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ANDREW LENAHAN'S
HEART OF THE SUN
A RED BOX TRIBUTE WEBSITE
SONG LISTING

Speeches

Credits

Words and music by Simon Toulson-Clarke, Julian Close, and Phill Brown
Produced by Phill Brown

Lyrics

[cheering]

[spoken radio clip]
Few people in the audience could have understood Japanese except the Japanese-Americans.

[spoken radio clip]
Two and a half million people out of work, can anything be done to prevent such a prediction coming true?

[spoken radio clip]
Professor Paul Ormeroyd from the Henry Institute...

[chorus, sung but distorted]
can this be truth our eyes are youth
rise up in your strength and show
that by word and by deed
you can sow the seed
from which freedom and truth can grow

[spoken radio clip]
...has criticized the report about radioactive discharge from the Sellarfield nuclear power plant in Cumbria as an exercise in complacency.  The report advises the government--that says discharges have been unduly high--and concludes that the amount going into the sea is undesirable rather than actually dangerous. 

undesirable
undesirable

undesirable
lingereurs
lingereurs
lingereurs

[spoken clip from Panorama TV programme]
[interviewer:] Politicians don't admit that, do they?
[politician:] I don't think that's quite true.

[the remainder of the lyrics are all reversed in the actual recording, see notes below for details]
I used to think that God was here
You know we're down here on our own?

I used to think that God was here
Then on the breezes seem so clear
On certain days throughout the year
Instead of faith the clouds appear

And now you have to let me out
My faith in me is more devout
Our father who art so in doubt
The subject of a turnabout

Commentary

"A rather difficult track to really get a handle on, Speeches was the Saskatchewan b-side and later resurrected for the second release of Chenko as well.  The first recorded Red Box to make use of radio snippets, one might be inclined to compare Speeches with the challenging work found on the SPA release. 

The atmosphere, likened to a political rally, was achieved by reversing an entirely different Red Box song entitled "All For One" and then playing Speeches over the resulting reversed recording, so that for each the chorus becomes the backing track to the song going the opposite way.

Certainly, it's very groundbreaking and experimental, especially when compared to its lovely but straightforward a-side, Saskatchewan.  But does it make for good listening?  Yes, it does, though it wouldn't be my first choice to play for a potential new Red Box fan.  I very much like the lyrics (and wholeheartedly agree with their spirit), and the ticking sound at the start is intriguing.  On a melancholy final note, though, I lament the fate of "All For One", a gentle introspective piece that, with proper treatment, may well have been the superior song."
-- Andrew Lenahan

Discography Information

Speeches
[four minutes,  thirty-five seconds]
Appears on...
Saskatchewan [7"]
Chenko [2nd release, 7" and 12"]

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