This song is part of a Castle Cooperative Records project, collating images, tracks and poetry around the theme ruins. The results are being gathered together as digital zine (out on the 25th Nov) and a blog series.
The lyrics are inspired by St Nikolai’s Church in Hamburg. The church was rebuilt in 1874, to be bombed in 1943. The remains of the church have been left as a memorial and anti-war symbol.
In the middle of the empty, bombed out space is a sculpture from 2003 by Edith Breckwoldt: a womanly figure called ‘Angel on Earth’. It is covered in hands making different shapes. Below the sculpture lies the inscription, ‘nimm meine Hand und ich führe dich zu dir zurück’; in English, ‘take my hand and I will lead you back to yourself’.
Photo by Tom Cowin
Lyrics:
They left it open so you can see
The bare stone broken, the bare stone bleeds
Where the bombs have left it empty
A century is no life for a stone
The empty chasm it speaks in tombs:
‘Shame on them, shame on the men,
Blew a brother’s hands to pieces
And they do it all again.’
Nimm meine Hand und ich führe dich zu dir zurück*
A century is no life for a stone
The empty chasm it speaks in tombs:
‘Nimm meine Hand und ich führe dich zu dir zurück.’
*Words of Edith Breckwoldt, 2003
https://theknightsproject.bandcamp.com/track/chasm
Written by Tom Cowin and Lucy Day
Tom Cowin – guitar and cittern
Vocals and lyrics – Lucy Day
Castle Cooperative Records 