SEA GREEN SAMPHIRE
Sea Green Samphire is a music project for which I write most of the songs and arrangements, under my group name, Sea Lily Samphire. It was created for the Jurassic Coast collection, Ammonite Dreams, which is a work in progress.
AMMONITE DREAMS
Sample tracks from Ammonite Dreams. The Moon and the Wave features Tony Swettenham, who wrote and played mellotron.
LYRICS AND NOTES
AMMONITE DREAMS
Ammonite wreaths lie in circles, beneath your lost feet
As you wander alone
Curling and furling, and leaving behind this cold world
For a heart made of stone
Spiralling inwards
When once they grew outwards
They teem
Reaching out for a dream
Labyrinth dreams of the forgotten streams
Of the sand and the rocks and the shore
Hiding away as they wait for the day
Of a sea that’s returning no more
Lost memory
Of a tropical sea
Comes alive
Ebbs away with the tide
Circles decreasing, humanity ceasing
To care for the withering world
The future forsaken, lost eras awaken
And whisper a warning unheard
Locked in eternity
Rock singularity
Still
Till the thunderclouds spill
Storm crashing tumbling, rocky shrouds crumbling
Creatures fall forward in time
Arriving at last. from a far distant past
To a future of yours and of mine
Spiralling inwards
When once they grew outwards
They ride
Wash away on the tide.
This began on a dismal Christmas day, of torrential rain and floods, when I’d been hoping to travel to Lyme but was prevented by the weather. It is about the ammonite graveyard on Monmouth beach, of the hundreds of fossils in the bedrock, and the lost world in which they lived. And a stark reminder of the world today, and the abuse and destruction caused by mankind.
There were many species of ammonite, most of which grew outwards in a spiral, forming new chambers. As the fossils erode, sometimes they appear as raised circles of outer parts of the spirals, or as intricate patterns of calcite shell and chambers, exposed in cross section. In addition to the fossils in the bedrock there are many more in the cliffs above. As it erodes, with time and storms, they fall down to the beach.
Boxing day was beautiful and I visited the fossil beach.
Ammonite wreaths lie in circles, beneath your lost feet
As you wander alone
Curling and furling, and leaving behind this cold world
For a heart made of stone
Spiralling inwards
When once they grew outwards
They teem
Reaching out for a dream
Labyrinth dreams of the forgotten streams
Of the sand and the rocks and the shore
Hiding away as they wait for the day
Of a sea that’s returning no more
Lost memory
Of a tropical sea
Comes alive
Ebbs away with the tide
Circles decreasing, humanity ceasing
To care for the withering world
The future forsaken, lost eras awaken
And whisper a warning unheard
Locked in eternity
Rock singularity
Still
Till the thunderclouds spill
Storm crashing tumbling, rocky shrouds crumbling
Creatures fall forward in time
Arriving at last. from a far distant past
To a future of yours and of mine
Spiralling inwards
When once they grew outwards
They ride
Wash away on the tide.
This began on a dismal Christmas day, of torrential rain and floods, when I’d been hoping to travel to Lyme but was prevented by the weather. It is about the ammonite graveyard on Monmouth beach, of the hundreds of fossils in the bedrock, and the lost world in which they lived. And a stark reminder of the world today, and the abuse and destruction caused by mankind.
There were many species of ammonite, most of which grew outwards in a spiral, forming new chambers. As the fossils erode, sometimes they appear as raised circles of outer parts of the spirals, or as intricate patterns of calcite shell and chambers, exposed in cross section. In addition to the fossils in the bedrock there are many more in the cliffs above. As it erodes, with time and storms, they fall down to the beach.
Boxing day was beautiful and I visited the fossil beach.
THE MOON AND THE WAVE
I am the wave that hears you call
Pull me close then let me fall
I am the wave that gives you all
Pull me close then let me fall
Away
Round and round the Earth you dance
Day and night, sweet romance
Hold out your hand
Hold out your hand
To me
I am the sea that reaches land
Trickles back across the sand
I am the sea that takes your hand
Rise and fall at your command
Each day
Round and round the Earth you dance
Day and night, sweet romance
Hold out your hand
Hold out your hand
To me
I am the ocean strong and deep
Lift me high then let me weep
I am the ocean strong and deep
Lift me high then let me seep
Away
Round and round the Earth you dance
Day and night, sweet romance
Hold out your hand
Hold out your hand
To me
Hold out your hand
Hold out your hand
To me.
A friend asked me to write a song about the Moon and the sea and the Earth, and how they affect each other. I offered two suggestions and he chose the other one because it fitted his project better. Then I sat on Monmouth beach and saw the crescent moon over the sea, and finished writing this one.
I am the wave that hears you call
Pull me close then let me fall
I am the wave that gives you all
Pull me close then let me fall
Away
Round and round the Earth you dance
Day and night, sweet romance
Hold out your hand
Hold out your hand
To me
I am the sea that reaches land
Trickles back across the sand
I am the sea that takes your hand
Rise and fall at your command
Each day
Round and round the Earth you dance
Day and night, sweet romance
Hold out your hand
Hold out your hand
To me
I am the ocean strong and deep
Lift me high then let me weep
I am the ocean strong and deep
Lift me high then let me seep
Away
Round and round the Earth you dance
Day and night, sweet romance
Hold out your hand
Hold out your hand
To me
Hold out your hand
Hold out your hand
To me.
A friend asked me to write a song about the Moon and the sea and the Earth, and how they affect each other. I offered two suggestions and he chose the other one because it fitted his project better. Then I sat on Monmouth beach and saw the crescent moon over the sea, and finished writing this one.
THE WIDE GREEN SEA
I hear the calls from across the sea
Rising and falling with the waves
The false promises that urge my feet
To leave the cobbled streets behind
And venture past the harbour
The barnacled boats with tar-stained sails
Halyards clanking paint peeling
Waiting for the tide
A cat after fish scraps
Beneath the wheeling squealing gulls
Breathing the smell of the ocean
The dankness of the deep
On I walk following fate
Up the boot-worn time-worn steps
Onto the arm of stone that spirals out between the waves
Leaning
Curling
An ammonite unravelling
Out into the sea
To follow dreamers
Gone before
And the wide green sea lies between us now
Shows us how to be free
And the rolling waves dance beside the bow
And dolphins guide you home to me
Your ship is born of the ocean
Its bow washed up from the deep
Shimmering sails fill with sea mist
It goes where lost sailors sleep
And the wide green sea lies between us now
Shows us how to be free
And the rolling waves dance beside the bow
And dolphins guide you home to me
Your kisses sweet and salty
Caress my windswept face
I feel your arms enfold me
And the rain dissolves our embrace
And the wide green sea lies between us now
Shows us how to be free
And the rolling waves dance beside the bow
And dolphins guide you home to me
Now the sun lights the water
And the gulls and fishing boats ride
Maybe you sail another ocean
And your ship waits for another tide
And the wide green sea lies between us now
Shows us how to be free
And the rolling waves dance beside the bow
And dolphins guide you home to me.
A spoken introduction of blank verse leading into a song. The mixing of song and story happens a lot in Bardic tradition, often performed on harp, for which this was written. Inspiration comes from a variety of sources. From myths and legends of the sea, and ships and their crew who are lost. From the French Lieutenant’s Woman, by John Fowles, and my own novel, the Girl on the Swing, which has dream scenes at Lyme. From Salty Dog, by Procol Harum, and many other songs and poems.
I hear the calls from across the sea
Rising and falling with the waves
The false promises that urge my feet
To leave the cobbled streets behind
And venture past the harbour
The barnacled boats with tar-stained sails
Halyards clanking paint peeling
Waiting for the tide
A cat after fish scraps
Beneath the wheeling squealing gulls
Breathing the smell of the ocean
The dankness of the deep
On I walk following fate
Up the boot-worn time-worn steps
Onto the arm of stone that spirals out between the waves
Leaning
Curling
An ammonite unravelling
Out into the sea
To follow dreamers
Gone before
And the wide green sea lies between us now
Shows us how to be free
And the rolling waves dance beside the bow
And dolphins guide you home to me
Your ship is born of the ocean
Its bow washed up from the deep
Shimmering sails fill with sea mist
It goes where lost sailors sleep
And the wide green sea lies between us now
Shows us how to be free
And the rolling waves dance beside the bow
And dolphins guide you home to me
Your kisses sweet and salty
Caress my windswept face
I feel your arms enfold me
And the rain dissolves our embrace
And the wide green sea lies between us now
Shows us how to be free
And the rolling waves dance beside the bow
And dolphins guide you home to me
Now the sun lights the water
And the gulls and fishing boats ride
Maybe you sail another ocean
And your ship waits for another tide
And the wide green sea lies between us now
Shows us how to be free
And the rolling waves dance beside the bow
And dolphins guide you home to me.
A spoken introduction of blank verse leading into a song. The mixing of song and story happens a lot in Bardic tradition, often performed on harp, for which this was written. Inspiration comes from a variety of sources. From myths and legends of the sea, and ships and their crew who are lost. From the French Lieutenant’s Woman, by John Fowles, and my own novel, the Girl on the Swing, which has dream scenes at Lyme. From Salty Dog, by Procol Harum, and many other songs and poems.
AFTER THE GREAT STORM
In 1824 a great storm caused devastation and took lives along the coast of Dorset and Devon. At Lyme, it destroyed much of the Cobb, and caused part of the churchyard to fall onto the beach. Afterwards, a bell was cast for the church, with the inscription, O sea spare me.
The tune is singing those words.