To Name A Song

I’m going way back to the first song on my second album, a song called Antelope March. I love this song, it was really fun to put together.

I was rehearsing in a rehearsal room in Harold’s Cross, in a room next to a stable where horses were kept. On the drumkit there, I tapped out a simple rhythm which became the foundation of the song. I had a working title of ‘Antelope’ drawn from a lyric:

An antelope walks across the kitchen, silent and noble she knows what I’m thinking.

As I worked on it over a number of months, I changed the working title to Antelope January, Antelope February and then of course Antelope March. I was working with a great producer at the time, Jimmy Eadie, and in his special studio in Bow Lane in Dublin (now sadly a hotel or something similar) I shared Antelope March with him. He commented that it was a strange title. I said nothing and reflected on how it worked well with the atmosphere of the song, suggesting marching Antelopes and fantastical vistas.

I love to stay open to these cosmic whisperings, to surrender control and hear suggestions beyond myself.

On the Lyrics of 'Breaking'

On the quest of a breaking wave

In the hollow of a breaking heart

In the glare of a breaking dawn

Things break apart

- Breaking (from Keg)

A breaking heart, a breaking dawn, a breaking wave: different kinds of breaking. These are some of the lyrics from a song that I wrote sometime around 2020. Obviously a time when it seemed things were breaking. It can still seem that way.

But the song has other particles to challenge the sense of fragmentation, sung in a counterpoint to the above lyrics.

We all clapped, clapped our hands and danced, when the daffodils grew,

We all clapped our hands, clapped our hands and danced when the swallows flew,

We all clapped our hands, clapped our hands and danced, when they opened town

We all clapped our hands, clapped our hands and danced, when the walls came down.

These are optimistic scenes, maybe naively so, but for me, a little optimism can go a long way - can give something to hang your hat on. To me, that’s more motivating than endless scenes of darkness. Music is a good medium for this type of reflection as it doesn’t stand still, it can change, go dark and then light, be broken, be whole.