hints of Leonard Cohen’s Bird On The Wire in the second
verse. Did Neil Young have an impact on the opening? I can’t remember. Who
really cares anyway? A song is a song, and not just a collection of influences
and derivations. It works or it fails to work. This one ultimately fails, but it
does so quite pleasantly. I have thrown out literally dozens of songs that didn’t
meet the undefinable benchmark of intuition, sending them to the wasteland where
they belonged; this one somehow survived, and perhaps I knew it would when I
gave it that Eliotesque title.
You can find David Prashker at:
If
you would like to include "Beyond The Wasteland" in your repertoire,
either for paid public performance or to record for commercial
purposes, or if you would like to re-use the recording attached to this
blog-page for commercial purposes, contact
argaman@theargamanpress.com.
Use of this song, and/or this recording, for
non-commercial purposes, is not simply permitted but invited.
Words and music by David Prashker
Copyright © 2014 David Prashker
All rights reserved
The Argaman Press
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