Still is the Memory Green in my Mind
After two hard-edged songs about government and power on Bringing the News From Nowhere, this gentle recording arrives like an antidote. However the lyrics themselves are just as grave, the song focusing on the spectacle of a nuclear holocaust, albeit couched in poetic terms. The narrative contains two threads - the devastated world and the time before, when nature held sway. The contrasts between worlds of peace and carnage remind us of the much older "Across the Hills", which Leon might have had in mind when writing it.
Note that Leon ends each post-apocalyptic verse with the phrase, "when the wind blows" - the title of a Raymond Briggs graphic novel about a nuclear attack on the UK. It was adapted into a successful animated film, but this was not released until October 1986, whereas Leon's song was recorded the previous January. If Leon was inspired by the story, he must have been referencing the original book.
When the best-of collection, Rosselsongs, was compiled in 1990, the song was included - but in a re-recording, for reasons which are not clear.
Note that Leon ends each post-apocalyptic verse with the phrase, "when the wind blows" - the title of a Raymond Briggs graphic novel about a nuclear attack on the UK. It was adapted into a successful animated film, but this was not released until October 1986, whereas Leon's song was recorded the previous January. If Leon was inspired by the story, he must have been referencing the original book.
When the best-of collection, Rosselsongs, was compiled in 1990, the song was included - but in a re-recording, for reasons which are not clear.
Recordings
Version 1 (1986)
Cover version (2005) By Nancy Kerr & James Fagan
Cover version (2005) By Nancy Kerr & James Fagan