Adelaide, Education, and Life

Wednesday, May 05, 2021

Song #7 From Loneliness to Home

More bleating about being alone. I do remember feeling lonely for a very long time but it’s tiresome to track this ongoing theme decades later! 1976 - still in England but clearly going home soon and looking forward to it. Already picturing flying in over Adelaide “nestled between the hills and the sea.”

I can still play this song – it’s still in the memory. Not a bad tune actually – sounds much better than it reads 😊

FROM LONELINESS TO HOME

I never thought I’d feel this alone

And I’ve got to say that I – I want home

I’m on my own – it’s happened again

But I’m not one to stand around and cry

You can wait a long time till the tears are dry

So I’ll take to the air for the journey home

See see my home town

Nestled between the hills and the sea

Safe and secure like my dreams and me

I’ve been here so long I don’t know what’s going on

Sitting her watchin’ and thinkin’ ‘bout not much at all

Wonderin’ if I’m the only one

Who wonders why the sun goes down

And comes up again at dawn

I’ve been here too long – I don’t know what’s going on

1976

Sunday, April 25, 2021

Song #6 Wanderin' Around

I’m now in England. I’m still feeling lonely and as I backtrack down this memory lane it’s clear that the break-up with my first real girlfriend had a huge impact on me. Two years on and I’m still dreaming I might bump into her on the other side of the world.

But this song also reveals how being in the UK sparked something inside of me and I start to contemplate the fact that somehow or rather I’m connected to ‘this rainy, windy, land.”

Though the song was written in England the ending may have been added when I was back in Australia. I stayed away for 14 months.

Interestingly this is the oldest song that I still play so it has stood the test of time. Very much a folk song with obvious influence from the English folk tradition. And I’d learnt to pick!

WANDERIN’ AROUND (Listen HERE)

I wandered around in the great outdoors

Met a lover who was past dead and gone

Found a stone and carved my name

Thought a lady may pass there alone

Starlit night and a rock’n’rollin’ beat

The trees go wilting in the night

People danced while others drank and sang

It was cold and a Saturday night

CHORUS

While the sun looked down

Knockin’ you up town

To the pub, or a beach, or a lady’s arms

And you stroll over surf in your surfboard dreams

And never gave a thought to nature’s harms

In the eyes of the world

You’re a child gone astray

But your only concern was today

Walked on strong while feelin’ insecure

You’re just home – things are lookin’ newer

Take it in and sus it all about

Your accent’s showing and it’s pure

English, Welsh, and Irish in there too

If only those Celts has been fewer

With their crosses and their reels

And their stubborn present pride

It’s not easy to tell how you feel

You sprung from these people in this rainy windy land

Think I’ll float home on the next high tide