S E P T E M B E R o S O N G

Paul Simon wrote the line 'I don't know why I write these songs with words that tear and strain to rhyme'; I have often reflected on the brilliance of his work, how, of all writers, his songs are beautifully crafted and lovingly brought to life. If he gets frustrated then I guess other people can too when they try to write songs. September Song is about not being able to create the beauty you can imagine or even just reflect the beauty you can see.

Cambridge, like many places, is stunning in the autumn and there was one morning when the leaves falling from the tree just outside my window fell so slowly and consistently they looked just like an inverted fire. I sat in front of the mic' in the live room with a simple (you know me!) arpeggio sequence and sang and sang until I had the bare bones of what was to become this song. The most cryptic line '…in the autumn we forget…' is simply my clumsy way of expressing the loss and change which is autumn. The slowing down and drawing in of the year.

Paul played piano giving it a different shade of melancholy and with Susie's deep and smoky voice and the double bass it has some of the flavours of jazz but with a folk melody, rhythm and sentiment. D.

SEPTEMBER SONG by DANIEL GOODMAN

This confusing fire where the flames fall down to earth
The world is upside down and in the autumn we forget
The pen within my hand led the ink into its mark
The book upon my lap now lies closed, its verse retired
No solace in these words, no mirror to the beauty here
The paper and the page, the poetry that fails and falls and dies

Can you make me live? Can your words be true?
Can you take this heart? Can you make it new?
Why can I not change all the pain I see?
Why do I do wrong? Is there something wrong with me?
My head is in my hands, the tears fall down my face,
Why do you forgive? Why cover me with grace?
How can I not search all these mysteries?
Forgive my unbelief, help me to believe

Like leaves the questions fall, silent, empty, stilled, untrue
And in my heart I know you will never change and all I have is you

LISTEN to a sample.