When I write my Symphony
Delius was a superb composer, but he never got around to writing his symphony. In this song I have him dwell on this last great challenge as he nears the end of his life.
LYRICS & CHORDS:
(Em) The world will fall before my feet
My (C)geni(D)us they'll (Em) see
My other works? Mere essays!
When I (C) write my (D) Sympho(Em)ny
(Em) From the bowler hats of Bradford
To the (C) garden at (D) Grez-sur-(Em)Loing
My past has always haunted me
Inspir(A)ations for my (Em) songs
I may have walked to paradise
In the (A) days when I was (Em) wild
I may have had a brief affair
And (C) left be(D)hind a (Em)child
I read Norwegian epic poems
Heard the first cuckoo of spring
Met poets and great painters
But it didn't mean a thing
I sang the praise of Paris
An Opera I once made
But the barbs of acid critics
Hurt me like a blade
CHORUS
Absorbed by Whitman's "Leaves of Grass"
I drifted across the sea
Pained to find the notes I wrought
Met with antipathy
Nietzsche once inspired me
I wrote a mass for life
But my true inspiration
Was Jelka my darling wife
As I wrote my "Song of Summer"
I was in my Autumn years
Going blind and deaf by then
Composing through my tears
The follies of a wasted youth
Would haunt my final days
As syphilis spread through my blood
And became a fatal malaise
CHORUS