It's not "Babylonians".
November 27, 2012 7:51 PM Subscribe
Please help me remember/locate this David Gray song... at least I think it's a David Gray song.
I am looking for a David Gray song that I heard in the mid-late 2000s, well after the success of White Ladder. The song was performed when I saw it on a TV show that could have been VH1's Storytellers or something like it, but David Gray was performing with an acoustic guitar in front of a live, small club audience. The video beforehand contain an explanation (given by Gray from the stage) of how he came to write the song (something that he apparently does not do):
While dealing with an impending deadline for new songs and writer's block, Gray was interrupted in his apartment by two men from a Middle Eastern country soliciting donations for a charity organization that arranged legal counsel for political prisoners or person whose human rights were being violated by their incarceration in this Middle Eastern country. Eager to get rid of the men who were in his apartment and distracted by his task, Gray wrote out a check and pushed it towards them, but was jarred by the men's reply that the amount he had given them would not buy even a single person the help that they needed. Gray went on to write the song performed in the video and named it [Name of Middle Eastern Country]s, after the men who had visited him. Without knowing the story behind the song, the title is strange and out of place.
The song is a fast waltz and was performed either alone or with another guitarist. It appears that it was never released on anything that is listed as part of David Gray's discography according to Wikipedia or his website. Youtube and Amazon are turning up nothing.
Does this sound familiar to anyone? Even if I can't find a performance clip, just knowing the name would allow me to sleep.
Thank you in advance.
I am looking for a David Gray song that I heard in the mid-late 2000s, well after the success of White Ladder. The song was performed when I saw it on a TV show that could have been VH1's Storytellers or something like it, but David Gray was performing with an acoustic guitar in front of a live, small club audience. The video beforehand contain an explanation (given by Gray from the stage) of how he came to write the song (something that he apparently does not do):
While dealing with an impending deadline for new songs and writer's block, Gray was interrupted in his apartment by two men from a Middle Eastern country soliciting donations for a charity organization that arranged legal counsel for political prisoners or person whose human rights were being violated by their incarceration in this Middle Eastern country. Eager to get rid of the men who were in his apartment and distracted by his task, Gray wrote out a check and pushed it towards them, but was jarred by the men's reply that the amount he had given them would not buy even a single person the help that they needed. Gray went on to write the song performed in the video and named it [Name of Middle Eastern Country]s, after the men who had visited him. Without knowing the story behind the song, the title is strange and out of place.
The song is a fast waltz and was performed either alone or with another guitarist. It appears that it was never released on anything that is listed as part of David Gray's discography according to Wikipedia or his website. Youtube and Amazon are turning up nothing.
Does this sound familiar to anyone? Even if I can't find a performance clip, just knowing the name would allow me to sleep.
Thank you in advance.
Best answer: I think it was from Abbey Road Live. Now it's called "Breathe," but for a while was called "The Iranians." Video here.
posted by kelegraph at 8:11 PM on November 27, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by kelegraph at 8:11 PM on November 27, 2012 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: Thank you. I knew I could count on MetaFilter.
posted by koucha at 4:06 AM on November 28, 2012
posted by koucha at 4:06 AM on November 28, 2012
Koucha, you can also find it at the Live Music Archive. Search for David Gray at the Wiltern Theatre on 2007-12-10.
posted by theBigRedKittyPurrs at 8:01 AM on November 28, 2012
posted by theBigRedKittyPurrs at 8:01 AM on November 28, 2012
This thread is closed to new comments.
The story of The Lebanon by the Human League has some parallels.
posted by bunderful at 8:09 PM on November 27, 2012