Den vilda svanen

Paul Simpson (The Wild Swans) skriver till Caught by the River:

”As you know The Public Bodies Bill that determines the fate of Britain’s woodland goes through parliament today and Caught By the River has been very vocal in its opposition to this Tory act of vandalism. During the The Wild Swans album sessions last year we recorded an epic track (as yet unreleased) called ’The Bluebell Wood’, its lyric now seems uncannily pertinent. I was wondering, if you thought it would serve the cause, and whichever way the vote goes, to give it away as a free download to your subscribers?”

”The bluebell wood” är en fantastisk poplåt (gitarrslingan!) men framför allt är det ett övertydligt exempel på att få artister idag är i närheten av Simpsons lyriska kvalitéer. Simpson har mer gemensamt med den brittiska romantikens främsta poeter – Byron, Shelley, Blake, Keats, Wordsworth och Coleridge – än samtida popartister. Låten kommer också att finnas med på The Wild Swans kommande album.

The bluebell wood
(Simpson) (copyright control 2011)

Once all this was silver birch, Scots pine and English yew
Hawthorn where Aldi stands
Come now, we can plant anew
and crack wide Tesco’s Aisles
with acorns from the ground.

Quintillions of sacred atoms cluster and collide
and the stately homes of England’s stained glass windows testify
the bluebell woods where we once stood are under tarmac now
and the sacred groves, those mighty oaks are dark satanic shopping centres now

Ash and rowan tree and lime
could Albion rebuild
reforest Britain now
Hornbeam and lowly spindle-tree
could burst through Asda’s floors
with acorns from the ground

Quintillions of sacred atoms cluster and collide
and the council homes of England’s plastic windows testify
the bluebell woods where we once stood are under tarmac now
and the sacred groves, those mighty oaks are dark satanic shopping centres now

All my kingdom for a moment more.