Douglas

Douglas is Shane’s wife’s late grandfather. The song was written based on diary entries that Terry,Shane’s father-in-law, provided. It focuses on Douglas’ time as a sailor in the Royal Navy duringwartime. The diary entries are incredible. Terry has made some recordings (which you can listen toon our website) of him reading an entry about the tragedy of two ships that a U-boat sunk while they were all sailing in convoy. This would have affected Douglas for life. He travelled across the Atlantic Sea to New York and Baltimore and into the Artic Sea, where his own ship collided withan iceberg, forcing them to head to the Canadian shore for repairs. The other entry is an accountof trading his navy overcoat – too heavy a garment for the heat of the Mediterranean – swapping itfor musical instruments belonging to Sicilian sailors. It’s a truly fascinating account.

Terry has granted permission for us to publish excerpts from Douglas' diary. He has also made recordings of him reading his dad's diary. Click here to read and listen to these.

According to Terry, Douglas was a keen and competent musician. On his return from his posting, Douglas crept back into the family home in the middle of the night and woke everyone up playing “As Time Goes By” from Casablanca on the piano. I threaded the chords from that song into my composition and Shane mirrors the original in his lyrics momentarily.
     

Shane and I wondered about how to create a chorus to link all these extraordinary events and Iimagined Douglas standing on the deck of his ship at night looking up at the stars which gave Shane the basis for the lyrics in the choruses. Shane was always the perfect choice for the lead vocal on this song and I absolutely adore the textures he creates with his backing vocal layers. I really appreciate Shane’s brush work on the drums, Charlotte’s harmonica solo at the end, and Gustaf’s clever banjo parts, all of which are superb. It’s a long piece but we felt we had to include all the most interesting things we had learned from Doug’s diaries.
          

Shane and I wondered about how to create a chorus to link all these extraordinary events and Iimagined Douglas standing on the deck of his ship at night looking up at the stars which gave Shane the basis for the lyrics in the choruses. Shane was always the perfect choice for the lead vocal on this song and I absolutely adore the textures he creates with his backing vocal layers. I really appreciate Shane’s brush work on the drums, Charlotte’s harmonica solo at the end, and Gustaf’s clever banjo parts, all of which are superb. It’s a long piece but we felt we had to include all the most interesting things we had learned from Doug’s diaries.