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THE BROKEN APPOINTMENT

by David Heavenor

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When I was at school I was affected by the Thomas Hardy poem A Broken Appointment, one of his many struggles in love. I love some of his images: 'time torn' and 'the hope hour' and 'marching time drew on and wore me numb..'

This song for me is located in Edinburgh at a small bandstand by the pool at Blackford Hill and I imagined the guy waiting for the girl who 'did not come' and he's just left with silence and then the traffic thudding by and of course it's a harbinger of their doomed relationship..

This was a demo for The Night Visitors album Private which we never recorded.

A BROKEN APPOINTMENT
And marching Time drew on, and wore me numb.
Yet less for loss of your dear presence there
Than that I thus found lacking in your make
That high compassion which can overbear
Reluctance for pure lovingkindness' sake
Grieved I, when, as the hope-hour stroked its sum,
You did not come.

You love not me,
And love alone can lend you loyalty;
-I know and knew it. But, unto the store
Of human deeds divine in all but name,
Was it not worth a little hour or more
To add yet this: Once you, a woman, came
To soothe a time-torn man; even though it be
You love not me. 'You did not come and marching time wore me numb.'

lyrics

THE BROKEN APPOINTMENT


I've been thinking of you with time on my hands
It came to me in this strange way
There I stood on the corner of the park
Waiting for you after dark
The traffic choked and time rushed on
Then I noticed that you'd come and gone
And silence met me like that Thomas Hardy poem
He tapped on my shoulder and said 'You're all alone'
And nobody mentioned that there once had been another time
Soft and warm in your arms


So come on join me in this temporal affair
Are you stranded without belief?
There you stare from the border of your desk
Just like some superstarved Intelligence Chief
And I hear the President has come to play
His whole entourage has filled your Frigidaire
And they feed you sandwiches from plastic trays
Stamped with a logo that says 'I love you babe'
And all your friends stare out from prime-time screens
Relaxed in the postures of their ease


I hold back my head, hold my hands up, hold my heart
Hold out this song in front of you
For when the time was right and you appeared
There's nothing else I have to do
The time was right and you appeared
And all you said was 'I see you'


Then time came to me and he split my boots
Called me a stranger without roots
Blown up on a pavement on some wind-crazed day
Where you'd arrived ... just to walk away
And I called him a devil and I named him a thief
Using my lifetime for his light relief
And there back on the corner where you'd set your play
A boy arrives, a girl walks away
And all the trees were swaying and the town band played
'Oh I believe in yesterday.'

credits

released February 26, 2009
Voice and guitar, sample: David Heavenor
Drum samples, Banjo, Electric Guitar Simon Jaquet

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David Heavenor Edinburgh, UK

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David Heavenor is a Scottish singer songwriter based in Edinburgh Scotland. He has produced 8 albums plus 3 EP's.

I'm Watching Rosanna. ' An insightful song....beautifully written and observed. Iain Anderson. BBC Radio

'Jenny & the Cold Caller. One of the best songs ever written...' Ricky Ross ... more

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