In 2011 I attended a fiddle course. Next to the place where the course was held was a beautiful forest, which we used for rehearsals, impromptu performances and gatherings.
Committed and passionate singer songwriter of new songs from traditional inspiration
Berni is a singer songwriter of passionate and committed songs.
Story behind the song
In 2011 I attended a fiddle course. Next to the place where the course was held was a beautiful forest, which we used for rehearsals, impromptu performances and gatherings. I wrote a song about the music we made in the forest forest which had the line: "It will hold this in its memory" - because it seemed to me that our fleeting performances would somehow be remembered by the trees which I imagiend outliving the older members of the gatherings, such as myself..
In 2012, I returned to attend the following year's course and was incredibly saddened to see that the bulk of the forest had been chopped down in the intervening year - illegallly - I was later informed. This song is a response to that. (Fiddle by the extraordinary Arkaitz Miner).
Lyrics
A Clearing in the Trees
Where once we loved
And laughed and danced together,
Where beating drums once carried on the breeze,
Now nothing stands,
A wasteland vast and empty,
Who gained the most
From the clearing of the trees?
Who lacked the heart
To see such natural beauty?
Who stood unmoved?
Who suffered no unease?
Who wielded the axe,
The cutters and the chain saws?
Who saw only cash
In the felling of the trees?
I know it’s true
That nothing lasts forever.
I know in time
Even steel will fall to rust.
But within our lives
Could we not preserve some beauty
For those who are to come
When we’ve long turned to dust?
How did we lose touch
With the natural world around us?
How did we catch this incurable disease?
“All in a day’s work”
They tore down half a forest,
All that remains is a clearing in the trees.
