‘Day The Ravens Left The Tower, The (1984 E-Zee Hire demo)’ [4:35] (Macdonald/Peters), The Alarm
Lead Vocals:Mike Peters
Lyrics
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I've swept the floors of all my kings I've opened doors and let the tourists in Days of wine and roses Prime ministers, red robes These days are gone I've stood on guard as my Queens were born I've cut the grass on many English lawns Of strawberries and ice cream Of cricket and cold beer These days London Tower's burning Parliament's ablaze Buckingham Palace has gone Somewhere in the distance approaching hoofbeats sound I can hear them saying This is the day the ravens left the tower This is the day the ravens fly away Fly away, fly away Fly away, fly away Fly away I've stood on the Changing of the Guards To the Bloody Tower watching the Crown Jewels A penny for the guy sir? Will you vote left or right? These days London Bridge is falling. St. Pauls Cathedral burns The tower blocks are gone Somewhere in the distance approaching hoofbeats sound I can hear them saying This is the day the ravens left the tower This is the day the ravens fly away Fly away, fly away Fly away, fly away Fly away, fly away Fly away, fly away I never wanna see them fly away I never wanna see them fly away I never wanna see them fly away I never wanna see them fly away Ring a ring a roses, a pocket full of posies Atishoo, Atishoo, we all fall down
Notes
:Recorded 29th-30th November 1984: E-Zee Hire Studios, London. Demo tape sessions recorded by live sound engineer Nigel Luby.
The band sent these tapes to America in December 1984 to legendary US record producer Jimmy Iovine who agreed to record the band in January 1985. The album was going to be titled “Absolute Reality” and a tour was booked to coincide with its projected release. Unfortunately, Iovine never came to Britain to record with The Alarm, Iovine claimed an illness in his family prevented him from travelling. However, it didn’t stop him recording “Once Upon A Time” for Simple Minds. Rumour has it that The Alarm were gazumped by Simple Minds who secured Iovine’s services for a larger advance payment.
Mike Peters Notes
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Dave Sharp Notes
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Eddie MacDonald Notes
:”The Day The Ravens Left The Tower” is my favourite song from “Strength”. I wrote it when I had a bad attack of flu. After suffering the hallucinations one gets from the illness, a TV advert for The Tower Of London had lodges in my brain, and I looked into the folklore that says the day the ravens leave the Tower will be the day that England falls. I tried to set the song as a nightmare where everything’s falling down around you. But the twist is that it turned out to be a love song. Through all the mayhem, hopefully you’ll be with the person you love most of all.
(Strength Tour Program, 1985)
Nigel Twist Notes
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