musical instruments
Swim Until You Can’t See Land
We salute at the threshold of the North Sea
in my mind
And a nod to the boredom that drove me here
to face the tide and swim
(Whoaaaa) I swim (Whoaaa) oh swim (Whoaaa)
Dip the toe in the ocean. Oh how it hardens and it numbs.
And the rest of me is a version of man
built to collapse into crumbs
And if I hadn’t come down
To the coast to disappear
I may have died in a land-slide
Of the rocks, the hopes and fears.
So swim until you can’t see land.
Swim until you can’t see land.
Swim until you can’t see land
Are you a man or are you a bag of sand?
Swim until you can’t see land
Swim until you can’t see land
Swim until you can’t see land
Are you a man or are you a bag of sand?
Up to my knees now, do I wait? Do I dive?
The sea has seen my like before though it’s my first
And perhaps last time.
Let’s call me a baptist, call this the drowning of the past
She’s there on the shoreline
Throwing stones at my back
So swim until you can’t see land
Swim until you can’t see land
Swim until you can’t see land
Are you a man or are you a bag of sand?
Swim until you can’t see land
Swim until you can’t see land
Swim until you can’t see land
Are you a man or are you a bag of sand?
Now the water’s taller than me
And the land is a marker line
All I am is a body adrift in water, salt and sky
So swim until you can’t see land
Swim until you can’t see land
Swim until you can’t see land
Are you a man or are you a bag of sand?
Swim until you can’t see land
Swim until you can’t see land
Swim until you can’t see land
Are you a man or are you a bag of sand?
the steelpan gets a new coat of paint
Steelpans may be the friendliest instrument of all – unless you can think of one that’s any friendlier…?
This particular steelpan is not full-sized but still has an incredible sound. It’s tuned diatonically and is a magnet to even the slightly curious. Something about it makes it less intimidating than it is friendly.
It’s not an instrument to be used in every song or arrangement but anytime it’s played it injects the space with its festive mode. It has an easy feel to it, played with small, wooden mallets with rubber tubing on the ends for tips. An old pal showed me how to swirl various sized metal balls around the inside to make a hypnotic sound.
From Wikipedia:
The first instruments developed in the evolution of steelpan were Tamboo-Bamboos, tunable sticks made of bamboo wood. These were hit onto the ground and with other sticks in order to produce sound.
