Refugees

This song was my way into Van der Graaf Generator, the second song on what might have been their debut album but in fact was technically their second, 'The least we can do is wave to each other'. The tune and chord sequence might be simple but it was a song that struck right through the heart. Below appear most of the words to the song, written by Peter Hammill.

North was somewhere years ago and cold:
Ice locked the people's hearts and made them old.
South was birth to pleasant lands, but dry...
I walked the waters' depths and played my mind.
         
East was dawn, coming alive in the golden sun:
the winds came gently, several heads became one
in the summertime, though august people sneered;
we were at peace, and we cheered.
         
We walked along, sometimes hand in hand,
between the thin lines marking sea and sand;
smiling very peacefully,
we began to notice that we could be free,
and we moved together to the West.
         
West is where all days will someday end,
where the colours turn from grey to gold,
and you can be with the friends.
And light flakes the golden clouds above;
West is Mike and Susie,
West is where I love.
         
There we shall spend our final days of our lives,
tell the same old stories... yeah well, at least we tried.
So into the West, smiles on our faces, we'll go;
oh, yes, and our apologies to those
who'll never really know the way.

I'm not quoting the final verse of the song that actually provides the literal meaning of the song: it was about the end of a flat share between Peter, Mike (Maclean) and Susie (Penhaligon). Rather a come down after the idealistic earlier verses.

Three lines resonated within me for a very long time: West is where all days will someday end, where the colours turn from grey to gold, and you can be with the friends. Those lines were intertwined with my friends from Habonim; I truly thought that our days would someday end together, when I would be with the friends. Oh romantic and delusional me.

Why am I writing this now, some 55 years after hearing the song for the first time? Well, Peter Hammill was invited to appear at the Royal Albert Hall as part of the 'Prog Prom'; this concert took place on 18 July 2026. A few days ago, I discovered that a clip of 'Refugees' had been posted to YouTube; as I wrote on the PH mailing list: The music is excellent and makes me wonder how much (or little) an orchestra adds to the original version. But the vocal?? IMHO, not very good. It wouldn't have hurt to have lowered the key a little so PH wouldn't have had to strain for the high notes. YMMV but I won't be downloading this.

I admit that I very often don't like Hammill's vocals on the many live recordings that I have, but this time the vocal was a real travesty. The only thing that it moved me to do was turn it off. Sorry.

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This day in blog history:

Blog #	Date	Title	Tags
15	30/09/2005	Getting a musical education (2)	The Band
104	30/09/2007	More folktronik	MIDI, Steeleye Span, Fairport Convention, Folktronix, The mythical man-month
888	30/09/2015	Recommended statistics book	DBA, Statistics
1076	30/09/2017	Relaxing foliage	Ambient music, Home movies
1831	30/09/2024	If John Le Carre were still alive	Israel, John Le Carre
2007	30/09/2025	The 2025 swimming season finishes - this time for real	Swimming, Police procedurals, Michael Dylan