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St Alban – Peace (released Feb 5th 2021) All funds to ‘Shelter’ homelessness charity Available on all digital platforms
Blurb Below:
I sat open mouth and eyes glued as they stormed the Capitol, unable to believe what was going on and yet somehow unsurprised, a terrifying coda to the last four years in which a pandora’s box of hate and intolerance had been opened.
It made me so very angry, not just at what I was watching but at the knowledge that similar problems were happening at home and all over the world, the human race had been beaten, divided and broken over over the last few years.
There wasn't much time for sleep that night because the coverage of the senseless carnage and the sombre aftermath ran through the night, but after a couple of hours sleep I woke with an almost fully formed verse of a poem in my head,
Where there is hate,
Let us douse the flames with love.
Where there is anger,
Let us soothe the pain with calm.
Where violence spreads,
Let us circle it with peace,
And fill intolerant heads with the knowledge that we need.
I knew I had written it as much for myself, to calm myself down, to tell myself anger can’t be used to put out the fire of anger.
It probably would have stayed as that but for a talk with Peter who said we should turn it into a song. We worked at a fever pitch over the next two days, the pieces of the song came effortlessly to us, we knew instinctively what had to be said and how it should sound. Slowly others got involved as we realised the power and potential of the song and it's message, everyone giving their time and their immense talents generously for a great cause (the work that Shelter does is immeasurably great and especially at this freezing time of year it was the obvious choice of charity.)
So here it is, we call it simply Peace, you may find that title a little trite or cheesy but the simplest most direct things often can be seen that way, anyway it feels like the song we need right now, it’s definitely the song I needed right now.
Andy Dunlop
Wednesday, 13th January
lyrics
A song for peace
Where there is hate,
Let us douse the flames with love.
Where there is anger,
Let us soothe the pain with calm.
Where violence spreads,
Let us circle it with peace,
And fill intolerant heads with the knowledge that they need.
Where there is silence,
We will sing
For an end to violence,
The world we will bring
Lend me your hand
And give me your heart.
And together we’ll try to repair all the things that have torn us apart.
Cuz even in the midsts of all this madness
Lets never lose our hope
We’ll always need our sisters & brothers
And Now’s the time We need each other most
If you are hungry
We’ll give you our bread
If you grow weary
You can lie in our bed
With love in our hearts
For those that we’ve lost
Ah if you focus on hate it will always carry a cost
Give little love as I reach out with my hand to you brother
You feel it in your heart you know we are one
All those little times that we reached for the same dreams amongst the stars
Be they safe, be they cruel be they kind
oh….
Where there is hate,
Let us douse the flames with love.
Where there is anger,
Let us soothe the pain with calm.
Where violence spreads,
Let us circle it with peace,
And fill intolerant heads with the knowledge that they need.
credits
released May 2, 2021
Peter McVeigh (Vocals)
Andy Dunlop (Piano, Guitars)
Mark Evitts (Strings)
Conor Mc Auley - Drums
Mike Whan - Bass
Kitija Ernstsone - Sax
Stephen Irvine - Trumpet
Matthew Benson - Trombone
Paula McCarthy - Sax
Jenny Ní Dhoibhilín - Horn
Catherine Griffin - Backing Vocals
Bruce Joseph McClements - Backing Vocals
Phil d'Alton - Backing Vocals
Daryl Harkin - Backing Vocals
Cahir McLaughlin - Backing Vocals
Ken Whelan - help with brass arranging
Andrea Wright - Mixing
St. Alban
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