written and produced by The Powdered Earth (Moorey/Young)
all instruments: George Moorey
vocals: Shane Young
My songwriting partnership "The Powdered Earth" with Shane Young is strong. To date we have written 33 songs and made and released recordings of those songs. This is one of my favourites.
Shane attended a funeral during pandemic. It was for the father of one of his childhood friends. The deceased was an amateur musician who had played alongside prominent professionals during his time on earth. Under his father's tutellage Shane's friend had gone on to become a famous music star in the 90s and write with some of the biggest pop stars in the world.
Earlier that same week I had sent Shane a musical sketch to digest. Listening to the eulogy at the funeral got Shane thinking and inspired lyrics that told some of the story that he had heard in the eulogy about the last years of this old man with Alzheimer's spent in a care home.
This is Shane's friend's mother's response. She sent the song to the nursing home her spouse resided at:
I hadn't realised they lost 22 residents to covid in the early days of the pandemic. One is humbled by the bravery of staff of nursing homes that were so neglected to begin with. It is an extraordinary song
and this is the nursing home manager's response:
Thank you for sharing the song/poem with me. I felt very emotional listening to it. I recognise people in the song. I remember Caroline asking to have Harry’s door open to hear his beautiful music … Wendy sorted flowers and called everybody darling etc etc ….
It made me cry for all the lovely residents I have known and are no longer with us and it made me cry for the way Brockworth House used to be. I don’t think it will ever be the same again.
Always people passing
In the corridor outside my open doorway
And sometimes, without warning,
One of them comes inside to stay
They’ll bring a bunch of flowers
And clip them neat and put them in the window thing
And ask me if the last ones
Are ready for recycling
What’s left of the day
I am left to wonder
Where the kindness came from and will it come again
A woman brings me ice cream
And a glass of milk to drink
I don’t know how she knew my favourites
It’s impossible to think
A younger chap arrives and wheels me out into the garden
For a summer stroll
We talk about the trees and birds and butterflies and temperatures
And fields of gold
What’s left of the day
I am left to wonder
Where the kindness came from and will it come again
Who’ll be my next friend
The flower lady calls me darling
The young man calls me dad
The ice cream woman calls me Harry
She wrote it on my pad
When I play my Mozart records
She comes in to turn the volume up
She says it fills the corridor
Like honey dripping from a magic cup
What’s left of the day
I am left to wonder
Where the music comes from
It’s Heaven, I am sure,
that spills out of the door
All the faces close to me
Like debris on a sea
A floating cabaret
Like the bracelet on your arm
The chains from charm to charm
They dissolve away
There was a picture in a room
But I can’t lift the broom
To clear the way
I had a whole world on a string
But time’s unravelling
The threads of yesterday
Listening again. I have no idea how your words come to you. This is the music the world needs.
The mind when tired tiptoes off to find a place to rest. Full colour in the background supporting that you once were someone’s best. Thank you again guys for reminding me of human value.
You guys are quickly becoming one of my new favourite artists. Please keep creating art, whatever you do. I love everything about this.
It’s miserable, haunting, sad, hypnotic, melancholic and I love it
The best music I’ve heard in a long time! I wish I could have conversations with you
So beautiful and sad all at once. My grandmother succumbed to Alzheimer’s not too long ago. This track tears me up a bit. I wonder if I’ll face the same fate.
Well, what to say? I've worked most of my life as a carer in homes and that's where this one sends me, you speak of losing time, kind people etc. all there, amazing
Stunningly beautiful and powerful
I just feel so pleased to listen to your lovely music and words they are so relaxing, thank you
Absolutely beautiful! Very inspiring
Why am I crying?
I thought I knew this song but got a whole different layer of meaning seeing the lyrics on the screen. Really poignant.
I love this such a touching story song so beautiful
Absolutely beautiful, gave me goosebumps
Guys, just lyrically and musically beautiful, so glad I stumbled across you when I did. I’m looking forward to everything you do in the future
Another song that I love
Simply beautiful yet again
That’s just magic
So easy to listen to. Haunting yet strangely soothing
© George Moorey 2022. Photography (unless noted otherwise) by Shane Young