Day 7 - Your Car has Arrived

Today’s Track is probably the biggest production on the record with loads of horns, strings etc.

 

It’s got a bit of a 60s vibe to it too. Something like those David Axelrod, Scott Walter type productions. That was what we were going for anyway.  You can watch our faces waffling on about it below or just download the track and have a listen. Up to you.

 

Have a look at the inspiration section below. It’s a reasonably intense story but we hope that you get something out of it.

 

Henry & House xx

Harriet Forster

I don’t think I have ever based a song on a real incident that effected me and my family quite as profoundly as the inspiration behind this song.


As I touched on in the video the song was a reaction to the death of Harriet Forster. Harriet was a school friend of my son Arthur. I’d use the word “soul mate” just to give a context to how close these kids were. They had a kind of “thick as thieves” relationship. They liked paddling pools and Roblox, a bit of fighting and they stuck together. 


While on Holiday in Staithes in the Summer of 2018, Harriet was hit by falling rocks and died – she had just turned 9.


The day we found out was, well you can imagine – I found it hard to process. Harriet had quite bad asthma and there was always a mild threat to her life when she had really bad attacks. So in my mind, when I was told she had died, my brain mixed the two up and I thought “we always knew it was possible she could die”. Like there was any relationship between those two things at all. Basically I couldn’t hear it.


Then I had to tell Arthur, and I knew it had to be done there and then. It was this feeling of not knowing how it would affect his whole life that really worried me initially. I mean you can’t know the long term effects of suddenly finding out how unfair life can be when you are 9 years old. Suddenly the safety of the world has been taken from you.

She had only been in our garden playing in the pool 2 weeks ago. When her mum cam to pick her up both her and Arthur hid in the paddling pool so they couldn’t be found. But there was nothing to be done, it was home time.


I asked her mum Holly if there was anything she would like us to mention and she said it would be great if we could link to Staithes RNLI and if anyone feels the urge they can hit the “Donate Now” button. The RNLI were the first responders at the incident and did everything they could to 

We’ve got rid of all the buy it now stuff today as it would be a bit smelly to be selling records off the back of a story like this.


Hopefully that doesn’t seem too “virtue signalling”. And don’t worry tomorrows page will have double the amount of (what they grotesquely call in the marketing business) “Call to action” buttons…. yikes.


Also thought you might like to see some pics of Harriet. People often over emphasise character traits after death, but I don’t think I am when I say she had an old person’s wisdom. Like in her presence I often felt like the child. Then she would just be a total kid and fight with Arthur about who broke who’s Minecraft House or something.

DONATE TO THE RNLI
INSPIRATION PLAYLIST

 

  • David Axelrod – Holy Thursday

  • Lee Hazelwood – My Autums Done Come
  • Glen Campbell – Wichita Lineman
  • Dave Berry – The Crying Game
  • Gruppo Mandolinistico la vecchia Napoli – ‘O sole Mio
  • Dave Berry – The Crying Game
  • Noel Harrison –  Windmills of your Mind
  • Scott Walker – Its Raining Today
LYRICS

Don’t expect me to remember everything

There will be holes

Distortions over time

And I can’t hold you still

 

But today still acts out in history

And the sun still sets on the paddling pool we dive into and hide

Your car has arrived

 

There’s no fare

No pun intended

Your face pressed against the glass (pressed against the glass, pressed against my heart)

Tasting these eyes for the first time in my life

I wait for you to return

But the driver drives on

But the driver drives on

But the driver drives on

 

Some may say whatever will become of us

But what they don’t know is that we’re already here, right now

I can hold you still

 

So, stay close and stay young endlessly

And take your final lap around the garden my friend

Your car has arrived

You’re more to me than just alive

I’ll hear you forever

 

There’s no fare

No pun intended

Your face pressed against the glass (pressed against the glass, pressed against my heart)

Tasting these eyes for the first time in my life

I wait for you to return

But the driver drives on

But the driver drives on

But the driver drives on

 

There’s no fare

No pun intended

I wait for you to return

But the driver drives on

But the Driver drives on

But the Driver drives on

THE PRACTICE ROOM

We’ve been beavering away with Mike in the rehersal room for the tour at the end of January. The songs are getting there. 

 

Here is us having I think our second go at Your Car has Arrived. Still a bit shaky remembering all of the words but it’s a lot of fun to play.

My Autumn done come

This is the illustration drawn by Dylan Giles of Driver Drive Faster for our 2015 Record Store Day release of the Something Awful EP. I didn’t know the song until he did this and it must have been a weird confluence of the song and the name of his band that manifested itself in our song.

 

We were blown away by this incredible illustration and the song. Look at him looking at himself in the mirror, contemplating his mortality and the sleeping pills just peeking out of the half open door.

 

Dylan was also in the band Polytechnic who supported us on a tour way back in some year in ther past. Dylan now works as an illustrator.