Writing Home
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Mum says hello
Her leg is bad
We had to go to the hospital
There’s been some snow
The worst that we’ve had
They closed the road to the capital
Mum keeps singing
One of her strange old songs
We don’t know where she gets them from.
She sings…
When I am gone, let the rain fall
Let the moss grow and the lichen
Let the wind blow, Let the earth turn
Let the barley ripen
John got a job
In Appledown’s store
He’s spent all his pay on his girlfriend
Or not spent but robbed;
She always wants more.
But Mum says he’ll come right in the end.
She sings… CHORUS
It’s been so long.
When will you come?
Maybe some time in the New Year?
I know it’s hard.
Hope nothing’s wrong?
Mum says there’ll always be room here.
She sings… CHORUS
Steve: I fell in love with Maurice’s lyrics the moment I saw them. So simple, yet somehow heartbreaking and with something haunting and unspoken about the story behind it. He sent over an acoustic version with very straight chords, sung quite intensely like a folk ballad.
I began to hear something else… I had this groove floating around for a while:
Somehow the idea of repurposing it (and changing the time signature) to fit the chorus of “Writing Home” seemed to be a good one. And it worked! So I replaced the bridge and chorus musically, sang it in a much more intimate way, and we had something pretty special.
Leo Abrahams added some tasty electric guitar right at the end of the process, giving it that lift it needed.
It’s my favourite song on the album.
