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Dampen the Fire

from A Sedentary Life by Alf Whitby

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about

‘Dampen the Fire’ is Alf Whitby’s first single since the release of his 2020 debut album, ‘Sistine Dreams’. The song hearkens back to time spent huddled around a fire with family, exploring the role of the matriarch grandmother at the center of the experience. The core of piano and vocal is eventually embellished by stomping drums and swirling guitars that carry the song to an emotive climax, where Whitby declares his love for his grandmother, and implores the family to continue life in a similar vein after her passing.

In his own words...
“I wrote this song at Dublin airport, after visiting my grandma for what might have been the last time. That feeling was pretty awful; also pretty strange. I didn’t know how to feel, but I wanted to write.
The song reflects her role in the family - the fire around which we gathered, the common experience we shared. I was definitely scared of how things would be after her death, whether it would give the family less cause to be together. The song became a rallying call to remembrance, to reflection, to refuelling and to the stoking of a fire that needn’t go out.”

lyrics

Dampen the fire, there’s bodies for heat,
There’s bums on the seats,
And that’s all we need,
But if it transpires that here’s our last meet, I don’t think the fire would keep,

Stay where you are, the poker’s too far,
The blower will soon fall apart,
Just reflect the light, at home in your eyes,
You know I’d beseech you to call,

Would you call?

A sedentary life, a coronary fright, a call in the depths of the night,
A sun in the sky, a family cries,
You know that we got this all wrong?

Candid feverish heat, taking all extremities,
From my feet to my crown you’ve stolen me,
Cindered coal amongst the peat,
A life to dust and ash to sweep,
Like your warmth it will cease to fill the room,

How you lived is how you’ll die,
In the apple of my eye,
And thought I know that time will try…

Don’t dampen that fire.

credits

from A Sedentary Life, released August 20, 2021

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Alf Whitby Manchester, UK

Alf Whitby is the alter ego of Manchester based songwriter Andrew Keaveney. New music coming in late 2022.

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