This song details the absence of father figures in my life both physically and emotionally. It reflects on how this particular absence has affected my life, how the benign neglect that becomes so commonplace and accepted that it’s mundanity is barely noticed, so when one speaks of it, it causes alarm and consternation.
The song speaks of the impact this physical or emotional absence has on women, ‘my sister, my aunty, my grandmama, my daughter too’, how a child often has to warn of the imbalance that will affect families for generations.
The sonic palate of the song is meant to antagonise, referencing grime’s urgency and using a familiar & familial palate to discuss what is often left untouched.
lyrics
this is what I saw
from a pool side view
from a pool side view
best dial friend on how to be a man my friend
nuff wastemen uncles and fathers polluting the ends,
absence be their ting
what-a-fucking-joke-ting
man i wanna choke ting
especially their throat
throw them off a boat
now they be dr dr dr drow-ning
si si si si si si sinking
Shit!
bad vibes got in a my head
i wish they fled
they be taking up
nuff space my g
like these men
referred to before
ain’t bringing no bread
empty shelves galore
that mumsie filling
all by herself
hol tight, she’ll soon find wealth,
ina herself,
bun those men that be on a
peculiar emptiness self focused
narcissistic laziness
they be cursed by
culture and christ stagnation
a blindness that blinds
immigrant frustration
the plane left but the
body still. waiting
this is what i saw from a pool side view!
this is what i saw from a pool side view!
this is what i saw from a pool side view!
this is what i saw from a pool side view!
my mother my aunty my sister
my g g g grandmama my daughter too
i say please, think twice
before rolling the dice
on familial ties
might cut and vampire bleed your life
parasite mosquito some do bite
leaving plenty scars and wounds that
might, turn
septic when that raw reality bites
chews perception and surely blinds
love and light, peace of mind
return to sight if you don't want to find
loved ones floating
in watery confines
this is what i saw from a pool side view!
this is what i saw from a pool side view!
this is what i saw from a pool side view!
this is what i saw from a pool side view!
credits
from POOL,
released August 5, 2022
Written by Nadeem Din-Gabisi, Coby Sey, MettaShiba & Beni Giles
Produced & Mixed by Beni Giles at Iguana Studios, Brixton
I'm a bit anoid with my silf that I only just found this fantastic album yesterday, but also chuffed to fuck that I have at all. Love it so much what a wining collaboration 👊🔥🔥 Toblermone
Like so many others, this came like a bolt out of the blue and, even though it's well before payday, I had to have this astonishing album on vinyl to prove it exists. The feel of the tunes makes me feel like the Impressions do, Curtis Mayfield, the big spaces and instinctive horns and stuff drifting in and out. Great grooves and I can see lots of ghosts nodding along to this with big smiles on their faces. At last! Anthony Cottrell
Gaelynn Lea won NPR's Tiny Desk Contest, and it's easy to see why. Haunting, beautiful country songs, laced up with weeping fiddle lines. Bandcamp New & Notable Mar 3, 2016
