Hitching south to Bern from Antwerp. I had two nights without sleep and no money as I sought to hitch from
a motorway service station near Basle. The service station was closing for the night. The place was becoming deserted and
I was down physically and feeling like I had reached the end of my life and luck. It looked bleak, until a group of young
Albanians came to my rescue by agreeing to give me a lift to Bern. My Swiss girlfriend, seemingly feeling my distress on the
'soul radar', responded to a request from a guy for a light with, "Do you know what it's like to be hungry and thirsty without
any money at all?"
Maybe the guy replied, "No! But I know what it's like to have no light for my cigarette."
Written in January, 1995, this song is extremely romantic and seeks to capture the enrapturement of intense
soul love. I feel very sorry for anyone who has not experienced the feelings within this song.
Being 'Helen of troy' and happily swimming within the world of such personae is a wonderful experience,
but there comes a time when a healthy choice is required. The curious way I dealt with emotional attachments caused confusion
not only in others, but within me. So why not take the piss out of myself with a song?
HELP YOU THROUGH THE DAY Words/music: B.Pearce
Written Sept, 1994. This song was one of my most successful busking songs. It has helped me through the
day on many occasions.
The Summer of 1996 was all about eyes and the way the soul speaks through them.
In September, Kat and I shared eyes that spoke in volumes, but neither of us could understand outwardly
what they were saying. The soul has its own agenda - and it hides it well.
What better way to laugh off an emotional nightmare than writing a song about it - taking the rise out of me and those involved. Yet still the emotional loyalty remains tigerish,
because the 'axe' hasn't fallen.
This song is a product of the New Clear Winter phase of the journal. My daughter was inaccessible in Ireland; my sister had Leukaemia in England; I was faced by difficult
tasks and aims in Belgium and Switzerland. A news report on Radon Gas claimed that its accumulation in certain households
can lead to lung cancer for its occupants. So imagining an agoraphobic frightened to leave their house, yet being fatally
exposed to excessive ammounts of Radon Gas, was enough of an image to catalyse this song based on the Orpheus legend.
A philosophy is shaped.
My first trip of 1996 to Switzerland produced very little, but it did produce this song. I had a dream where
my first 'true love' and I were re-united once more. The curious thing about this is the age of my 'true love'. In the dream
she was 17 - and her friends were equally as young. In reality, they would all be pushing 40 in 1996.
What is remarkable about this song is its stunning prescience. It was written in the '80s and predicted
future situations. It is not the only song I have written that has done this. The importance of visualisation in song writing
is thus displayed, as a 'road untravelled' is faced with some form of mental preparation.
SECTARIAN Words/music: B.Pearce (performed by BRIM)
A two sentence BBC news report in 1991 (approx) inspired this song. A man, with his five year old daughter
perched on his knee, was sitting by a Xmas tree when gunmen burst in and shot him. To think that poor daughter would
have to grow up with that experience etched in her head. I have often wept singing this song... unable to continue.
The 'soul search' was in full flow by the Autumn of 1998. To find out how important someone is to you, there needs to be a sense of betrayal.
This song captures the sense of betrayal.
Written in the '80s this song angers at the desolation wrought by Margaret Thatcher and her cronies on the
working classes. Britain has never recovered from this - and the 'subclass' remain traumatised and oppressed. The brilliant
creativity that saw Britain shine culturally in the '60s and '70s has been shorn of 'subclass' contribution.
Another product from the New Clear Winter episode. By accepting that White Sheep is the system and the way society conforms, it becomes evident that Black Sheep are
those who are dysfunctional within this system. But the Black Sheep is further clarified as people who have something artistically
unique inside them that needs to get out. It is the Black Sheep who have the keys to human progress, because the White Sheep
tend to follow each other's arse and the system is all.
THE WALL Words/music: B.Pearce (arrangement: B,Pearce/Bert Leysens)
Every failed relationship makes the wall to belief harder to climb. For a further analysis on this song
and a remarkable conclusion from it, click here
ATALANTA Words/music: B.Pearce (performed live on Radio Centraal)
In the Autumn of 1999, it seemed my relationship with my duo partner (Gill) had moved from lovers to sharers
of a project. Her commitment to the project could be read as " how successful it is in relation to other projects".
So I could see that my persona had shifted from Orpheus to Helen of Troy.... and had moved on to Atalanta. In all cases, most
of the people who surrounded me had similar personae. This cold persona (Atalanta) gradually led me out of the Labyrinth.
It was February, 1996 - and I knew I would be on the road from my base in Antwerp for most of the coming
months. In fact, I would spend the next two years based mainly in Berne, Switzerland. But I didn't know what to expect, so
I wrote this song to anticipate my coming experience.... and how others may view me.
