Rarities & Unreleased

Camilla (1996)

Another one of those unexpected CDs came my way in late winter of 1996; Camilla. An eerie, yearning  meditation on the ache of loving a stranger — or wanting to. Foolishness in the extreme? Wisdom deeper than knowing? Hard to tell.

Until the astonishing final stanza, when the lover’s burning hope warps time itself. Is it possible, he wonders, that if we try hard we can see/the view from where we’ll someday be? 

And indeed, tonight, I look back on 24 years of that someday-life saturated with the phantasms that were conjured by that hopeful, extraordinary poet one dark winter night so long ago. 

……..

I asked him if this was something left over from the Whack days. No, he said, just something I’ve been working on. And there is another snippet from that same CD that I’ll post soon. But now, the evening of Nov 2, 2020, stomach churning, mind disquiet, I’m logging off for a while. My only thought is if our Republic can hold together in the days and months ahead. 

Know Hope

- D-Mod

Camilla - Walter Becker ©1996/2019 Zeon Music LLC

Camilla we just met

You don't even know me yet

Camilla distant star

I see you for who you are

True child of the night

Restless Seeker for the light

Burning all alone

Girl I'd love to take you home

Camilla do you see

Camilla this is me

Camilla

Camilla night is dark

It's cold out there in Pelham Park

Camilla where you are

Buses barely run that far

So tell me if they do

Who would I be talking to

Someone who knows how

To party for the Here and Now

Camilla tell me true

Camilla is this you

Camilla

Lost in darkness drowned in light

Laid out cold in black and white

Truly now the way we feel

Is a temporary kind of deal

We all go crazy now and then

And here the bastard comes again

Camilla close your eyes

Maybe we can visualize

If we try hard can we see

The view from where we'll someday be

To look back on this night

Blinding flash of solar light

Signal some great plan

We may never understand

Burnout none the less

You and me did our best

To soar high to be free

In these dark days of History

Camilla