On the desolate Danish island of Fyn, while driving a hired car from a songwriting camp on the island/Isle of Samsø on route to Copenhagen, I broke down. There was almost no traffic on the narrow back road where I brought the car to a holt, steam and boiling water shooting out of the bonnet. I knew that letting the engine cool down and topping up the water might very well solve the problem, but it was a ridiculously hot day and I had nothing drinkable left in the car.
After having tried to flag down passing cars without luck for almost an hour, I ventured up a dirt track to a farm I had spotted in the distance. As I approached the main farm entrance I was greeted by a warning sign “No trespassing” and to my astonishment a couple of riffle shots was fired in my direction. This convinced me that the shooter probably meant business and I quickly ducked behind the nearest elderberry bush, shaking like a Polaroid picture.
“Ahoy, Ahoy I come with only peace, love and sinful songs my friend !”, I yelled out.
A swift answer came back followed by a rough cackle: “Hello stranger. Is that a geetar in your hand there? Get it out boy and come play with me”, the voice commanded. A woman popped her head around the corner of a multi coloured favela looking row of shacks behind the main farm building. It looked like she had been in the process of feeding the chickens and had spotted me from there. She pulled out a 5 string banjo from the haystack next to her as we sat down next to each other. “So whatcha got for me boy?”, she said. The first thing that sprung to mind, was an old, almost forgotten song called Ordinary People, which I had written years before with my old writing partner Joe Killington. It goes like this:
After having tried to flag down passing cars without luck for almost an hour, I ventured up a dirt track to a farm I had spotted in the distance. As I approached the main farm entrance I was greeted by a warning sign “No trespassing” and to my astonishment a couple of riffle shots was fired in my direction. This convinced me that the shooter probably meant business and I quickly ducked behind the nearest elderberry bush, shaking like a Polaroid picture.
“Ahoy, Ahoy I come with only peace, love and sinful songs my friend !”, I yelled out.
A swift answer came back followed by a rough cackle: “Hello stranger. Is that a geetar in your hand there? Get it out boy and come play with me”, the voice commanded. A woman popped her head around the corner of a multi coloured favela looking row of shacks behind the main farm building. It looked like she had been in the process of feeding the chickens and had spotted me from there. She pulled out a 5 string banjo from the haystack next to her as we sat down next to each other. “So whatcha got for me boy?”, she said. The first thing that sprung to mind, was an old, almost forgotten song called Ordinary People, which I had written years before with my old writing partner Joe Killington. It goes like this:
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