Bleak is the Pampa (single)

by Charlie O'Brien

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Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Waveleaplights, Bleak is the Pampa (single), The Pampa's My Home (single), Fire and Foam, "Macalla Chill Áirne" film soundtrack, Ordinary Surface (single), Hy Brasil (single), The Wine Dark Sea (single), and 5 more. , and , .

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about

The lyrics of this song appeared in 1873 in an old newspaper "El Monitor de la Campaña" from Buenos Aires. The song alludes to the mythical island of Hy Brasil, "in search of a phantom in lands far away." This ballad may first appear dreary, but in the end it turns sublime, where our migrant author looks to the sky and proclaims "heart's that look upward from hope cannot sever, for theirs is the goal where all is divine." Myself and Facundo recorded this one scalding January evening in leafy San Isidro, looking out his green window to the beyond.

lyrics

Bleak is the Pampa

Oh! bleak is the pampa when deserted and forlorn
O'er its thorn bosom the wanderer goes,
When the smiles he late loved as the sun beams of morn
Are the shadows that deepen the depth of his woes.
Oh! had he ne'er quitted his own island dwelling,
In search of a phantom in lands far away,
He'd ne'er have to grieve at his own bitter telling,
He exchanged the truest love for the friends of a day.
But such is life's onward course varying ever
Though todays sun be clouded tomorrow’s shall shine;
And hearts that look upward from hope cannot sever,
For theirs is the goal at which all is divine.

El Monitor de La Campaña, 1873 (numero 88)

credits

released April 5, 2024
Patricio Sullivan - charango
Charlie O'Brien - guitar, nashville guitar, vocals
Ezequiel Dutil - double bass
Facundo Flores - tiple

Recorded by Facundo Flores, Estudio del Fresno, Buenos Aires, January 2024.
Mixed by Charlie in Juan José Castelli, Chaco Argentina.
Additional mixing at Estudios Sound de Nestor Rivainera.
Mastered by David Santos of Digisound.

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about

Trouble or Fortune Records Killarney, Ireland

Trouble or Fortune is where myself, Charlie O' Brien's, music and film projects are found.

Besides my own work and collaborations, Japanese alt. folk artist, Mari Mochizuki, is the first formal addition to label.

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