https://soundcloud.com/michael-a-duffy/our-townHi everyone, I posted this a couple of weeks back on an international songwriting forum I have been participating in for a while. But, being from the UK, I did think it might be more appreciated or critiqued more aptly by listeners in my own country - well if indeed you are from the UK, and I realise all aren't- and appreciate our industrial heritage. I am wondering if I should work closer to home if I am putting out songs like this! So I am hoping, very much so, that I can also be welcome here in this forum with a seemingly UK heart.
So anyway, I completed this new narrative song which did take quite a while, given its length. It's over 5 mins long, but sometimes it just takes longer to tell a story. But if it makes you nod off, then do let me know!
FYI, I grew up in an old Mill Town in Lancashire UK, quite an industrial place especially at the time. I don't go back there much these days, but a few weeks back I did have to go there for a meeting. I felt like I was in a dream as I drove past many of the old landmarks of the town - which made me remember back to people I used to be with and the things we did together. The upshot, some weeks later, is this song where the town plays the part of a significant backdrop to this little love story. The narrative nature of the song is inspired by old folk songs of the industrial revolution, which were often melancholic, but life was hard back then! But I have tried to give it a modern twist too. Hope you like it anyway, but let me know if the story works for you, thanks.
https://soundcloud.com/michael-a-duffy/our-townLyrics:
Our Town
Well that was our town
Some thought hard to like
Ugly and grey
Still I’d get on my bike
And I’d ride across that town
Past foundries and mills
To bring you stolen daffodils
Well that was our town
It was all that we knew
It was where we belonged
But somehow you outgrew
Its clouded horizon
You wanted new thrills
Far more than stolen daffodils
Daffodils
CHORUS
Oh there is the iron bridge
Where I first took your hand
And there is the factory
That shaped up this man
And there is the church
Where I hoped we would marry
Oh here are the streets
Where I dreamt life would carry on
Ah there’s the canal-side
Where we’d laugh and play
And there’s the old dance hall
Where we’d sway
And you were the girl
Who I hoped to marry
One day you were gone
Didn’t think I could carry on
With these bitter sweet
Memories
With these bitter sweet
Memories
Well that was our town
But you flew afar
And I watched you on TV
Something of a star
All champagne and roses
Beyond your new thrills
Did you dream of stolen daffodils?
Well this is my town
And in time I moved on
When down at the factory
Met kind of someone
And it makes her happy
Just to pay all our bills
Ah no more stolen daffodils
Daffodils
RPT CHORUS
Still this is our town
And all through these years
Fought back disappointment
Fought back a few tears
But there is some worse news
On TV that chills
I dream of stolen daffodils
Well this is our town
And it welcomes you home
In a pale wooden box
Buried under a stone
Taken all too soon
As the old churchyard fills
I bring you stolen daffodils
Daffodils
RPT CHORUS