Waltz With Me Darling - 2023 version!

Its a been a busy Autumn so far! Last night I played at CAT for the students on the Futuring Module. It was a good one! I was joined by Nic on double bass, Spiv on sax, and Ben on trumpet. they both played percussion too in some songs.

I have quite a few more gigs coming up between now and Christmas:

10.11.23 - Worldwide Welshman (solo show), supporting Tommy Mills and Pedro at the Mid-Wales Arts Centre, Caersws

11.11.23 - Lo-fi Jones / Tacla yn Neuadd Llangywer, Ger Y Bala

17.11.23 - Worldwide Welshman / Lo-fi Jones / Yasmin Latkowski at Saith Seren, Wrecsam

23.11.23 - Worldwide Welshman / Pete The Temp, Bank Vault, Aberystwyth

24.11.23 - Worldwide Welshman / Pete The Temp at The Magic Lantern Cinema, Tywyn

25.11.23 - Worldwide Welshman / Pete The Temp yn Ysgol Bro Hyddgen, Machynlleth, fel rhan o gynhadledd/gyfarfod genedlaethol XR Cymru / XR Cymru's nationa gathering!

9.12.23 - Worldwide Welshman in Brunel Goods Shed, Stroud!!

16.12.23 - Worldwide Welshman Christmas Party in the Bank Vault, Aberystwyth

On the 1st of November, I released a new version of "Waltz With Me Darling" recorded in January this year. It features Ailsa Mair, The Fairytale Cellist on cello and vocals, and Nicolas Davalan on double bass, and was recorded, mixed and mastered by Mike West at Our Lady Studio, Borth.

It is a love song for all those trapped in a situation of conflict or fear.

Worldwide Welshman · Waltz With Me Darling (2023 version, featuring Ailsa Mair)

If you feel like it, you’re welcome to sing the song in folk clubs and open mic nights. 
Here are the chords & lyrics:


E             C#m           A          B  
Waltz with me darling waltz with me my love,
E             C#m             A          B 
waltz with me sweetheart we're floating above
C#m        G#m          A          E
all of the death and destruction below, if
C#m          G#m       A             B        B7
we were to fall and die no one would know


waltz with my darling waltz with me my girl, lets
dance to the airport and fly round the world
you laugh but I'm serious, one of these days,
we'll earn enough to escape from this place

E              C#m        A    B
leave all this carnage and violence,
defy all those who wish to silence us


Hide with me darling hide with me my dear,
don't talk to loud or they might overhear,
all of the secrets my heart says to you  
when will they leave us to live as we choose?

Run with me darling, lets set ourselves free
leave our fraught, dissected community
one of these days we'll be happy again
away from this tragedy, hardship and pain

B7          B7            
but my love how could we

leave our community burning,
only the memories returning, if we
left all this carnage and violence,
who'd stand up to those who silence
us

Commentary

The song was originally written in the summer of 2014, when bombs rained down on Gaza and Aleppo (there’s an earlier version on my first CD, “The World if like a crazy goat”, released in 2018).
We decided to re-record it in January in response to the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine.
In gigs, I often dedicate this song to refugees like my grandmother, Bella Kerridge, who came to the UK from Bessarabia in Eastern Europe to escape the anti-Jewish programs.
The characters in the song could be living under any conflict or oppressive regime. The war, the trauma, the violence moves around. Human life is not valued as it should be. Racism and colonialism persist.
 
In a recent CAT lecture, Dr Leon Sealey-Huggins explained how colonialism is one of the root causes of the climate crisis and also a lot of the conflict and instability we see today. His argument made a lot of sense to me. I recommend listening to one of his lectures.

Our hearts goes out to everyone suffering at the moment from war, racism, oppression, tyranny and political failure in Palestine and Israel, in Sudan, Ukraine, Syria, Yemen, Myanmar, Ethiopia, Libya, and in many other places around the world. We join sane and rational voices in the international community calling for a #Ceasfirenow in Palestine-Israel, the release of all hostages and political prisoners, and end to the blockade of Gaza, and end to the occupation, and equal rights for all citizens of Israel & Palestine regarless of religion, political beliefs, ethnicity, tribe, gender, sexuality or ability. 

The think the UN Secretary General, António Guterres was bang on.

This Welsh Jew says, #NeverAgainForAnyone !

The differences between us are artificial, stoked by extremists, cult-mentality, dehumanisation of ‘the other’. We are all human, and we are suseptable to these thinking errors. We must be mindful of this, and challenge these narratives in ourselves and others.

Personally, I have found hope in the organisations in Palestine and Israel who are working towards peace and co-existence. Please help amplify their voices! As a Jewish person (I was brought up Catholic, but my grandmother on my mother’s side was Jewish), I find myself to be very much aligned with organisations such as Na’amod. Its not really my business to give an opinion from afar; I can only offer my greatest sympathy and compassion for all the people on 'both sides' of the artificial divide who’ve lost loved ones and support the voices calling for a non-violent solutions. But for what it’s worth, I think the “One Democratic State Campaign” is an idea worth promoting. It is a “Palestinian-led initiative which […] strives for the establishment of a single democratic state in historic Palestine, based on political, social, economic and cultural justice, in which Palestinians and Israeli Jews live in equality. [The campaign] was launched by Palestinian and Israeli Jewish activists, intellectuals and academics in early 2018 in the city of Haifa”. I know that many people out there who might disagree with this proposal, and I respect your views.

****

We wish for a world without borders and without war, where all people can live in freedom without fearing for their lives, where people are treated with compassion. Furthermore, our care and respect should extend to animals, plants and the whole ecosystem. Our freedom must not encroach on others' freedom, and all of us must live within the planetary boundaries.

The proceeds from downloads of the song will be donated to humanitarian relief charities.

Please join the international call for a ceasefire in Palestine & Israel: https://www.saferworld.org.uk/resources/news-and-analysis/post/1015-ceasefirenow-open-call-for-an-immediate-ceasefire-in-the-gaza-strip-and-israel

With love,

Liam & Ailsa