How does one describe innate fear?
I wrote the song Murky Waters as a co-write, lyrics only, and left the rest to my songwriter partner on the track Will Fergusson. He and I have shared a conflictual relationship. We... fight. Every rehearsal. We agree on nothing except food. But through music we have spent much time together.
He always took me to water sources - river, lake, sea. His favourite river is the one that he grew up with, the River Deben in Woodbridge. He lives by the Toaist mantra "be like water". He has much water about him generally. The trips to the sea and lakes and rivers were pleasant on the whole... except that each time, I'd begin to feel afraid. It is true that I almost drowned when I was six and have become a committed swimmer ever since. Maybe one day I will beat the waves. But I don't think it was that. It was a fear of something I couldn't name. An omnipotent element and the limitlessness of a musical genius I had not seen before? I don't know.
The lyrics came in a matter of minutes; I didn't edit them despite their flaws. And of the 12 sets of song lyrics I gave to Will, he chose only Murky Waters. There is no other instrumentation on the track, just piano and vocals.
This is a song that was born spontaneously and one that has a life of its own. I don't want to tamper with Murky too much.
Some things you can't explain.
Click the pic for the song
