Heartleap

Across The Water

boots

Fall into sleep as the sun comes up
And wake at the back of noon
Drift through the hours as the sun gets lower
'Til the days are lit by the moon

Every day is every day
Can’t tell one from the other
Wait to fall at the end of it all
As stones skip across the water

Lived on wit, got away with it
Hummed a universal tune
Found a thread away in the head
Followed it over the moon

Every day is every day
One foot in front of the other
Learn to fall with the grace of it all
As stones skip across the water

Guitars and synth VB
Strings improvised and played by Fiona Brice and Ian Burdge, with Gillon Cameron
Kalimba Jo Mango

Holy Smoke

better

I sigh with every breath I’m breathing
It’s some kind of holy smoke that I believe
Will take me on my way

Some hobo – the dust on my old boots is settling
And I’m slowly growing roots I said
Would never tidy me away

Uhoh, uhoh, uhoh, uhoh

I do remember what an old friend told me
He said "don’t you go worrying about me,
I’m only sad as I want to be"

Well that’s as maybe, but do I want to be like trees
Who stand round in freezing fog just waiting
For the spring to come for me?

Oh no, oh no, oh no, oh noo

Guitars and synths VB
Guitar Gareth Dickson
Guitar Andy Cabic
Vocals Devendra Banhart and Andy Cabic
Strings Fiona Brice, Ian Burdge and Gillon Cameron

Mother

My mother would dance sometimes
Believing herself alone
But through a slightly open door
I would watch her as she turned
Turned round, round,
Briefly unbound

My mother played and sang sometimes
Believing herself alone
But through a slightly open door
I could see her face upturned
Songs long learned
So long untuned

I was her only audience
She believed herself alone
My applause should have been rapturous
But I closed the door
And turned, turned away

Piano and synth VB
Strings Fiona Brice, Ian Burdge and Gillon Cameron.

Last night I dreamt that I jumped in the sea
Wearing a pale blue flouncing dancing dress
I wanted you to rescue me
Desperately
Last night I dreamt that you were looking down
I twisted and twirled and held my skirt out like a girl
I could see you frown at me
Soundlessly.........

And then I saw that all that you saw
Was a Portuguese Man of War
And then I saw that all that you saw
Was a Portuguese Man of War

Last night I dreamt that I drowned in the sea
Wearing your frown and going down
and down
and down
I've come to my senses now
Hopefully
hopefully
hopefully.........

Recorder Ian Wilson
Synths VB
Guitar Gareth Dickson
Guitars VB and Andy Cabic
Strings Fiona Brice, Ian Burdge and Gillon Cameron

Shell

In the telling of your story
There is so much that’s lost
There’s an ocean in between
The seen and unseen
That’s as deep as the loss was
To you so young
I just see a shell

Can't really get the picture
I've nothing to compare
Can't say I understand
Have no hand to lend
You had more than your fair share
For one so young
But you do it all so well

I fold things just like my mother
Into two then into three
I don't know why I do
But then I think of you
And what it takes to be free
From all you've learned
But you know it all too well

In the telling of your story
You say there's so much more
Then you curl away from me
To some deeper sea
And I'm here on the foreshore
'Til your return
I just see a shell

Guitars and synths VB
Saxophone Ian Wilson

The Boy

He sat on the doorstep
With his arms around his knees
Watching the passers by
And wondering why
They don’t see what he sees

He watched from the window
With his hands over his ears
Listening to all the words
He’d ever heard
You don’t hear what he hears

He stands on your doorstep
With his life under his feet
Arms full of roses
Watchfulness
He'll be what he will be

Guitars and synths VB

Gunpowder

It seems however hard I try The words that I let fly out of my mouth Don’t ever say what I want them to say

It seems that I can never learn my words Watching them turn around, burning, Lighting the gunpowder trails that you lay

I blow my chances And you throw the years out With all the merry dances You led me, you led me

I should look for a shed somewhere Keep my words in the air, padlocked there For ever and silently out of harm’s way

Guitars and synths VB
Cello Ian Burdge
Violins Fiona Brice and Gillon Cameron

Blue Shed

I wish I had a blue shed
With nobody in it
I wish I had a closed door
With only me behind it

Oh but all this wishing
I might be sorry
Oh it could be the end of me

I might emerge to a sunny day
With everybody gone away
Into his own blue shed
Or behind her own closed door

Guitar and synths VB

Here

I open my eyes
And you are there
With no surprise
No pain to bear
I scan the horizon
For clouds to appear
I close my eyes
And you are here

Guitar , synth and Dulcitone VB
Recorders Ian Wilson
Flute Jo Mango

Heartleap

Heart leap, headlong, heartache
Heartbreak, head down, heartfelt

Heart melt, headstrong, heart spring
Heart sing, head gone, heart leap

Heart sleep, head space, heartsease
Heart please, headache, heartsearch

Heart lurch, headfirst, heart long
Heart song, head done, heart leap

Guitar and synths VB

Credits

All

Produced by Vashti Bunyan

Recorded at:
4thSt, Edinburgh
Adam Peters' studio in Topanga, California
Thom Monahan's studio in Los Angeles
J Ralph's studio in New York
Julian Simmons' Din Sound in London
Calum Scott's studio, Glasgow

Mixed by Martin Korth
Dynamically mastered by Mandy Parnell
at Black Saloon Studios, London

Arrangements by Vashti Bunyan
(except strings in 'Across the Water' - improvised by Fiona Brice and Ian Burdge)

All songs published by Spinneysongs

Design and layout by DT
Cover from a painting by Whyn Lewis -
'Hart's Leap'
c/o Portal Painters
info@portalpainters.co.uk