The Seeds of Time by John Cullimore

Seize the night is my ‘carpe diem’ with a twist , and is a mantra I never tire of repeating (to myself). There are two songs written shortly after returning from visits to Venice (it really does get to you), and the centre of Ireland (Athlone, and the Shannon), where we had a wonderful weekend on a motor boat with some very hospitable friends (Thanks to Walter and Colleen Prendiville for that one!)

I couldn’t resist taking Parry’s Jerusalem and playing around with it . I worry that this sort of music will be ignored by generations to come because of its nationalist connotations and because I sense the audience for the original setting is decreasing. So I make no apology for trying to bring this to a different audience, in an original setting with a question for the listener.

I would like to thank my youngest daughter Polly for backing me up on High about You, and also for inspiring me to write The Seeds of Time , the defining track of the album. Polly spent 6 weeks on a school exchange in South Africa , and brought back some compelling video of children’s orphanages near Pietermaritzburg SA. The song should ideally be played along to this.

I mentioned Wiltshire , my adopted county. Every day I go to work and have the privilege of driving past Liddington Hill , the subject of the 4th song on the disc. I dedicate this song to Alfred Williams, Swindon’s Hammerman Poet (1877 – 1930) , who waxed lyrical on the positive effect that the Hill had on him and its benign ancient atmosphere is still transmitted to this day. Alfred was notable for his treatise ‘ Life in a Railway factory’ and railway history is a growing interest of mine. This is one of the reasons for covering the great Flander’s and Swann song ‘Slow Train’ , the chief one being this is a beautifully sentimental ballad , and gives me the opportunity to recite lots of lesser known British place names – of old stations closed in the Beeching era- But who knows , maybe we will see a revival of suburban railways to end the madness of road congestion and vehicle pollution.

Id like to say a huge thankyou to Nick Weaver for allowing me to put my arrangement of his beautiful song ‘On this day’ on the disk with him on vocals. I love the message behind this song – which seems to be ‘OK guys , it’s a shi**y world , but just for one day, lets all get together and forget our differences’ What a lovely idea. What a lovely song.

Last but not least , Ive included my cover of ‘ We gotta get out of this place’ . I wanted to make it more disturbing and worrying than the original gutsy rendition by Eric Burdon and the Animals , while trying to keep a punchy backbeat and strong bass motif . I think the true test of a musician is to bring originality to something already established in the lexicon of popular music. I await judgment in this respect.

I hope this collection of songs will from quiet invisible beginnings, grow steadily to fruition and ultimately contribute to future generations of song- true Seeds of Time;

I hope you enjoy!

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