Hi everyone

I wanted to flag up a couple of songs from Silent Spike this month which I think suit the darkening November skies – the two acoustic numbers on the album, Lily White and Gather the Ghosts and Bones.

A bit of music-nerd talk first [feel free to skip to the next para if you hate this stuff]…. One thing I think the best classical composers do very well is combining structures that are both linear and architectural. Take, for example, 5 movement works like Schumann’s Third Symphony, Bartók’s 4th String Quartet or Mahler’s 5th, 7th and 10th symphonies. In each of these works, there are symmetries and pairing which makes the overall shape of the piece more interesting. In Mahler’s 7th and 10th, or Bartók’s 4th Quartet, movements 1 and 5 form a pair, 2 and 4 form a pair and 3 stands alone. In Mahler’s 5th and Schumann’s 3rd, the 1st 2 movements form a pair, the 3rd functions as something like the hub at the center of the wheel, and movements 4 and 5 form another pair. Rather than making the pieces feel like you’re hopping back and forth in time, these structures can actually strengthen the sense of narrative. This is not something that one encounters often at a high level in jazz, folk and rock. Even tightly-organised multi-song works like Tommy and The Wall work primarily, but not exclusively, on a linear level.

And of course, there are many pieces in which the pairings and connections are not as symmetrical or as obvious as in the examples above, and those are often my favorite pieces. Also, sometimes two songs or movements can be both a pair and a mirror. On Silent Spike, “The Voyage” and “Dead Line Creek” share not only a common ambition of scale (they’re both realllllllly long by rock standards) they both have their own internal 5 part arch structure that’s not unlike the Schumann or Bartok. But they are also mirror images of each other. One is really richly arranged and orchestrated (over 100 guitar parts) and very much a creation of the studio in the best Queen/Beatles tradition. The other is as live and raw as we could make it – one take, 3 instruments, no overdubs. One is about triumphing over adversity at sea to start a new life in a new world. The other is about death. Brutal, violent, ugly death.

So Lily White and Gather the Ghosts have more in common than just acoustic guitar, and they’re as full of contrast as I could make them. And they both have links to the other songs on the record. “Ghosts” and “Voyage” are both largely about the sea – sailing eastbound on an ocean of guitars and westbound on a Pacific’s worth of cellos. And the 3-note melody that opens “Voyage” (and permeates the whole record), C-B-G is reversed in “Ghosts” to G-B-C as a way of signalling the beginning of the return journey.

But back to “Lily” and “Ghosts”. One is about being buried alive, the other is about being freed from the grave to be taken home. One is about the lack of empathy and compassion, one is about the first steps towards atonement.

If you haven’t yet listened to them, I’d be thrilled if you did. I’ll pop some lyrics and background below.

See you in December. Thanks for reading, listening and caring!

Lily White

Lily White Mine Disaster. Located northeast of Baker City in the Wallowa Mountains, the Lily White Gold Mine is thought to be the source of unverified stories about as many as 100 or as few as 13, Chinese miners being trapped in the mine sometime between 1886 and 1889. Either through a cave-in or the mine owner dynamiting the entrance so he would not need to pay the Chinese, the ghosts of the miners are said to be seen singing and dancing above the mine entrance on moon-lit nights. References: Nokes 2009: 79; Nokes 1995: Dec. 21, C2; Wegars 1995:54.

Folks here tell stories

About the old Lily White

About how the mine’s owner

Paid in dynamite

They say he blew up the mineshaft,

So his miners were trapped,

Then he covered the entrance,

And took off with the cash.

Is it a rumor,

Or is it the truth?

Is it a mystery,

Awaiting a sleuth?

Nobody knows just how many,

Nor knows ‘xactly where.

No one’s sure when it happened,

Or if you’re still there.

They say it’s blacker than midnight in the Lily White mine,

When the tunnels are blocked,

And you’re running out of time.

I hear it’s blacker than midnight in the Lily White mine

When you’ve gone down that mineshaft,

For the very last time.

Was it a cave in,

Or was it a crime?

Was it an accident,

Or just killin’ time?

Is there anyone down there?

Can I hear your ghosts scream?

Did you die in a nightmare,

For his American dream?

When you’re deep underground

And you’re gasping for air.

I’d guess it’s blacker than midnight in the Lily White mine,

When you’re you’re buried alive

And nobody cares.

Are you ghost dancing by moonlight

Above the entrance at night?

Do you sing through the witching hour,

To the first morning light?

Is it blacker than midnight in the Lily White mine,

When you’ve seen the dear sun,

For the very last time?

Is it blacker than midnight in the Lily White mine,

When the lantern burns out,

And your friends are all dying’?

How many souls trapped,

Where there’s gold but no air?

How long have you waited,

In that deep mountain lair?

Can you still smell

That acrid dynamite?

And are you still dancing

In the silver moonlight?

Was it blacker than midnight in the Lily White mine,

When the tunnels were all closed,

And you’d run out of time?

Was it blacker than midnight in the Lily White mine,

When you’ve gone down that mineshaft,

For the very last time?