Winter Song - Lindisfarne

Elvis Costello once called "Winter Song", the third track on Lindisfarne's 1970 debut Nicely out of tune, one of the greatest songs ever, and he may be right. There is a starkness about the presentation, appropriate for a winter song, and it sounds like a solo effort on first hearing but the bass and excellent mandolin work become evident on further listens. The contrasting harshness and gentleness of the vocals at various points is another great feature of this excellent alternative Christmas song that manages to reference snowdrops, the turkey in the oven, the Christmas presents bought, Santa and Jesus and yet remains sceptical throughout. Its message, a typical Alan Hull socialist one it would seem, is that in the midst of winter rather than just feeling sorry for ourselves we should spare a thought for homeless tramps, gypsies and even for Jesus (although even there Hull is as non-commital as he can be). What a striking song.

Do you spare one thought for Jesus

Who had nothing but his thoughts

Who got busted just for talking

And befriending the wrong sorts?

Run for home - Lindisfarne

Run for home is a single from Lindisfarne's 1978 album Back and fourth. Not really a folk song or even a folk-rock song, it is a full production number featuring a beautiful cor anglais element that reflects the whistfulness of the lyrics. At the time, it was hailed as "Alan Hull's best song to date". Not their highest charting song, it sold more than any other. It fits broadly into the on the road genre of rock song but is more definitely a song that reiterates an idea at least as old as the 1823 song Home sweet home! For Lindisfarne home was the north east but there is nothing that ties this number to any particular place - it can be your home or mine (Wales - where I happen to be writing this). One wonders if the confessions (I've made some mistakes ... I've looned with them screamed at the moon Behaved like a buffoon) points to a Prodigal returning home theme but there are so few lyrics it would be hard to sustain the argument. It is best listened to as an assertion that when you've seen all that this world has to offer, you'll probably find that your heart feels warmest for the earliest scenes of your life, back at home. Or to go further, it encapsulates Proverbs 2:8 Like a bird that flees its nest is anyone who flees from home. I can certainly identify with the song's way of thinking, having spent most of my life outside Wales, in London. There's nowhere quite like home.