53 Years It’s Been
“I ask you again: if you have not been enchanted by this adventure—your life—what would do for you?”
Beginning
“Climbing up on Solsbury Hill” apparently provided Peter Gabriel with the inspiration to leave Genesis and strike out on his own. (And where would we be without Sledgehammer, Shock the Monkey, Red Rain, and—of course—In Your Eyes?)
Solsbury Hill was Gabriel’s first single and he said the song was “…about being prepared to lose what you have for what you might get … It's about letting go.”
Which is not so dissimilar to my decision to leave my career early so we could pursue our dream to travel extensively throughout the UK. So, on this my 53rd birthday, it seems very fitting to climb up on Solsbury Hill and follow Gabriel’s example of letting go.
What a day. The view was breathtaking! Have someone show you the video that includes the Peter Gabriel song.
Middle
After working up an appetite hiking, it was time for an early afternoon mocha and cinnamon roll at my favorite spot in Bath. 😋
The setting isn't too bad either with Bath Abbey behind me!
We swung in a Tesco Express where Keith left me a birthday dime!
Happy March Birthday to you too Keith…and Thank You!
Tears for Fears is one of my all-time favorite bands. Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith began playing music together when they were two unhappy thirteen-year-olds from broken homes living in the Snow Hill neighborhood in Bath. (The photo below was the best we could do…look closely at the wall for the Snow Hill sign.)
Their first recording, "The Sounds of Silence," was made at a Bath music center when they were fifteen and, three years later, the duo was playing gigs in local clubs. Orzabal and Smith found musical inspiration in psychotherapist Arthur Janov and his concept of the primal scream, which provided the basis for their name, Tears for Fears. (Although their song Shout ironically has nothing to do with the primal scream, the concept surfaces frequently in their lyrics.)
Tears for Fears released a demo of Pale Shelter which landed the group a recording contract. They began working in London recording studios, and in 1983 their first album, The Hurting, was released.
I took this picture back in early January at the Round Pond in front of Kensington Palace in London where the cover photo for The Hurting album was taken.
Mad World was a smash hit from The Hurting album. Roland Orzabal and his girlfriend (later wife) Caroline were living above a pizza place on Barton Street, near the Theatre Royal in Bath when he wrote the song.
Orzabel was only 19 when he wrote Mad World.
“I was looking out of the window and seeing these people go on their merry way to work and the whole rat race thing. Being an adolescent who’d never had any real responsibility other than at school, I was critical of [all that] so I wrote Mad World. Not that Bath is very mad—I should have called it ‘Bourgeois World!’ A song came on the radio, it was Girls On Film by Duran Duran, and it had this rhythm that I stole—not that theirs was original!”
Though Mad World was perhaps a bit naïve as Roland suggested, their lyrics consistently demonstrated wisdom beyond their years.
Interestingly, there is currently a Pizza Express here at the end of Barton Street, with the Theatre Royal just to the left. Essentially, this is the birthplace of the first song I can remember having a real impact on me.
All around me are familiar faces
Worn out places, worn out faces
Bright and early for the daily races
Going nowhere, going nowhere…I find it hard to tell you
I find it hard to take
When people run in circles, it's a very, very
Mad world, mad world
End
An amazing and very tasty dinner at Thaikhun in downtown Bath was the perfect end to a wonderful day spent with my very best friend in one of our favorite cities—what a day!
