Paul Cassidy was telling me after the Birmingham show that EC wrote One Bell as a tribute to John Martyn. As soon as I heard it I thought it reminded me of late 60's English folk (Jansch, John Martyn etc), a lot to do with the open tuning, something that Elvis rarely uses.
Last edited by martinfoyle on Mon May 04, 2009 5:09 pm, edited 2 times in total.
What is that he says right after "This is NOT on a record."?
Many thanks for the mp3-- it's a good song, subdued and haunting. It would sound good recorded just like this-- voice and guitar-- I wonder why he's never done an album that way?
In some ways, it reminds me of another subdued, haunting (and unreleased) EC song, "Bright Blue Times." He could easily put together an album of melancholy guitar ballads...
I thought it was a good song on the night, but he does have a lot of songs about windows, birds and bells, doesn't he? Maybe somebody on the board could do some kind of thesis or doctorate on it: "Tapping at the Pane: Windows, Birds & Bells in the Work of Declan MacManus"
Back in April '09 ,after Elvis first sang One Bell Ringing , Nick Ratcliffe wrote on the eclistserv
Set was identical to that played in Basingstoke yesterday with the addition
of a completely new song - One Bell Ringing - as the first encore. EC
played this solo accompanying himself on acoustic guitar.
The song was described as "Bedlam part two" and concerned either
Guantanemo Bay or the shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes. It includes
a reference to a young man the victim of some kind of violence
imagining a spoon of honey and the voices of Portuguese girls.
JULY 22 2005 – Jean Charles de Menezes is killed by police as the hunt begins for the London Bombers responsible for the 7 July 2005 London bombings and the 21 July 2005 London bombings.
Well spotted Nick, even if I like to flatter myself that I may , sitting next to you at that Barbican show, have muttered a guess at just such a inspiriation.
I've just been listening to live recording of this. In Sydney last year Elvis intros. it with a comment about it being about ' a man being in the wrong place at the wrong time'. In Birmingham, U.K. this past June he comments that it's a a terrible thing that happened to a man in London. So the 'Jean Charles de Menezes' inspiration has been hinted at for a while.
I like to think that this song is inspired by the Stockwell shooting of De Menezes and other things besides.
EC is never one to write a simple song. I think there are other allusions and references in this song too, and the stuff about hoods, makes me think of Guantanamo Bay too. As with many other songs, you can take what meaning you want from it. It remains a beautiful, haunting and chilling song, much in the vein of Shipbuilding.
At tonight's Radio 2 Folk Awards, the best song award was given to Chris Wood's 'Hollow Point' ....is about the killing of Jean Charles de Menezes by police at Stockwell underground station in 2005.
