Ever been to Krakow?
There’s a suburb in Krakow called Nova Huta which was Stalin’s great attempt at Social Realism. My friend Jason and I were in a Trabant, being driven by the craziest tour guide east of Berlin, heading towards Nova Huta at 90 miles an hour.
When we got there we took a short tour round the still-existing shops that would dole out rations to the residents. Long wooden counters with drawers containing goodness knows what, and a sparse decor flagrantly ignoring commerciality, advertising and consumerism.
We had a short vodka in a 1970s restaurant and our guide showed us photographs and told us stories of the days of communism.
It was a fascinating tour and rich with human interest. Couple that with the recent John Le Carre film, “Tinker, Tailor” and the Cold War becomes much more luminous in the mind.
So I thought why not write some song collections about interesting historical subjects. You know, things that actually interest me. Raaaaaadical dude.
It makes for inspiring subject matter and a sense of direction.
Watching “Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy”, a trip to Poland and reading The Spy Who Came In From The Cold together have inspired a new project provisionally titled:
The Songs That Came In From The Cold: 9 Cold War Espionage Songs
And since I haven’t written or recorded anything since 500 BC it’s an even more suitable title.
I tracked down an Encyclopedia of Cold War Espionage, Spies, and Secret Operations at Amazon which is jam packed with the stories of spies and their murky goings on. A great source of inspiration.
My penciled in track listing includes:
- Leamas’ Lament
- Hotel Krakow
- Berlin Drive
- Going Back To The Circus
- I Won’t Be Going Home
- …. and more
That’s it so far. If you want to receive email updates stick your email address in this ‘ere box below and join the list. And I promise I won’t sell, rent or give away you email address to anyone else, especially spies.. I hate spam as much as you.
