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E​.​P​.​N​.​S.

from Firegazing by Brian Boothby

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about

Playing on the relative values and properties of Electro-plated Nickel Silver, (EPNS), and true silver, in relation to the vestiges of British Empire attitudes and specifically my own father. A eulogy with a difference.

lyrics

E.P.N.S.

Wind roars sou’westerly, thinning out the woods,
Dancing air warms the soil, rattling the buds,
Spring tide stampedes silver horses over the flotsam shore,
It’s a salty blow, a wind of change, tumbling all before.

E.P.N.S., trying to be someone,
Silver, trying to be me,
E.P.N.S., keeping up appearances,
Silver, keep the vision free,
E.P.N.S., covering up the alloy,
Silver precious through and through,
E.P.N.S., keep the aspidistra flying,
Silver ……….. keep whatever’s true.

This grand old man was once a boy, came by a silver ring,
Risked his life at age fifteen to soldier for the king.
Now passed away, his worldly goods have come at length to me
And the ring that could have killed him, sits tarnished on my knee

E.P.N.S. ……

This ring will shine with elbow-grease, but much that won’t is here:
Generations’ hand-me-downs, a century of fear
Of shortage and conscription, losing battle, losing face,
Of letting down the standards that the Empire put in place.

Mourning father’s passing leaves so much left to say,
We honour his bequest and what it gives us day to day,
But the rest is out to charity, to auction or for free,
The E.P.N.S. is up for grabs, the silver stays with me.

E.P.N.S. …….

And as the winter’s wild geese thread home through the swallows’ flock,
At this cusp of the seasons, at this changing of the clock,
E.P.N.S. overboard, true silver strapped tight to the mast
We go hurtling into the future, and leave behind the past.

E.P.N.S. ……..

credits

from Firegazing, released September 17, 2017
Written by Brian Boothby
Acoustic Guitar: Chris Ellis
Fiddle: Adam Summerhayes
Acoustic Guitar and Vocals: Brian Boothby

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Brian Boothby Derbyshire, UK

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