Grantchester Meadows Lyrics
in the sky a bird was heard to cry
misty morning whisperings and gentle stirring sounds
be like the deathly silence that lay all around
to the barking of the dog fox
gone the ground
see the splashing of the kingfisher
flashing trough the water
and the river of green is sliding unseen beneath the trees
laughing as it passes trough the endless summer
making for the sea
all around me golden sunflakes settle on the ground
basking in the sunshine of a bygone afternoon
bringing sounds of yesterday into the city room
all around me golden sunflakes covering the ground
basking in the sunshine of a bygone afternoon
bringing sounds of yesterday into my city room
This song is a wonderfull poem and makes me feel summertimehappiness... simply Yeah!
About a minute fifty in (playing it backwards, so a minute fifty from the end forwards), you can hear him say, "save us my savior."
About four minutes in playing it backwards: "here's an offering here for my savior, who saves us in the fall"
About 4:43 in backwars, "save us my savior" is repeated
About 5 minutes in backwards, he says, "here's my reward" "I am here where the birds go easy early"
About 5:10 in, he repeats, "here's an offering for my savior, who saves us in the fall"
About 5:45 in, he says, "my reward is..."
About 6:07 in, he says, "here my boy finds us in..."
In case anyone was wondering, I do not think this song is about God or saviors or anything. I think it's about a place from Waters' childhood memories.
They really are just random sounds for which you've constructed some "meaning" out of nothing. Why would Roger Waters, an avowed atheist along with David Gilmour & Nick Mason, be singing shite about a "Saviour"?
They really are just random sounds for which you've constructed some "meaning" out of nothing. Why would Roger Waters, an avowed atheist along with David Gilmour & Nick Mason, be singing shite about a "Saviour"?
To quote Waters: "Please, God - I'm an atheist so maybe I shouldn't be asking God - but let Barack Obama finally win the Democratic nomination..."
To quote Waters: "Please, God - I'm an atheist so maybe I shouldn't be asking God - but let Barack Obama finally win the Democratic nomination..."
It seems interesting to note that after all this lovely, evocative lyricism about Grantchester Meadows the last thing you hear is a fly by swatted, suggesting that maybe Roger Waters would rather just think about nature than actually have to deal with it.
@owennnnnnnnnn that is truly a great thought. Here you have this beautiful tranquil song that perfectly reflects on the innocence of peace of an easy summer’s afternoon in your childhood and than SWAT! You truly touched on something, can’t believe I’ve never noticed that !
@owennnnnnnnnn that is truly a great thought. Here you have this beautiful tranquil song that perfectly reflects on the innocence of peace of an easy summer’s afternoon in your childhood and than SWAT! You truly touched on something, can’t believe I’ve never noticed that !
Its worth paying a visit to Grantchester Meadows if you are ever in Cambridge.
An idyllic spot for hanging out if you were growing up in Cambridge... Although this is a Roger Waters song, it was David Gilmour who grew up in a house overlooking Grantchester Meadows - at 106 Grantchester Meadows (the street)
the lyrics of this song make me think of the lazy days of summer, walking through a park and just enjoying life. this is one of the better tracks off of one of their better and much more eccentric albums, Ummagumma.
Man, I have this VHS of them performing at the Fillmore West for the San Fransisco station KQED. Great freakin' show. Anyhow, when they play this song, Rog and Dave sit down side by side and I swear, its like they have this total Simon and Garfunkel moment. Frekin' incredible.
hey caterpillar.... where can i buy that VHS ?
morningbel,
According to this URL it hasn't been released. Might hafta track down a bootleg of it.
http://support.uni-oldenburg.de/~floyd/english/echoes/videos.html
An early Roger Waters ode to his innocent childhood days, before the pressures of adulthood, modern life, and the music business become apparant. Recurring themes he would visit again in other formats. One of the better studio tracks on Ummagumma, performed as "Daybreak" during their "The Man/The Journey" shows in 1969. Solo track features Waters on acoustic guitar with overdubs and nature-themed background tape effects (birdsong, flapping geese, flies buzzing, etc.) Concert performances likewise showcased such effects, enhanced by the Azumith Co-ordinator panpot quadrophonic sound system to throw these enhancements about the audience.
The KQED performance was one of their best recorded videos from this period, with a nice rendition of this song. The group version split the vocal parts, giving Dave a high register for the 2nd and 4th stanzas, and bringing in a mellow organ fill for a bridge. The best version of the KQED show is the Harvested DVD, with a top quality video capture and a cleanly restored audio track dubbed in from a second source.
You can find the KQED performace on Google Video. Just search for pink floyd, KQED. This song is in Part 4/8