Name: I wish
Duration: 4 min 2 s
Channel: Al Stravinsky
Description: "I wish" is a song by Al Stravinsky. My dad was in the Navy on a minesweeper in WW2 and went all over the Med and Asia at a time when working class people rarely even went to the seaside, but he chose not to dwell on those times and hardly even spoke of them.

I wish

Al Stravinsky

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My dad was in the Navy on a minesweeper in WW2 and went all over the Med and Asia at a time when working class people rarely even went to the seaside, but he chose not to dwell on those times and hardly even spoke of them.

singer songwriter musician uk acoustic guitar cubase reason sheffield bass guitar doncaster al stravinsky voxengo brian delaney

Al Stravinsky

Touching, funny, serious, award-winning songs about life and love; all penned, played, arranged, sung, recorded and mixed by Al.

So he never existed... not really, as a real person. He made himself up one day in 1969 and lived a dual existence: half of him surviving on dead-end jobs, the other half believing that one day he would write at least one song that the world would remember. Now half of him is dead, and, as with all conjoined twins (without major surgery) that sentences both of them. It would be sad if it wasn't so pathetic. Fairy-tales always end this way... well not always, rarely... and this was rarely a fairy-tale; so there the similarities end: the ending was neither sad nor happy - it just... was. The enigmatic and tragic Jackson C Frank was a hero of his... now he emulates that frail and failed soul. Maybe in 40 years people will still say 'Al who?', much as they do today. That would be both a great epitaph, and a fitting legacy. Below is the page as he inexplicably and hurriedly left it: hot meal still on the table; knife and fork still in place and at the ready; the drink untouched in the bone china cup... ************************************************************* I now have an album: 'The sentence that I serve' available from CD baby. Click on this mini album cover to take you there: INVALID -- CDBABY INVALID INVALID INVALID INVALID for AL STRAVINSKY: The sentence that I serve -- It's on iTunes too, where the whole album or individual tracks can be downloaded in mp3 format: http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?playListId=216015067 Thanks. I've been a professional musician for 24 years, and over 3000 gigs (I've stopped counting); always working, travelling, trying to make ends meet...nearly...if you could just hold these a minute please...er...thanks: my hands are now free so I can get on with actually (ironically) playing some music at last. I sing and play bass guitar and I play some acoustic/electric guitars also.

Song Info

Genre

Rock • Folk Rock

Charts

Peak #441

Peak in subgenre #33

Author

Al Stravinsky

Uploaded

April 25, 2006

Track Files

MP3

MP3 3.7 MB • 128 kbps • 4:02

Story behind the song

From the album 'The sentence that I serve'. Click here for link: 


My dad was in the Navy on a minesweeper in WW2 and went all over the Med and Asia at a time when working class people rarely even went to the seaside. He must have seen some horrific things, some amazing, life changing things, but chose not to dwell on those times and hardly even spoke of them. A drum loop, Moog bass, strings, accordion, some synthy sounds, two acoustic guitars, and lots of harmonies make up the backing track, with a single lead vocal.

Lyrics

Verse 1	
In the spring of '43 
You sailed away to sweep the sea
For mines, a boy of just nineteen
Caught up in troubled times.
From Malta to Gibralter
And every distant shore,
You ate breakfast cooked on pavements of  
A steamy Singapore.

Chorus	
I wish I could have been there
And seen the things you'd seen there -
The wonders of the world
Burned in your memory.
I wish I could have been there
So I could know you better,
And understand the man you came to be,
Who meant so much to me.

Verse 2	
A photograph is all that's left,
A bunch of laughing lads on deck:
'That's in the past, oh let's forget
About it', all that you would say.
No war for me, and not my fault,
No chance to prove I'm worth my salt;
Your history, belongs to me
And my kids too, we're part of you.

Chorus	
I wish I could have been there
And seen the things you'd seen there -
The wonders of the world
Burned in your memory.
I wish I could have been there
So I could know you better,
And understand the man you came to be,
Who meant so much to me.

Middle 8	
On the backstreets of Colombo sweet surprise,
Led through an open door by her eyes
And hair of night and lips of deepest red.

The Taj Mahal at sunset brings a smile,
While all around the wild sea mile on mile -
'Hey I'll remember this for all my life
Think what we'll do when we get home', 
'If we get home...'
		
Verse 2	
For one who'd seen so much so young
Oh what a cage it must have seemed,
To make a home in this small town
And drown thoughts of what might have been.
Yesterday you went away to search for dreams
To sweep the sky,
And I, a boy with shattered hopes,
Left all alone to wonder why -
Still I wish I could have been there, to say goodbye.

Chorus
I wish I could have been there
And seen the things you'd seen there -
The wonders of the world
Burned in your memory.
I wish I could have been there
So I could know you better,
And understand the man you came to be
Who meant so much,
Meant so much
Meant so much to me

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