Das Lied ist inspiriert durch das Gemälde "Gioco delle tre carte della foresta misteriosa"  des Malers Bernhard Röhrenbeck

Text: TNM - Drummer / Bernhard Röhrenbeck

Wie ein geheimnisvolles Hütchenspiel

Über den Schatten des Waldes fliegt der Vogel seine Kreise,  
Mit Farben entstehen die Geheimnisse leise.  
Ein Maler der Träume, mit magischem Flair,  
Kreierte drei neugierige Bilder, mit den Pinseln auf der Reise.  

Nun wähle dein Schicksal und tauche ein, wenn du dich traust!

Oh, wie geheimnisvoll das Hütchenspiel, wo Schicksale sich verweben,  
Hinter jedem Bild ein Rätsel zum Leben.  
Mit einem Schwung seiner Hand mischte er sie flink,  
Wähle weise, mein Freund, in welcher Reihenfolge sie sind!

Bilder wie Tarotkarten, verborgen im Wald,  
Jedes Bild erzählt seine Geschichte, mit Wendungen und Funken, du erfährst es bald.  
„Wirst du reich, oder hast Glück im Spiel?  
Vertraue der Magie, lass dein Herz entscheiden, es führt dich zum Ziel!“

Oh, wie geheimnisvoll das Hütchenspiel, wo Schicksale sich verweben,  
Hinter jedem Bild ein Rätsel zum Leben.  
Mit einem Schwung seiner Hand mischte er sie flink,  
Wähle weise, mein Freund, in welcher Reihenfolge sie sind!

Eine Menge versammelt sich, mit leuchtenden Augen,  
Jedes Herz schlägt schnell, wohin wird die Wahl gehen?  
Was ist hinter den Blättern des Waldes versteckt? Es zeigt Schicksal,  
Lachend über das Rätseln, ist es Glück oder Qual?

( Trumpet, Saxophone, Solo)

(Strophe 3)  
Mit einem Zwinkern und Grinsen laden die Bilder dich ein,  
„Wie ein Puzzle der Zukunft, lass es klar sein.  
Hinter jeder Mischung wartet ein Abenteuer,  
Denk daran, mein Freund, ein Schicksal ist teuer!“

Oh, wie geheimnisvoll das Hütchenspiel, wo Schicksale sich verweben,  
Hinter jedem Bild ein Rätsel zum Leben.  
Mit einem Schwung seiner Hand mischte er sie flink,  
Wähle weise, mein Freund, in welcher Reihenfolge sie sind!

Also komm her, wage ein Spiel in dieser Nacht,  
In diesem Spiel der Farben und stark verzierten Illusionen wird dein Traum entfacht.  
Mit jeder Bilderanordnung, die du erstellst, bleibt das Lachen,  
Denk daran, lieber Spieler, wie ein geheimnisvolles Hütchenspiel, dessen Anordnung du bestimmst!

Wie ein geheimnisvolles Hütchenspiel

What tale ever stays the same in the telling?

"Mythologies" is about the way we all embellish our stories. Especially family lore...and myths. 

My wife complains that I embellish my stories (which I absolutely do!) but I think there is a certain inevitability about that. Tales grow taller in the telling. 

(Post modern literary theory has dedicated an entire oeuvre to the notion -- which even I find a little too much -- but the point remains valid: where is the "truth'? Does there need to be an "absolute truth"? Immutable, for ever? Or could truth just be a point in time?)

The song name-checks a modernist theorist (Roland Barthes, whose highly engaging collection of essays "Mythologies" furnished the song title) and post-modernist theorist Jacques Derrida, whose "deconstruction" of "The Myth of Theuth" posited the idea of multiple voices (or "traces" in his vernacular). 

The song also references two literary pieces (one perhaps more a piece of oratory): Plato's "Republic" in which, in Book X, Socrates argues for the "banishment of the poets from the (idealised) Republic" on the grounds that they peddle their trade on the premise of falsity, imitation, mimesis; and Friedrich Nietzche's 1872 essay "On Truth and Falsity in Their Ultramoral Sense" in which he argues that all truth is necessarily metaphoric in nature. In other words, a narrative.

Family Portraits

Mythologies

Buy Album

"...If there were no room for doubt, there would be no room for me...”

― Frederick Buechner

Taking the 17th Century English Protestant sect as a metaphor, "Puritans" is really about all sects and cults that operate on the edge of extremity, whether Christian; Muslim; Judaic; other. 

Whether the wars waged by the Crusaders in the 11th and 12th century supposedly in the name of Christ; or the 2001 9/11 terrorist actions hijacking both planes and a claim to Islam. 

It's about the danger of conviction. How anyone can possibly be so sure of themselves and their position that they would justify even the worst acts of barbarism?

Essentially, the song is a call for tolerance. For sober heads and thoughtfulness to prevail in the face of fanaticism.

Terra Nova

Puritans

Buy EP

You know the famous idiom: "Marry in haste, repent at leisure"?

This song is something of a twist on that. But rather than agree with it; it subverts it. 

The central thesis is that you might as well (marry in haste) as it's almost impossible to really know someone before you spend significant amounts of time with them (read: years).

If the idiom is negative and preachy ("Told you so!") the song is quite the opposite: it's cheerful and upbeat, saying: "Go for it!"

I am myself in a somewhat arranged marriage (my best friend told me to marry my wife saying he knew what was best for me) and he turned out to be right! :-)

So..."Marry in haste (repent with pleasure)"!

Marry in Haste (Repent With Pleasure)

Marry In Haste (Repent with Pleasure)

A jangly, guitar-driven love song to my two full and one half brother; making an analogy with Alexander Dumas' famous novel "The Three Musketeers", in which the protagonists (like my brothers) couldn't be more different, yet are united as kin: "One-for-all-and-all-for-one"!

Three-and-a-Half Musketeers

A cheerful, guitar-driven lament of a passed relationship with an ex who appears professionally restless.

Ants-In-Your-Pants

An upbeat love song to my wife Juliet's Cornish family, the Hawksworths.

(For those who don't know, Cornwall is a county in the south west of England).

A "Cornish Pasty" is a savoury delicacy from Cornwall comprising a parcel of short-crust pastry filled with minced beef, onions and swedes. Here, though, it's an affectionate metaphor for my Cornish relatives

(The "Good Time Charlies" in the song, are myself and my wife, Juliet, which is how we refer to ourselves).

The legendary King Arthur (of "Knights of the Round Table" fame) was a famous Cornish king who reputedly lived at Tintagel in the "dark ages" (circa the 6th or 7th century a.d.). My 27 year old Cornish nephew is also called "Arthur". Keith is my brother-in-law, who collects Northern Soul records (a favourite genre for both he and I).

Cornwall is strongly Celtic, much like the rest of the western part of the British Isles: Wales, Ireland and the west coast of Scotland. The cuisines in all places share delicacies: variations on the "Cornish Pasty" ("Oggie" in Wales; "mince-and-tatties" in Scotland); but also something called "Hog's pudding" in Cornwall ("mealy pudding" in Scotland; and "white pudding" in Ireland), a sausage made of oats and suet. The song refers to these culinary similarities even though the protagonist gets "his Celtic cuisines" mixed up.

One more note on a "quirk" in the song; the line: "Oggie? Oggie? Oggie? Oi! Oi! Oi!" which is a chant from the area. Apparently, historically, this was a call-and-response chant between the tin miners of Cornwall (back in the day) and their wives, who would bring them "Cornish Pasties" (also known as an "Oggie", especially in Wales) for lunch and basically translates as: "Who would like a Cornish Pasty?". Response: "Me! Me! Me!".

Cornish Pasties

A love song...with a twist. Also a song about depression.

On the surface, it seems like an odd thing to say to a loved one: "We're good time Charlies" and "fair-weather-friends". Surely these aren't celebrated characteristics in any relationship?

But the protagonist suffers from episodes of depression (the "black dog" mentioned in verse two; as well as his "convalescence"). For him, "having fun" means re-joining the party; re-joining life; as "life's a party"...signals exactly that he is now NOT (no longer) depressed.

His raison d'etre is his joie-de-vivre. He wants to live.

So on a deeper level this is a real song of thanks...to his lover, the "other" "Good Time Charlie" who squeezes his hand and understands...who is there for him during his dark bouts. A love song from the patient to his lover and nurse.

Good Time Charlies

Buy album

Good  Time Charlies

A straightforward love song -- a declaration of love -- to my wife, Juliet.

Written in Maidstone Hospital, during a health scare in November 2020 (where a suspected stroke thankfully turned out to be labyrinthitis, a nasty but eminently treatable  infection of the inner ear, which mimics some of the same symptoms, including vertigo, eye-spasms and dizziness), the song was conceived as a sonic memento: a declaration of love to leave behind and return to "just in case I go before you, you can still hear me dream of you"

Summer (Thought I'd Write A Love Song To You)

A love song to much loved but ageing Mum, who saw a few things in her day. Having survived cancer twice and even a bout of COVID-19, she is now 90, and the singer is fearful of her passing.

06) Terra Nova

Orphan (You Gave Me My Name)

Everyone makes mistakes. We measure our maturity not in committing or counting those, but in how we recover from them. 

We are all vulnerable ("...In the final count we are each and everyone alone...") and are in need of a touch of forgiveness at times...and a second chance. That's what the song "Touched By Angels" is about.

Only rarely is it in human beauty that we are "touched by angels"; more more common in the way we enable others (to recover)...through the agency of forgiveness.  Our ability to forgive is what is "angelic" about us humans. It's where we are truly "touched by angels".

As the lyric to the song goes: 

"...It’s rarely faces that are touched by the breath of angels
More often people
Their relationships   
The space between them..."

Forgiveness is probably the strongest power we have. It's the one things we have which is truly "touched by angels".  

This song is dedicated to my much-loved daughter Anneka, for her capacity for love and for giving second chances. With all my love, always. x

Family Portraits (Volume I)

Touched By Angels

"Reciprocity Nexus" is the moniker for British songwriter Hendrik "Henk" Kleinsmiede, for the songs he writes (alone or with friends) away from his other frequent music vehicle, "The Third Space", a virtual band and songwriting partnership with his best friend Joe Farthing. 

As the name suggests, "Reciprocity Nexus" is a network or exchange for musical ideas and collaborations. The collaborations on single songs with friends Nick Bird ("Brand New Day") and SIljan Panovski ("Suit of Armour") apart, the albums Henk has released under the name "Reciprocity Nexus" are ostensibly "solo" records (in that Henk has written almost all the songs on these albums himself). Yet, he is not comfortable going under his own name; for he feels the contributions of other collaborators are vital. He seeks to acknowledge that through the name.

Marry In Haste (Repent with Pleasure)

Reciprocity Nexus

Related tracks