Our Song of the Day comes from English folk music duo Gilmore and Roberts with a live performance of Things You Left Behind. The song features on their new album A Problem of our Kind, a Featured Album of the Month which you can read the review for here. Katriona shared this very personal insight into the song:
“I wrote this song after very sadly losing my Auntie Pauline to cancer a couple of years ago – it was very quick and a huge shock to everyone in the family. I really struggled to accept it, and I thought writing a song about her might be a good bit of therapy for me. It turned out to be difficult – mostly because I realised it had to be up to a certain standard as I’d have to eventually play it to the rest of my family!
“To give a flavour of Pauline’s personality and to explain a couple of particular lines in the lyrics, here’s some background – Pauline was half Egyptian and had awesome curly hair (in my opinion!) which was the bane of her life, in the way that small everyday things can be. She would often come out of the bathroom in the morning bemoaning her lack of control over it, and she’d sign off from texts or postcards as either ‘Auntie Koala’ or ‘Auntie Hendrix’, depending on her hair that day. She also had a very unique laugh, comprised of a snort and a scream (sometimes simultaneous, sometimes not), into which she would dissolve while trying to relate an amusing anecdote – we never did hear the ending of most of her stories because it was very difficult not to join in with her laughter, even when you hadn’t reached the crucial point of the tale.
“Singing this song live for the first time was a real challenge (and the nearest I’ve come to bursting into tears onstage) but it has become easier, and although (despite being very personal) sadly it’s a very relatable song – many people have lost a loved one to cancer – it’s lovely to have people come up and talk about their own similar experiences, and to know that the song meant something to them.”
The video was filmed by Chris Little and directed by Andy Little.
Lyrics
The bedspread that you gave me
The scarf I always wear against the frost
My initial on a bookmark
That keeps a page I’d otherwise have lost
Your writing curled in character as it billowed from the pen
I wish I’d kept your cards so I could read them all again
Grief is mean but time is kind
And I’ll make do with all the things you left behind
Your true determination
That wouldn’t let your troubled past lay claim
To the life that you had conquered
Except the hair you fought each day to tame
Your infectious screaming laughter as we played those family games
And how we couldn’t help but join you long before the punchline came
The sound will ring forever in my mind
In amongst the things you left behind
The strength you gave your family
The thankfulness with which you’d greet each day
You were always so straightforward
You spoke the words that no one else would say
You gave me good advice but you never pushed your views
You were the easiest to be with, that’s what makes you hard to lose
But love and loss are always intertwined
Wrapped round all the things you left behind
It’s just how we’re designed
And we’ll make do with all the things you left behind
A Problem of Our Kind is out now – http://smarturl.it/GilmoreRoberts1210
Gilmore and Roberts Tour Dates
26/10/18 Mellor Brook Community Centre, nr Blackburn
27/10/18 The Venue Folk Club, Stocksbridge, Sheffield
1/11/18 South Hill Park Arts, Bracknell
2/11/18 Big Comfy Bookshop, Coventry
3/11/18 North Shropshire Folk @ Talbot Theatre, Whitchurch
4/11/18 Acapela, Cardiff
9/11/18 Harwell Village Hall, Oxfordshire
10/11/18 Letwell Village Hall, Nottinghamshire
14/11/18 Baldock Folk Club, Hertfordshire
15/11/18 Komedia, Brighton
16/11/18 Craven Arms’ Cruck Barn, Appletreewick
17/11/18 Etal Village Hall, Northumberland
21/11/18 Cecil Sharp House, London (ALBUM LAUNCH SHOW)
23/11/18 Blue Boar, Maldon
24/11/18 Guildhall, Norwich
25/11/18 Folk at the Froize, Suffolk
27/11/18 Brick Kiln Garden Centre, Chichester **
30/11/18 Song Loft, Stony Stratford
6/12/18 Lion Salt Works, Northwich
**lunchtime show
More details and tickets at www.gilmoreroberts.co.uk/live