Hometown (The Soil That Grew Me)
For 50 square miles she lies spread out before me,
Like a dog to her master, this city’s enslaved me,
High on the hills I see the lights all around me,
I wish when I spoke, that this town could hear me,
Home town.
In the shadow of King’s, the cars they fly past me,
Down in the market place the traders seduce me,
This is my town as it happens around me,
Hard as I try, it’ll never let go of me.
This town, Home town,
The soil that grew me.
Hometown, Our own.
It will always own me.
Kingdoms rise and kingdoms fall,
But this will always be,
Home town.
This town, Home town,
The soil that grew me.
Hometown, Our own.
It will always own me.
Kingdoms rise and kingdoms fall,
But this will always be,
Home town.
Down by the river the circle sits drinking,
Late in the evening the embers still glowing,
Don’t give a damn about what we are doing,
Where we’ll be sleeping, or where we are going.
Home town.
Out on the green, the hot summer sunshine,
Small hazy bar, the wet winter night-times,
This is my life; I live it in my time,
Take each day as it comes, I’ll get it right some time.
This town, Home town,
Little Boy LostThe soil that grew me.
Hometown, Our own.
It will always own me.
Kingdoms rise and kingdoms fall,
But this will always be,
Home town.
This town, Home town,
The soil that grew me.
Hometown, Our own.
It will always own me.
Kingdoms rise and kingdoms fall,
But this will always be,
Home town.
1991
The King Street Run, Cambridge
Sleeve Notes:
And another demo. This is towards the end of the first half of the album – it explores my relationship with Cambridge before I left a little more, and was (perhaps) an attempt at writing something that comes in at a reasonably short length, for a single/radio edit.
Even though this is probably the shortest full song (rather than linking passages) that I will write, it became quite complex, using a a fair few different synth parts (Vacuum, 10 Saws in Ableton, Sonivox Twist) and some complex drum programming, and 7 vocal tracks to get the interplay between the parts. I also used my Ibanez SR-375 bass (heavily effected with Big Muff, Dark Matter and the Mole, and 2 guitars, my Redwood R3 and my Vintage Metal Axxe Reaper – this latter filtered through Arturia’s Minifilter plugin).