Today's offering glides gently and delicately into Sunday by the English folk singer-songwriter, first from her rare 1970 album and then her next, 35 years later - in which she almost continues exactly where she left off. Bunyan, born in Newcastle, had come to prominence in the mid-60s after meeting Rolling Stones producer Andrew Loog Oldham, but despite making a few recordings, her career did not bring a record contract. She later travelled in Scotland on horse and carriage, writing songs which eventually became her first album in 1970, Just Another Diamond Day, filled with pastoral images and gentle depictions of her travels. Here let's highlight the first song, but the entire album, now much sought after and cherished LP is worth a listen here.
However, the album failed to sell, and with great disappointment, not unlike that experienced by Nick Drake at the time, Bunyan gave up her career., moved to Ireland and then Scotland, and brought up three children. She did not realise that gradually, her album had become a cherished, valuable classic, influential on many other artists. Eventually, however she began to write and record again, leading to 2005's Lookaftering, when by then her previous work had become more widely rediscovered and re-released, and very much admired by a number of more contemporary musicians including Max Richter, Devandra Banhart and Joanna Newsom, all of whom, alongside others, accompanied her on keyboards, guitar and harp. So from that album – If I Were – is a melancholy long song of imagined parting, and Same But Different is a prime example of Bunyan's ability to capture complexity of different thoughts, emotions and perceptions through a very simple metaphor. Sublime work, well worth waiting 35 years for.
Just another diamond day
Just a blade of grass
Just another bale of hay
Hope the horses pass
Just another field to plough
Just a grain of wheat
Just a sack of seed to sow
And the children eat
Just another life to live
Just a word to say
Just another love to give
And a diamond day
If I were to go away
Would you follow me to the ends of the earth
To show me what your love is worth
Or would you go and buy a car
Shrug your shoulders, say, "There you are
She didn't love me anyway
If she had, she would have stayed"
If I were to go away
Would I always look for your beautiful face
In every crowd, every place
Or would I go and buy a hat
Turn my shoulders, say, "That is that
He didn't love me, now it's clear
If he had, he would be here."
I'm in a boat
On the sea
And I see
You on the shore
So sure
Of yourself
You're in a boat
On the sea
And you see
Me on the shore
So sure
Of myself
We're in a boat
All at sea
And we see
We are the same
The same
But different
Vashti Bunyan, 2005
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