Garden of Stone
Two sides of the same life are revealed in this delicate portrait, one telling of an earlier time when strength and power were at hand, the other set in a deathly present where all that remains is silence, security and above all, a blank hardness. As recorded for The Word Is Hugga Mugga Chugga Lugga Humbugga Boom Chit, the song is poised on Martin Carthy's gossamer guitar harmonics, which echo around the stone garden like glassy raindrops. Reproducing them on the much later remake would have been a challenge, and come 1997, synthesisers were available, Fiz Shapur doing the honours in a rather different rendition.
"The onrolling, monorhyming bit is in 3/4, the megalomaniacal bit in 7/4, a time signature I haven't been able to make use of since." - LR (sleevenotes to Perspectives, 1997)
Recordings
Version 1 (1971)
Version 2 (1997) Re-make with Fiz Shapur
Version 2 (1997) Re-make with Fiz Shapur