Grantchester Meadows

Grantchester Meadows 7:27
     (written by Roger Waters)

Lyrics:
Icy wind of night, be gone — this is not your domain
In the sky a bird was heard to cry
Misty morning whisperings and gentle stirring sounds
Belied a deathly silence that lay all around
Hear the lark and harken to the barking of the dog fox gone to ground
See the splashing of the kingfisher flashing to the water
And a river of green is sliding unseen beneath the trees
Laughing as it passes through the endless summer making for the sea

In the lazy water meadow I lay me down
All around me, golden sunflakes settle on the ground
Basking in the sunshine of a bygone afternoon
Bringing sounds of yesterday into this city room
Hear the lark and harken to the barking of the dog fox gone to ground
See the splashing of the kingfisher flashing to the water
And a river of green is sliding unseen beneath the trees
Laughing as it passes through the endless summer making for the sea

In the lazy water meadow I lay me down
All around me, golden sunflakes covering the ground
Basking in the sunshine of a bygone afternoon
Bringing sounds of yesterday into this city room
Hear the lark and harken to the barking of the dog fox gone to ground
See the splashing of the kingfisher flashing to the water
And a river of green is sliding unseen beneath the trees
Laughing as it passes through the endless summer making for the sea

Though he reportedly nicked the first line from another poem, the rest of Roger's lyric is original and quite good. This piece is his pastoral tribute to his childhood home of Cambridge, a beautiful reverie of 'a bygone afternoon.' It is obvious that he is looking at his memories of the area through rose-tinted spectacles, and all the better for it. His imagery of Cambridge's 'endless summer' is beautiful. He uses interesting poetic devices, such as the 'lazy water meadow' (an island in the river?), 'golden sunflakes,' and the laughing river.

Roger probably began work on Grantchester Meadows in late January or early February of 1969, and finished it in early April. It was subsequently included in The Man Suite under the title Daybreak before being recorded for Ummagumma. Roger's acoustic guitar work here is simple but very good, as is his double-tracked harmony vocal, and the piece is considered by most to be the best on the studio LP.

For trivia buffs, a dog fox is merely a male fox; a kingfisher is a type of bird, usually possessing beautiful plumage, which often dives to catch fish, its primary food. In the middle instrumental section, there actually is the sound of a dog fox barking (it sounds rather like a goose) and a bird which could be a kingfisher flapping its wings and splashing, in addition to the compulsory but still effective birdsong. At the end of the song, a fly or bee can be heard buzzing around from the left channel to the right and back, effectively giving the illusion (if the listener is wearing headphones) of an actual insect in the room until the sound of footsteps and a flyswatter rapidly put an end to it.

Musical memories of Cambridge would be continued by Dave Gilmour in his songs Fat Old Sun on Atom Heart Mother and High Hopes on The Division Bell.

TRACK LISTING
Disc One
Astronomy Domine
Careful with that Axe, Eugene
Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun
Saucerful of Secrets, A
Disc Two
Sysyphus
Grantchester Meadows
Several Species of Small Furry Animals Gathered Together in a Cave and Grooving with a Pict
Narrow Way (parts I-III), The
Grand Vizier's Garden Party (Parts I-III), The