Page 7 - Radiodowntown online March 2021

alongside a raft of other half-written songs, which had failed to blossom. It was my vague intention to return to them at some future date: mannanna.
Ittookoverthreedecades
before mannanna finally
dawned. Sorting through
some old files, I came
across the manuscript
again. Reading through
it, I thought it was worth
another stab. I picked up
a pen and proceeded to
rewrite the first line of the
verse that had proved so
stubborn. ‘The warrior
carved on the scarred oaken wall’ I wrote, ‘Turns his gaze to the cold, marble tomb.’ Almost magically two more lines came into my head, and I scribbled them down:
exquisite violin playing of Tom Leary, former fiddle player with Feast Of Fiddles, Lindisfarne, and Fairport Convention. Helena liked the song and added her vocals.
One denizen of the picture I had omitted was the dragon. The song’s theme dealt with a relationship disturbed By the echoes that shriek out his doom.’ between two lovers separated by death and time, who can only communicate in their dreams. And I could think of no plan that would allow a fire-breathing lizard into the plot. As I built up the storyline I’d realised that I was basing things -very loosely- on a tale I had heard during the 1960s regarding a small
‘Where his heart lies interred and his long sleep’s
It was as simple as that. More lyrics came crowding in. The idea of a bridge passage after the second verse occurred to me. ‘Sleep, lovers, sleep, creep shadows creep’ and this interlude -initially introduced as an afterthought to justify the word ‘lullaby’ in the title- is, I have been told, the high spot of the song for many people.
church on the Isle of Wight. I hadn’t
adhered to the original narrative exactly, but it was certainly an influence on Gothic Lullaby’s tone and setting. The church in question is St Olave’s in Gatcombe, a tiny village in the centre of the Island.
Within a week, Gothic Lullaby, which had slept
dormant and unfinished for so many years, was
ready for recording. This was done at Matt Black’s
Hangover Hill Studio, The tale is worth repeating. I intend to return to it
at a later date. genius worked his subtle magic aided by the 7 Rob Atkins.
in Dorset, Southern England. That gentleman-