Poem For Suzanne

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

When I was in my teens, my eldest sister Suzanne moved to New Zealand. I write this poem for her when she left. When I visited years later, I found it on her fridge.
In 2020, Suzanne was diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease. We couldn’t visit her due to the Covid lockdown, and by the time we could, in 2022, her decline had been rapid. I took my mum to visit her in Auckland in October that year, knowing it would be a goodbye. Struggling for things to do for her, I put the old poem to melody – with Will helping on piano and synths. She liked it and asked if it would be on the album.

Suzanne died on 27th Dec. The song was played at her funeral.

lyrics

‘There’s a star that’s shining brightly in the southern hemisphere
A star that used to shine on me when her orbit brought her near
A I used to count on not to fade or fall away
A star that didn’t care that stars don’t shine during the day
A star who used to bathe me in the warmth of her nightglow
A star who shone around me when I had nowhere left to go
A star who shone with passion burning on to every scene
And you can bet she left a mark wherever she had been

Now I cannot imagine just how my life would be
If that star had never been around to shine her light on me
There’s a star that’s burning brightly in the southern hemisphere
And though I hope she loves it there I still wish that she was here’

credits

from Overcome, released February 2, 2024
Music: W. Calderbank, J. de Malplaquet,
Lyrics: J. de Malplaquet

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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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