SILENT RUNNING

                                                                       Silent Running

The (Scottish) Daily Mail, Saturday, July 16, 2022, ran a wee article featuring my cousin Lorri (on my mother’s side), and her husband, Steve, who live in Scotland. I read the article with my morning coffee in the comfort of my home in Queensland. My children and my children’s children live mere streets away in the quiet suburbs.

There’s a war going on. Thank God it’s not here! I can hug my children and my grandchildren. We are safe.

A song began playing in her car, and as she listened to it, my cousin Lorri deeply felt the pain of the families in Ukraine, of those sheltering in and near the bombed-out suburbs.

“The song in question was an unreleased acoustic version of the hit Mike and the Mechanics song Silent Running, performed by the Scottish musician and songwriter BA Robertson, who co-wrote the track. Penned back in 1985. The lyrics are nevertheless hauntingly prescient, evoking a family barricading themselves against a war raging outside, and a country desperately calling out for help.” This version is being released as a charity single. “All proceeds will go to Mail Force’s Ukraine Appeal…”

Isn’t it wonderful that fellow Scot, BA Robertson, (who also resides in Scotland) not only answered his phone when Steve rang him (upon Lorri’s persistent insistence “through tears”), but also their request “to release [the song] for charity.” (BA Robertson, among other hits, wrote Cliff Richards’ Carrie and Wired for Sound, and also co-wrote Mike and the Mechanics’ Living Years.)

Upon hearing this great news, my brother, Stuart, quickly fired off to Lorri the following brief message: "Thank you Lorri and Steve for sharing that. It is difficult to know what to say. Like saying thank you Mr Boccherini for your string quartet: The compliment fails the quality of the work.

“I can only offer a string of thoughts — with apologies for lachrymose effusion:

“Silent Running is disquietingly plain and grows louder in its simplicity. It is the sound of dust falling in broken cellars as missiles wreak destruction above; the fearful voice of children and mothers and the piercing howls of their animals, too, all the things they love, all under murderous attack from Putin’s rancid insanity. 

“This is the agony of peaceful people announced, all justice gone, lost in smouldering rubble: Thanks to Silent Running, we can hear it clearly…and do more than fear and wait… 

“A bit flowery, but… thanks for the evocation. Stuart” 

Then he further wrote:

“A magnificent outcome from a simple chain of events, each a small intuitive step towards who can know what life-saving result: for hope, for breath in the hell of Putin’s insanity. It is as though this sequence of events was following a strong determination on an invisible, destined path towards the deliverance of people from the unfinished wars of decades ago. The stench of Putin is being snuffed out by you, and others with you, whisper by whisper.

“I’m astonished, yes, but maybe I shouldn’t be, given the talent and enterprise of you, Steve, and the palpable force of will backing your resolve. I will read this again, with a sense of gratitude that the dreadful frustration of ordinary people can be answered by a few in such a prescient way.

“I picked up a copy of the Mail only a few minutes ago from a newsagent wrapping up for the night, her second-last copy before locking the doors. I was out walking my cat at the time (yes, Ruaridh likes a stroll) and was fortunate to get the real, tactile version of the story. Extra treats for The Boy as I read it again. Thanks for telling me such uplifting news — and congratulations to all. x”

Link to sample of Silent Running by BA Robertson: BA Robertson - SILENT RUNNING Live - CLIP by Scary Biscuits Promotions (soundcloud.com)