These Times – James Varda

Posted on by Opher

The late great James Varda – such a great loss! But he left us some superb music. We are all clothed with fear and fed with lies!!

We are delicate and ephemeral. We will end up battered by the hail. Nowhere is safe.

These Times

These times
Call for brevity
No words are large enough to mourn
We dwell in the darkness
Adrift in the rapids
A satellite that’s gone astray

These times
Not for you and me
Choked and harnessed from a seed
Clothed with fear and fed with lies
These times
Just move along

These times
Ephemeral
Just a ride upon a wheel
And when the hour comes
This solid house
Just a rose inside a hailstorm

 

James Varda – This Train Is Lost

Posted on by Opher

James summarises a lot of what I feel particularly after these last couple of years.

This train – the whole of our corrupt culture – is certainly lost. We are being led by a lot of greedy, selfish hypocrites.

Back in the sixties we felt we were building something better. We were dropping out of this empty culture and replacing it with something less destructive and more meaningful.

This Train Is Lost

I’m going to move to another country
Find myself a new name
I’m going to wake up
And shed this skin
I never have felt at home
Anywhere I’ve been
I’m getting off this train
I ain’t gonna ride this train no more

How much is nothing?
How far is nowhere?
They’ll sell you a map
But you’ll never get there
I don’t know what I want
But I know it’s not this
If I pulled love out
The world would cease to exist

I’m getting off this train
I ain’t gonna ride this train no more

Well there’s no danger
Everything is very sure
You get up in the morning
And you walk out the door
All this repetition
That tries to strangle hope
I’m going to chart an unknown river
In a porcelain boat

I’m getting off this train
I ain’t gonna ride this train no more
This train is lost

James Varda – These Times

Posted on by Opher

The poetry of James Varda resonates more now than when he first wrote it. In this age when we are fed with fear and lies.

This is a song from his wonderful album The River and the Stars.

I think in these last couple of years we’ve all been battered like roses in the hailstorm.

May the fresh buds bloom.

James deserves to be much better known. I love the delicateness and vulnerability of his voice on his softer songs but I also like the power on songs like These Times.

These Times

These times
Call for brevity
No words are large enough to mourn
We dwell in the darkness
Adrift in the rapids
A satellite that’s gone astray

These times
Not for you and me
Choked and harnessed from a seed
Clothed with fear and fed with lies
These times
Just move along

These times
Ephemeral
Just a ride upon a wheel
And when the hour comes
This solid house
Just a rose inside a hailstorm

James Varda – Sunday Before the War

Posted on by Opher

The late great James Varda is sorely missed. He brought a powerful new voice to his poetic images.

This was a song off his wonderful first album – Hunger.

It is rare these days to come across someone who really grabs you. James certainly did grab me the very first time I heard him sing. He also grabbed Roy Harper. He took him on tour with him. He rarely does that.

Sunday Before The War

I can’t help looking on the bright side
It’s just the way I am
And if I ask too much of you
I was raised a man
But all I want
All I want
I can’t have today
I’m going to ransack the future
And stowaway
On a large white ship
With tall sails
And I’ll sail on down
To where the water flows
Warm and pure
Sunday before the war

I always learn from history
I make the same mistakes twice
But I never meant to make my bed
In this house of ice
I can’t wait any longer
For the play to begin
I can’t wait any longer
For the curtain to climb
The sun about to shine
And cause the ice to thaw
Sunday before the war

In was standing by the shore
When a man stepped out of a shell
He said clear up all these pebbles
Or I’ll slam you in a cell
The laughing tide
The roaring waves
Rolled over him
I stayed by the shore
Sunday before the war

James Varda – This Train Is Lost – a great Protest song.

Posted on by Opher

When James Varda died we lost a truly unique voice, a craftsman in lyric and music, a poet, an individual who gave a new perspective to protest and Englishness. He was capable of songs of great power and lyrical beauty.

His first album – Hunger – had all the force and fury of punk in a folk setting. His future albums captured the pastoral beauty of the English countryside and his last album was so achingly beautiful it wrenched at the heart. As he was dying from a terminal illness he poured all his passion and love into producing a masterpiece – a coming to terms with death and a celebration of life and love.

This is a strong song from his first album – a swipe at the senseless, directionless carnage of our society.

James did not want to be part of this machine of destruction and pointless stupidity – neither do I.

This Train Is Lost

I’m gonna move to another country

I’m gonna find myself a new name

I’m gonna wake up

Shed this skin

Because I’ve never felt at home any place I’ve been

I’m getting off this train

Oh I ain’t gonna  ride this train no more

Oh I ain’t gonna ride this train no more

 

How much is nothing?

How far is nowhere?

We’ll sell you a map

But you’ll never get there.

I don’t know what I want

But I know it’s not this

If I pulled love out

The world would cease to exist.

I’m getting off this train

Oh I ain’t gonna ride this train no more

Oh I ain’t gonna ride this train no more

 

Well there’s no danger

Everything is very sure

You wake up in the morning

And you walk out the door

All this repetition that tries to strangle hope

I’m going to chart an unknown river

In a porcelain boat

I’m getting off this train

Oh I ain’t gonna ride this train no more

Oh I ain’t gonna ride this train no more

I’m getting off this train

This train is lost

https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=james+varda+this+train&view=detail&mid=63E126BE3D430FABEE3F63E126BE3D430FABEE3F&FORM=VIRE

James Varda – Pass it On – from the brilliant Chance and Time album. Lyrics with a heartfelt meaning.

Posted on by Opher

James Varda – Pass it On – from the brilliant Chance and Time album. Lyrics with a heartfelt meaning.

Posted on February 18, 2015 by

James Varda

I cannot eulogise about this album enough. The delicate beauty and haunting melodies of the songs; but what is even more important is the simplicity and depth of the poems. I won’t give them the disservice of calling them lyrics.

James has reached deep within himself to dredge up all that is valuable in life and encapsulate it into these statements; and each song is a statement. They are strange celebrations of all that is valuable in these seconds we have in this wondrous universe; they are tributes tinged with sadness, optimism and loss. It is a unique combination of emotions that is lifting to the spirits.

These songs are a celebration and farewell. They touch the core of those moments that count in life as if examining each memory and thought and cherishing its essence. We should all do it more. It is what makes life count.

Once again I wish James all the best and thank him for sharing so deeply of himself.

Pass It On

This is the sweetest place

The mist and blossom kiss

And the willows lean down

To touch the snowdrops on the ground

This is the sweetest place

Fields and hedges, church and sky

The farmer and I

Await the geese to fly to Cley

And all that I know

Is carried in these things

Pass it on

This is the sweetest place

Tummy down on WindmillBridge

In an ancient scene

We watch the eels swim upstream

This is the sweetest place

The rhythms are known and sure

Seeds in the spring

An autumn table for a king

And all that I dream

Is written in these things

Pass it on

This is the sweetest place

Following the road home

Through shades of England’s brown

To the pond, the common and the town

And all that I know

Is carried in these things

And all that I dream

Is written in these things

Pass it on

James Varda – May my place – a suitable epitaph for a great musician and man.

Posted on by Opher

James will always have a place in this world. He lived it, breathed it and shone it back at us through his songs, his warmth and his passion. If you were fortunate enough to see him perform, talk to him and hear his music you could not help but be moved by his personality. He brought intelligence, emotion and skill to bear with great panache.

This song is typical of the greatness of his last album, his legacy to the world. It is full of that determination to wring every last drop of love and adoration out of every second. You can feel his emotion.

We’re all on that journey and we know it will have that same inevitability. What James leaves me with is a determination to appreciate the sheer joy of living and wonder of being alive in this amazing universe on this incredible planet.

We should all set sail with determination to follow our dreams and live our life to the full no matter how long or short it may prove to be. It is in the living of the moments that it has its meaning and fulfilment. We should do our best to help each other on that journey so that they too can find their worth. It is only by chance we are here and our time is short. It is precious.

James inspired me.

That’s what great artists do. And James was great.

Let My Place

Life is a journey

To a place 

Somewhere

In the bright morning 

Destinations seem many

But as the tea is served

And the moon starts to rise

We can see where the road is heading

Still there may be time to take a turn

So let my place be a broad leafed wood in springtime

With many paths that run deep to its heart

And let my place be a house on an eastern shore 

Whose doors are open wide

Let my place be a garden, an orchard to provide

Life is a journey 

On a slowly rising tide

Wave on wave

Islands slip from view

But if the sail is set

And the wind should rise

There’s a chance to cross your ocean

There’s a chance to find your shore

And let my place be a sound, the colour of a church

With windows lit in deep blue light, flooding sky and earth

And let my place be a rhythm, supple and assured

On which a melody can build and rise and words can find their worth

Let my place be a chord, that echoes through the years

Let my place be an affirmation, a handshake, a “Yes!”

Let my place

Be somewhere

And if I cannot see

Reveal this place to me

© James Varda 2014

James Varda – Bellevue Hotel video link – rare video of the great James Varda singing a number from his debut Hunger album

Posted on by Opher

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I discovered this on YouTube. As Chance and Time was out and such a great album I thought it would be good to see back to the beginning when the talent who is James Varda emerged on the scene.

This is a brilliant TV performance.

Enjoy:

James Varda – May This Moment Ever Glow – Beautiful poetic lyrics that speak of love of the moment in which all life is gathered.

Posted on by Opher

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James has captured something of the mysticism of life in this delicate song. The value of each precious second and the beauty in those perfect moments when all of life is ensconced in the essence of an immaculately magic instant that, throughout all the change, will last forever.

They are moments shared, captured in our memories, and will go on in ever increasing ripples to touch us all with their glow.

Chance and Time is full of that majesty of touch, that chemistry of words, as the vital substance of life and love is crystallised in language and music.

It glows for me.

May This Moment Ever Glow

A bright moon in a May sky

And the air hung with lilac

From a chimney pot

A blackbird sings 

The last song of twilight

Though the air will colder grow

And frost will glaze the garden hoe

And one day it will snow

May this moment ever glow

A summer wood reveals the truth

No beginning, no end, only change

From the treetop

A white admiral glides

To the light on the floor of the glade

Though the cold north wind will blow

And one by one the beach huts go

And one day it will snow

May this moment ever glow

Some days, are full of light

Some days, are hard to bear

Most days, are somewhere, in between

Take them all as gifts

Make of them what you can

A sparrow hit the window pane

Dropped to the ground without a sound

Cupped in your hands

With your sweet breath

It flickered, it fluttered and it flew

Though shadows soon will be cast low

And August seem a long time ago

And one day it will snow

May this moment ever glow