The howling winds, the fading grass
The leaves that tumble as they pass
And you and I may not last this autumn

The things we do, I don't know why
We build it up, we reach so high
Then tear it down, watch it slide
I don't know why

The rolling hills, the peaceful plains
They lie beyond our crooked games
Why do we twist, why do we try to take it all?
I don't know why

The deepest sea, the farthest shore
It's not enough, we still want more

The things we do, I don't know why
Why do we bend, why do we pry?
Destroy it all, pull down the sky?
I don't know why

Image by Natalia Y

I Don't Know Why

Physical Graffiti, la cumbre de Led Zeppelin y por ende del rock del siglo XX cumple 50 años y para celebrarlo, recurrimos a uno de los mejores guitarristas patrios y que se conoce la obra de los Zeppelin al dedillo, Rafa Kas. Con él hablamos sobre Bonham, Page, John Paul Jones y Robert Plant, de las grandes canciones del disco -descartes de otros discos incluidos- y también de algunos de los asuntos que siempre se le han echado en cara a los británicos, como son las letras y las fusiladas de Plant y Page, especialmente de este último a trabajos de otros artistas, lo que nos lleva a Bert Jansch y que Rafa nos hable de afinaciones, de los temas que más le gustan tocar y de uno que es prácticamente imposible. 
Por supuesto lo completamos con una selección de temas del Physical Graffiti, una invitada especial del Houses of The Holy y una -digamos- "demo". Todo en vinilo excepto esa demo.


#spoiler #tracklist

1 - Custard Pie
2 - The Rover
3 - In My Time Of Dying
4 - The Rain Song
5 - Trampled Under Foot
6 - Kashmir
7 - In The Light
8 - Bron-Yr-Aur
9 - Swan Song
10 - Ten Years Gone

Wickend 113 - Led Zeppelin - Physical Graffiti con Rafa Kas

Originally aired on City Wall Radio on the 1st of March 2025.

This is Vol. 23 of <2 (two & under). A continuous stream of short musical creations, each under two minutes, miniature masterpieces interwoven, transitioning seamlessly from the briefest to the longest—a perpetual motion of sound.

Mutations 8 by Basil Kirchin & Jack Nathan
<2 Intro
Secret (Interlude) by Tennyson
Introduction by Jenn Grant
The Boss by Racoma
Far Away by Amp Live & Del the Funky Homosapien
Of Giving by Nitai Hershkovits & Daniel Dor
Treat Me A Stranger by Kiran Leonard
Nightly News by Crumb
Impression Couleurs by Roméo Poirier
A Conversation by quickly, quickly
I Keep Losing Sleep by Biig Piig
IGOTPROBLEMS by Qari
Bust by Lomelda
Sleuthed/Full Cuts by Will Johnson
Porcelain by jonatan leandoer96
Sleep Will Come by The Durutti Column
man in the mirror by MIKE
A Concrete Corridor by Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross
Mela by Pys Melyn
Waltz; Reprise by naran ratan
In My Head, I Am a Tailor by Thomas Flynn
Dweller’s Interlude by Dweller
Jocko’s Lament by Michael Hurley
The Cloning of Fudadeg Ulag by Salako
Diamond Meadows by T. Rex
Old Hope by Angelo De Augustine
The rest is silence by Puyain Sanati
In Deep Waters by Twinsistermoon/Natural Snow Buildings
Dust Filled Room by Bill Fay
Play Shadows by Guided By Voices
Norton by The Vernon Spring
Damsels by The Daddyo’s
K. Freund by Twix Loop
Tell Me What Is True Love by Bert Jansch
Un long été chaud by The Offline
mixed with
Frank Lucas by Freddie Gibbs & The Alchemist ft. Benny the Butcher
Hansel & Gretel by Zelooperz ft. Boldy James
A Goodbye Song by Norma Tanega
Beware Design by Seafood
Choke Throat by Goon
Brown Baby (excerpt) by Nina Simone
mixed with
New Pastoral Life (excerpt) by Minami Deutsch

<2 (two and under): Vol. 23

Light flicker in the distance
Light streaming at the edge
The lost horizon is bleeding red

Joy comes in the morning
Hope at the break of dawn
In the fairy stories or the old, old songs

Now love, we'll be like the flowers
We'll lift our heads again to the sun

Two sparrows for a penny
Still precious in the father's hand
No need to worry (that's hard to understand)

But now love, we'll be like the sparrows
Oh we will fly, we'll soar
And now love, don't fret about tomorrow
The sun will rise once more

A shimmer on the water
Sun-dappled sea
And a ship that sails for you and me

Storm clouds are raging
Covering all the blue
But the light will soon be breaking through

And yes love, we'll be like the flowers
We'll lift our heads again
Now love, we will greet the hour
This is not the end
Oh yes love, we'll rise like the flowers
Once again

Image by Ilya Lix

We'll Be Like The Flowers

New guitar and voice demo:

I've been thinking of the faces
All the memories she graces
Where do they go?

When I cross the empty spaces
Reaching for familiar places
How do I know?

You know I don't
And I won't find my way home

I'm wayward, wandering
Lost without the beacon of you
I can't recall the shape of your star
Or where you lie

I've been thinking of the voices
Even now my heart rejoices
But then they're gone

I can't believe I've made these choices
Now everything seems pointless
Oh wave your wand

Regret is such a harsh mistress
And apologies are not enough

For the wayward, the wanderer
The lost and lonely fool
Who can't see, who can't recall
Your diamond eyes
That starlight

Image by Nina Zaychenko

Regret Is A Harsh Mistress

Wash me in the rain falling down
Or wrap me in a snow covered shroud
I don't know what is coming anymore
I don't know what season lies in store

Raise me with the leaves swirling 'round
Or bury me in this frozen ground
I can't see what lies ahead
And the birds have already fled

All this uncertainty
Will be the death of me

Carry me on the gentle breeze
Or bind me with the roots of these trees
I can't see what's around the bend
Is tomorrow foe or friend?

All this uncertainty
Is too much, too much for me
I stumble, I fall free, I waver
Yes this uncertainty
Could be the end of me

Yes wash me in the healing rain
Or lay me down to sleep again
I don't know what is coming anymore
I don't know what the future has in store

All this uncertainty
Is too much, too much for me
I stumble, blindly, I wander
Yes this uncertainty
Will be the death of me

Image by Ankhesenamun

Uncertainty

I've been thinking of the times before our brave new day
Before the waves came crashing in and swept it all away
Before the web was spun across the universe
And captured everyone in a marvelous curse

Now we fall, yes we fall
Have we landed yet?
I don't recall

It's hard to remember now who you and I were then
But I wouldn't mind going back to find out again
So much we've gained, so, so much to weigh
But so much wonderful has slipped away

We fall, oh we fall
In or out of Eden?
Well that's the call
We fall, yes we fall
Have we landed yet?
Do you recall?

So come with me, let's ruminate
Try to remember before it's too late
Recall a time when the world was small
When we didn't know too much and bear it all

Now we fall, yes we fall
In or out of paradise?
Well that's the call
We fall, yes we fall
Have we landed yet?
I don't recall

Image by Raphael Garcin

The Marvelous Curse

Was it late, late November
When we climbed up that sugar tree?
When the leaves had almost all fled
With the breeze?

When you said, "we should tap this
Pull the sweetness from the tree
It just takes a little patience
You will see"

And I was thinking on that
As we climbed higher in that sugar tree
Did you mean something more?

Then you started talking about syphons
And buckets, all the tools we would need
So I knew you were just talking
About the tree

But oh, you were enchanting
And I hoped there might be something between
You and I
And I longed to climb
Straight to the top of the sugar tree
To find something more

Was it really late November
When we tapped the sweet of the sugar tree?
Now the breeze blows all the leaves of memory

Image by Eugene Golovesov

The Sugar Tree

Call her Peregrine
Call her what you want
She's hard to hold
And she never stays for long
You wait your turn
You bide your time
She's here and gone
But the sweetest anodyne

Call her Peregrine
Call her what you must
She's hard to pin down
Hard to trust
She's mercurial
She's serpentine
But the sweetest anodyne

Call her Peregrine
Call her what you will
She's here and gone
But what a thrill
All the longing
All the time
And she's the sweetest anodyne

Image by Juliette Contin

Call Her Peregrine

My ninth album, "Star Spells," will be released this month.  This is the opening track, which stubbornly held that position despite my efforts to put other songs in its place.  It just didn't fit any where else in the sequence; didn't sound right coming after any other song--so first it is:

Don't look at me, don't you think I see
The light in your eyes?
The beauty everywhere, I'm trying not to stare
Or idolize, it's no surprise
I could never be the only one you need
It's in the eyes, they tell no lies
So don't look at me, now don't you think I bleed
Like everyone?

Oh stay, stay a little while
You can still make me smile
And you never know

Oh don't look at me, not so longingly
If it's not what you mean
I don't want to share any castles in the air
No fantasies, chimera dreams
No don't look at me if you really don't believe
'Cause there's no in between

But stay, stay a little while
You can always make me smile
I will wait like a little child
'Cause you never know
Where the wind will blow
And I want you so

Image by Aleksandr Artiushenko

Don't Look At Me

I'm releasing my ninth album, "Star Spells," later this month and featuring tracks from it over the next couple of weeks.  This, the title track, only became a trilogy by accident.  The songs were written separately, although within a narrow time frame.  However, it was only after the lyrics began to intertwine, running variations on the same ideas, symbols and metaphors, that I came to view them as three parts of a whole:

BEDEVILED (Star Spell #1)

I've been bedeviled, I've been besieged
I've been the supplicant, down on my knees
And if I told you, would you believe
Stars are falling from the sky?
And there's no time to say goodbye?

I've been blindsided, I've been bereaved
Too long adrift upon that sea
And I wonder if you can conceive
That stars are falling from the sky?
And now too late to say goodbye?
Where do they go?

I've been bedeviled, I've been besieged
This is my story, my leitmotif
And now I've told you, I'll take my leave
As the stars fall from my sky
And there's no good, good goodbye
Where do they go?

NOCTURN (Star Spell #2)

Someone tell me why
I'm staring at the sky
I should be falling down a well

Head full of stars
Signals from afar
How do they weave their spells?
Ride their swirling carousels?

Count all the things you lose
When you chose
And when you do not as well
Sometimes it's hard to tell

Oh nocturnal song
You lead me on
Solitary stars
Come ring the hours and

Tell me the tale
Of ships that never sail
And a place I'll never dwell

The alchemy of dreams
Too dear it seams
When you're wrapped up in a hermit's shell

A world of shifting clouds
Far from the madding crowd
Philosopher down a well

An alien, an infidel
Too far beyond the pale?

Oh nocturnal light
You fill my sight
Nocturnal song
You lead me on
Sing the sweet farewells
Come ring the matin bells

UNDER THE SPELL (Star Spell #3)

Was there a star up in the sky
When you came down from on high?
Was it the forest for the trees
When I missed you among the leaves?

But still you found me, how could you tell?
Did you know when or where I fell?
Oh yes you found me down the well
And you put me under your spell

And if I fade away, don't let me fade
And if I stray, don't let me stray
And if I climb back down the well
Pull me out, put me under your spell

Now there's a dream I always dream
Could be delusion, or a fantasy
A new moon rising, a ringing bell
And everyone under the spell, the spell

And if I fade away, don't let me fade
And if I stray, don't let me stray
And when I fall back down the well
Pull me out, put me under your spell, your spell

The Star Spell Trilogy

A cover of Tell Me What Is True Love from Bert Jansch's masterful album Rosemary Lane.

Tell Me What Is True Love (Bert Jansch)

Is it a mystery to you
When the Fates collude?
When they step out of the shadows
And you're pursued?

Three sisters from on high
Light up your sky, you want to fly
But now you are the apple
Of their eye

Like waking from a dream
And floating down a stream
A moment without warning
Oh unforseen

Gone the anonymity
The sweet obscurity, you plead
But for now the Fates are calling
For now it feels like falling

It's a mystery and more
Three sisters at the door
Is that your destiny crawling
Across the floor?

And where are you now?
Under a cloud?
Is it a shroud?
Oh now, you are their apple
Yes now, you must grapple
With what is coming

Three Sisters

Reworking of an earlier tune:

Haunting melodies in the murky dawn
They find their way into our song
Do you mark them, do you hear
The morning calling like Chaunticleer?

Now rhythms pounding in the rain
And we are marching in their campaign
A trail of tears, all the wandering
Oh there's nothing for it but to sing

Come on Melody, love, you and I
We'll lift our voices to the sky
We'll sing whatever, come what may
Oh bring it on now, seize the day 

Image by Melody Hanson

But to Sing

Are we're going now
Is this our getaway?
Have we hit the wall
Is it time to ricochet?
Far from here
From these evil days

We'll fly away, fly

We won't give in
They won't pin us down
We'll never live
In their shantytown

But we don't know if we can
We don't know if we will
Is this a plan?
What's possible and what's a dream?

And if we fly
Will we ever look back again?
I will not lie
I cannot see the end

So fly away, yes fly

No we don't know if we can
Is this really a plan?
Do we make a stand?
We don't know what will come
Or how long is too long
When do we run, just fly away?

Are we going now?
Is this our getaway?
Is it time
To ricochet?

Image by Khristina Sergeychik (Unsplash)

Ricochet (update)

Updated 11/30/25:

Your lies, so pretty
So enchanting
Spinning us 'round

Your replies, so witty
Quicksilver
Can't pin you down

Your words, bewitching
Always gripping
So eloquent

But I do declare
While you seem so fair
It's all counterfeit

Beguiling one
You play the sun
But shadows are your way
Wolf in sheep's clothes
Everyone knows
The sinner's not the saint

Your face, ever changing
Reaaranging
Chameleon

Your praise rings hollow
It decays
Like carrion

Away, away
Your time
It has come

The veil, it has fallen
And now
You must run

Beguiling one
You play the sun
But shadows are your way
Wolf in sheep's clothes
Everyone knows
The sinner's not the saint
Beguiling one
You play the sun
But shadows are your way
Wolf in sheep's clothes
Everyone knows
That darness is your way

Oh beguiling one
I think you're done

Image by Angel Luciano (Unsplash)

Image by Angel Luciano (Unsplash)

Beguiler

Programa musical. 
Folk, pop, punk, rock, metal y más...
Un nuevo episodio cada miércoles.
Presentan: Julián Encinas y Tomás González Lezana (El Rubicón).

A continuous stream of short musical creations, each under two minutes, miniature masterpieces interwoven and occasionally interpolated, transitioning seamlessly from the briefest to the longest—a perpetual motion of sound.

Here you will find little acoustic pop songs; melancholy, dreamy-folk things. Sometimes some jangly, fuzzy rock tunes or ambient pieces as well. Work-in-progress demos to finished tracks, informal playlists to official album releases. Enjoy.

"A languid and lovely collection of travelling songs" Jude Rogers, The Guardian

"Quietly wonderful" Songlines Magazine

New tracks tagged #Bert jansch