Geography (2018)

LINER NOTES

I have always been a vagabond. Dual citizen since birth, I was brought up in a diplomat’s suitcase, finding homes all over the world, from England to Korea, from Iran to the Oregon coast. I have been everywhere a foreigner and at home, but never entirely settled in any one place. This is the first time I have found myself addressing this issue directly as an artist. Place has always had a big influence on what I write, but never more so than now – each of the different landscapes that inspired these songs fed me in a different way and each gave me a distinct kind of music. What unites them is my curiosity, my joy in each place, and the process of my grief. And they seemed to come in pairs…

For several years now I have led a somewhat triangulated life, bouncing between New York, the British Isles, and Europe. What took me back initially to the UK was the illness and eventual loss of my mother. I returned to the family home in Cotherstone, upper Teesdale, to take care of her; I had to stay put in a part of the world I have loved since childhood but only truly came to know through the hard and also beautiful months of her dying. Walking the moors was my daily solace, and As I walked out (trk.7) came tumbling out, fully formed, over the course of 3 consecutive afternoons – a 13-verse bardic ballad, not my usual fare… Lullabye (trk.10) I wrote for my mum during her last weeks.

On a visit to friends in the Scottish Highlands, I swam in two lochs on the way up and two on the way down – the Four Lochs (trk.13): Tummel and Rannoch, Vaa and Ba (cold!). Another trip, to the west coast this time, resulted in Skye Boathouse (trk.1). Actually, the second part of this track (the traditional music of the British Isles is often played in pairs) is called A Singing Gatepost: many of the country gates are made of tubular metal, with extra holes for reconfiguring, and when the wind blows they whistle. The gate in the back lane behind my parents’ old house sings in A…

I’d never written an American country tune, but now I have two: Triangulation (trk.4), written in Cotherstone, and Queen of Denial (trk. 5), written when I first returned to New York after my mother’s death, her ashes sitting on my piano.

Dos Islas (trk.6) is my first song in Spanish, about two very different islands, Menorca and Manhattan, both of which “toca mi corazon” – touch, and play, my heart. The companion piece, New York Wild Life (trk.3), speaks for itself. It actually began life a long time ago, and is dedicated to the memory of Tim Luntzel, bass player and human being extraordinaire, with whom I first played the song (and many times thereafter).

As is often the case with my music, some of it began life in the theater: Peter’s Dream (trk.11), ecstasis, briefly remembered (trk.12) and the intro to The Lovers (trk.2), all originated in Septimus & Clarissa, a New York theater piece based on an English novel (thanks to Ellen McLaughlin and Rachel Dickstein); the lovers themselves began life as Romeo and Juliet (thanks to Shana Cooper). And both Peter’s Dream and The Lovers definitely come from the chamber music corner of my brain…

And finally two pieces came from letting a new instrument tell me what it wanted to do, in this case the mandola: Swimming and Sicilian Rooftop (trks 9 & 10), both written while at the beautiful Akrai Residency in Sicily (www.akrai.org – thank you).

It turned out that the first recording session was the day after I was diagnosed with cancer. The long months following would not have been possible without the amazing support of my community, whom I thank with all my heart. But it was also wonderful to have this project to focus on as I wrestled with my own illness so close upon the heels of my mother’s death. It has been a peculiar time in my life, and it has led me to a kind of music I could not have made otherwise. Happily I have had extraordinary musicians,friends and supporters to share the journey with – I count myself incredibly fortunate. Thanks to one and all, but particularly to John Kilgore, without whom this recording neverwould have happened.

This is my testimony to the past few years, to what I have loved; a world of beauty to put on the scales against the dark times we live in. It is the closing of one chapter in order to begin the next. Love and beauty, joy and sorrow – ay, que vida….

New York, October 2017

All music and lyrics by Gina Leishman

© 2017 c’estquoi music/BMI

Recorded and mixed at John Kilgore Sound & Recording NYC

by John Kilgore and Gina Leishman

Decca rinsed at Figure 8 by Phil Weinrobe

Mastered at Arf! Mastering by Alan Silvertman

Inside cover photo: Pesha Magid

Special thanks to John Kilgore, and to all the wonderful musicians who helped me make this; and to all my Kickstarter supporters, especially Bella Bardswell, John Gilbert, Christina Maile & Prahba

P 2017 GCQ Records

www.ginaleishman.com

 

LYRICS:

 New York Wild Life

This New York life is for the birds, they have more fun than me

I see them in the treeoutside my window

A parliament of crows is what I need to tell my woes to

or should that be murder

The squirrel chatters to the girl at her desk

but there’s no sign when she replies that he has heard her

This isn’t living, this is just living a lie

This was a river, now it’s a river run dry

This tongue of wood would if it could keep talking but who would hear

These feet of clay will if they may keep walking right out of here

Once I had you or so it seemed or maybe you had me

Oh baby can’t you see outside your window

an exaltation of larks, a dog that barks

The black cat chatters to the pigeons outside

they beat their wings against the window

The sound of feathers oh so close drives him wild

This nest of vipers in my breast pays no attention to the rest of the moral world

They sing of darkness and of mornings without sunshine

They paint a world in which the children have no fun blind and dumb,

This isn’t living this is just teaching a lie

This isn’t giving this is just doing or die

This tongue of wood would if it could just keep on singing if there were one to hear

This heart of stone so all alone would keep on beating if there were someone near

This New York life is for the birds

 

4. Triangulation

Lately I’ve been wondering why

no matter how hard I try

now that I am on my own

now that I may choose my home

I don’t know where it is

Is it in the great big city

no more country what a pity

Is it in the north moors wild

or the southern island mild

or is it nowhere at all

Chorus

East west home is best

home is where the heart is so they say

I don’t mean the point to be belaboured or belated

but what if your heart is triangulated

Some days she thinks she’s okay

then the next she has to say

her head is in the city

her heart is in the hills

her soul is on the island

It’s no wonder that she’s ill

from being triangulated

Then you think that you’re insane

you’ve no reason to complain

Three roofs over your head is fine

just ‘cause there’s no money

there’s no cause to whine

 Simply make a choice and draw the line

and you’ll no longer be triangulated

Chorus

 

 

5. Queen of Denial

  Millions of people die every day

most without money for the piper to pay

You led the good life compared to the rest

but you lived it righteous

you were one of the best

Chorus:

I’m the Queen of Denial now that you’re gone

but I ain’t got your style, honey chil’

so it won’t be long before I say ciao and move on

Some folk think money is all that they need

nothing but greenbacks for their souls to feed

Well sure it can help, of this there’s no doubt

but without some lovin’ you are on your way out

Chorus

 

Some day the world seems doomed to expire

wiping us out in a funeral pyre

Then I look up at the stars in the sky

and realize that’s us in the sweet bye and bye

Chorus

 

 

6. Dos Islas

Hay una isla

hay una isla aislada

hay una isla aislada que toca bien

toca mi corazon

Hay una hermana

hay una hermana hermosa que toca bien

toca mi corazon

Oye mi cancion

oye lo que tengo decir

Mira a mi razon

mira a mi razon de vivir

es lo que toca bien

toca mi corazon

Tierra roja

piedra seca

mar azul profundo

Binibeca

Calo Blanc

Rinco Fondu claro

Hay una isla

hay isla tan loca

hay una isla tan loca que toca bien

toca mi corazon

Hay una familia

hay una familia lejana que toca bien

toca mi corazon

Oye mi cancion… etc

Calles grandes

rascacielos

vida tan urgente

escabrossa

espantossa

demasiado gente

Hay una isla

hay otra isla

Ay que vida

 

7. As I walked out

As I walked out one autumn morn among the leaves so brown

I saw a tree so straight and tall its leaves had not come down

They shone like emeralds green among the hills so dark and bare

and sparkled in the morning light so bright so green so fair

I stopped and stared the whole day through and feasted on the sight

And when again I left that place it was full dead of night

As I began to walk away I turned to see it bow

I plucked my courage in my hand and asked the question, how?

What magic keeps your leaves so green when all is dead and gone?

How can you stand so straight and tall throughout the winter long?

What keep you standing tall when all about do pass away?

This I did ask though hard the task and this I heard it say

‘Tis love that keeps my leaves so green and makes me stand so tall

‘Tis love that keeps me standing straight when all about me fall

‘Tis love that makes me shine so bright and keeps my head held high

Tis love that gives me will to live when all around me die

As I walked out one fine spring morn among the leaves so green

I saw a sight so strange  it was a sight I’d never seen

A tree trunk split in two and from the trunk there grew limbs three

One dead one living and the third ran blood as red can be

How came this thing to pass I asked an old man standing by

All frail and bent he turned his head and looked me in the eye

‘Twas anger split the trunk in two and pride that made it grow

And hate that withered one fine branch and made the blood red flow

As I walked out one winter’s morn before the break of day

The frost was on the ground and all around me diamonds lay

The beck was thick with ice and thrice I crossed it without fear

But then I slipped and then I dipped into the water clear

I peered down through the ice and saw a salmon lying still

It swam up to the crack and said if you allow I will

Foretell of times to come and things you may not wish to hear

But rather know the truth of what’s to come ahan live in fear

Mankind will poison all he sees as he pursues his dreams

To be the best and damn the rest is all that counts it seems

The only thing that stands between the summit and his climb

The one thing he can’t conquer and that is old Master Time

Time wears away the mountain tops and stops the rivers’ flow

Time withers and then bears again the seeds that we must sow

With time all things must pass away no one remains the same

Time heals all wounds it knows no bounds and everything must change

As I walked out one summer’s day among the grass so tall

I saw a bird fly up so high and then I heard its call

The sound rang in my heart it made me laugh it made me cry

It circled overhead then sped away I watched it fly

A short time later I did hear shot ring loud and clear

A flock of birds came winging by some far and some quite near

The sound was like a knife into my heart as still as stone

I knew that one so true was gone and I was left alone

‘Tis freedom lets us soar so high up to the heights so blue

‘Tis fear that ties us to the ground and marks us through and through

‘Tis greed that makes men kill and takes the life from all we see

But love will triumph if we dare to change and let life be

8. Swimming  Swimming in the salty blue water

water blue sky blue too

swim in the blue sky floating free

swimming

Picnic on the sandy shore

sitting in the water blue

hot sun tooon the blue water

floating free swimming

Wind from the open sea

ruffles the water’s edge

waves wash over limbs salty and hot

cool water plays a new tune on her feet

and she has to go swimming again

her body carves a silken pathway

arms in the liquid blue pounding driving on

feel the pull of the depth of the water below

swim for the shore while you can

and the clear water blue

Across the water lies Tunisia

swim fast and you’re almost there

in a dream there lies home

there are boatloads of desperate

people who drown trying to reach where you are

in the clear water blue

swimming in the salty blue water

9. Sicilian Rooftop/Play The Night Away 

Day is slowly breaking, the light is getting stronger

the sky turns blue through the open window

The birds start their morning singing from rooftop to rooftop

and the curtain swellsstarts to breathe in and out

Here it comes the incandescent morning

Too late the warning  the world starts to glow

It’s time to pull down the blinds shut out the light

hiding from the heat of the sun

Twilight slowly falling, the light is getting softer

the shadows lengthen on the neighbour’s wall

The birds start their evening singing from rooftop to rooftop

And the clouds turn pink against an azure sky

and by and by darkness starts to fall

Too late the warning  the day is done

the day is over but now comes the night

Stars fill the sky and the moon is rising

Count the stars from your rooftop before the moon casts its spell

but they start to fade, the world turns black and white

the moon makes day of night

Cats in the alley dogs in the doorway

rats on the rooftop birds on the wire

Stars in the morning sun in the evening

Arms full of pleasure wings of desire

To sleep all day then play the night away

Hey diddle diddle

Cat and the fiddle

Lizard sleeping in the noonday sun

Bells are ringing

Children are singing

Here comes supper run rabbit run

You sleep all day then play the night away

Where are you going my pretty young maid

I’m going to market my life to trade

Where’s all the money

Gone down the drain

Watch all the farmers praying for rain

See all the old men chairs in the shade

Old wives are cooking they’ve got it made

They sleep all day then play the night away

Secret sun on the morning rooftop

Dreaming of swimming gathering thyme

Counterpoint of Sicilian voices

Car door slams bell starts ringing

Time to get up time to get singing

Not sleep all day then play the night away

Where are you going my little old maid

I’m going to market my life to trade

Some day I’ll find you the golden mean

The path beyond sorrow with joy in between

To sleep all day I’m going to sleep all day

then play the night away

10. Lullabye

 

Mama mia

 

All music and lyrics by Gina Leishman

Recorded and mixed at JKSR by John Kilgore and Gina Leishman

Additional mixing at Figure 8, engineer: Phil Weinrobe

Mastered at  ARF by Alan Silverman

© & P 2017 c’estquoi music

Thanks to everyone who gave so generously to make this happen;

also to Ellen McLaughlin and Rachel Dickstein for inspiring Interior I & II and Peter’s Dream; and to Shana Cooper for inspiring Lovers.  And especially to John Kilgore, without whose support this recording never would have happened.

Track 3, New York Wild Life, is dedicated to the memory of Tim Luntzel, bass player and fun-loving human being extraordinaire with whom I first played the song (and many times thereafter).  You are sorely missed.