If Only

from Overcome by The Miserable Rich

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    Compact disc version of the new album.

    Our first studio album in 12 years - and perhaps our most meaningful and immediate.

    The title comes from an area of language I had been exploring with my students; the contranym – words which are the opposite of themselves. Dust, buckle and sanction are all good examples of these. I liked how The Miserable Rich Overcome could have interpretations of strength and of weakness.

    In truth, the album came about due to both these things. It is the product of us getting together because some of us were going through some particularly difficult times. The music was a good excuse to hang out. Pizza, beer. Talk. Occasional tune. After a while, we kind of had an album.

    On many hills in Sussex, you can see these beautifully bent hawthorn trees. They incredibly compelling, shaped by the harsh coastal winds, and it is hard not to anthropomorphise them. They are beautiful to us because they look like they have been through great difficulty. Without this – the less misshapen trees are far less eye-catching. The beauty is the product of this perceived pain.

    I thought this would be a fitting emblem for the album. I googled images and found an amazing one. I found the photographer on Facebook and asked him where it was. He was very kind and sent me a pin, it was just next to Cuckmere Haven – a very special place for me wife and I. it is where we took our son’s ashes – a place we go back to each year on the anniversary of his death to launch a boat I carve for him and mu wife fills with orange flowers she has collected for him. It is very close to the place we organise a sponsored walk each year for the charity we started in his name.

    I photographed the tree in winter and in late spring bloom to represent both the desperation and the hope that are part of making and meaning of the record. You can flip the vinyl over to reflect which side is closest to your mood.

    Includes the final song to be added - 'Poem For Suzanne'.

    Release date: 2nd Feb 2024

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about

This was an old song of Jim’s – I think one of the first he ever wrote. It was in response to grief – a friend who died in a car crash – the music doing what he couldn’t find the words for.
I didn’t know that part til I wrote this and asked about it.
The lyric is addressed to Kit– and fairly straightforward to understand. The things I am singing in the verses are simple things I appreciate in life – ones I wish Kit could have experienced.

I feel extremely exposed in this song and am full of doubt about it. We were originally going to put it away at the end of the album – maybe even a secret song – but the alphabet has meant it’s ended up in the heart of the record. I suppose that is fitting.

Thanks again to Alabaster de Plume for guest sax. He appears on both songs to my sons.

lyrics

Spoken:
Sometimes I see you
In my mind’s eye
The little boy you would be now
A sweet little ginger boy
Soft and sensitive
Silently watching your brother
And playing together
But you never speak
I wish with all my heart I could meet that boy
Hear his voice
Put my arms around him
and bring him home
Each year we go to the woods
Cut down a tree
And carve a boat in the days
You were alive



Sung:
‘The birdsong at break of day
The blossoms of spring
Just watching the breaking waves
The sea rolling in
The smell of the fresh cut grass
The glisten of dew
Reflections in coloured glass
An answer you knew
A view from above the downs
The lushness of green
Kicking autumn leaves all around
Sugar in the bloodstream

If we only could
Go back there and find another way
If we only could
Go back there and take it all away
Spoken:
Your mum collects and dries orange flowers for you
On the day you died,
We go to Cuckmere Haven
Where we left you
And fill the boat with flowers
Feathers, keepsakes
And send it off to you
We know it won’t reach you
We hope another little boy or girl
Somewhere along the waterway will find it and enjoy it

Sung:
The salt drying on your skin
The sun on your face
A day of just wandering
All over the place
The light in the afternoon
The sun going down
A voice calling after you
The one you want around

If we only could
Go back there and find another way
If we only could
Go back there and take it all away
If we only could
Go back there and have you here today

The sand underneath your feet
The flow of the tides
Hearing your child’s heartbeat
The tears that you cry
The comfort of old friendship
The thrill of the new
A rainstorm in warm blankets
It’s better with two
The sight of the harvest moon
Looking up at the stars
Singing a favourite tune
The stories of scars
A fire as the nights draw in
The lick of the flames
Sitting up through the night talking
The sharing of pains

If we only could
Go back there and find another way
If we only could
Go back there and take it all away
If we only could
Go back there and have you here today

credits

from Overcome, released February 2, 2024
Music: J. Briffett, W. Calderbank, M. Deering, J. de Malplaquet, R. Lovell
Lyrics: J. de Malplaquet

Violin: Mike Siddell

Sax: Alabaster de Plume

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The Miserable Rich Brighton, UK

creators of the fiery chamber music for song lovers: tellers of tales, writers of tunes, forgetters of punchlines. equal parts surly, silly and sumptuous.

the sound of one lip kissing.

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