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LUCY (1993)
I TRAVELL’D among unknown men,
In lands beyond the sea;
Nor, England! did I know till then
What love I bore to thee. ‘Tis past, that melancholy dream!
Nor will I quit thy shore
A second time; for still I seem
To love thee more and more.
Among thy mountains did I feel
The joy of my desire;
And she I cherish’d turn’d her wheel
Beside an English fire.
Thy mornings show’d, thy nights conceal’d,
The bowers where Lucy play’d;
And thine too is the last green field
That Lucy’s eyes survey’d.
SHE dwelt among the untrodden ways
Beside the springs of Dove,
A Maid whom there were none to praise
And very few to love:
A violet by a mossy stone
Half hidden from the eye!
Fair as a star, when only one
Is shining in the sky.
She lived unknown, and few could know
When Lucy ceased to be;
But she is in her grave, and oh,
The difference to me!
A SLUMBER did my spirit seal;
I had no human fears:
She seem’d a thing that could not feel
The touch of earthly years.
No motion has she now, no force;
She neither hears nor sees;
Roll’d round in earth’s diurnal course,
With rocks, and stones, and trees.
Words: William Wordsworth
January 12th, 2010 at 2:16 pm
Quality poem and song to accompany.
January 12th, 2010 at 2:17 pm
I met Neil Hannon in the smoking area at Bill Bailey. Which was nice.
January 12th, 2010 at 9:22 pm
I interviewed him when the Duckworth Lewis Method album came out. Just naturally a funny/ interesting/literate guy. Made my job very easy.
This track is one I remember from when I was a kid listening to Dave Fanning, such incredible lyrics. Was only slightly less impressed when I realised later that Wordsworth rather than Hannon had written them.
http://www.eoinbutler.com/interviews/i-really-admire-any-game-that-can-go-on-for-five-days-and-not-produce-a-winner/
January 13th, 2010 at 8:43 pm
Great interview. If you can banish the worst excesses of the Britpop era from your mind (National Express, anyone?) Hannon is a really great artist as well as obviously a very interesting guy.