You and the candles (song)

This sweet post-capitalist love song, written by Hawksley Workman, is an old favourite, and it seems like an especially good one for this moment. When I picked up my guitar on my 4th day in self-isolation, this was the first tune I thought to play. I like that it makes me think of the radical possibilities of the society-wide slow down that we are feeling right now.

You can listen to Hawklsey's original here.

Lyrics:

When society's crumbled, and everything's gone And the cars are all rusted away And there ain't no more money, and there's nothing to buy And all that we have is the day

When the world becomes silent; no planes in the air When the voices just gather to sing When the guns are the fence posts, the cars are the doghouse And the telephones no longer ring

What, what of the night? With no electrical light So what then?

You, you and the candles Will be all that I need Your face bathed in the firelight Will be all I want to see And I'll still sing you a song To last the whole night long You, you and the candles

When the grocery stores are hollow inside And the airports are filled with a breeze After the anarchy finally subsides When you reckon with how it will be

When empires are humbled Before the eyes of the people And the truth will be like a parade When industry's fallen; we'll make our own clothes now And gifts of our hands rise again

And what, what of the night With no electrical light So what then?

You, you and the candles Will be all that I need Your face bathed in the firelight Will be all I want to see And i'll still sing you a song That will last the whole night long You, you and the candles

In a waste paper basket The timing's fantastic For lovers to mean what they say And a night lit in candles On stained wooden mantles Keep us safe 'til the night turns to day

You, you and the storm clouds And the puddles at our feet The lightning cuts through the heavens And light you so briefly And i'll still write you a song To last the whole night long You, you and the candles You, you and the candles