After yesterday's mention of northern lights in a Laura Gibson song, let's turn back the clock to 1978, and a beloved hit by the prog rock band with a symphonic, soaring chorus and cascading bass line. From the album A Song For All Seasons, and written by guitarist Michael Dunford, with lyrics by the band's non-performing lyricist Betty Thatcher-Newsinger, and accompanied by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra it could have been a hit by the likes of Abba. The song is as more about leaving a lover behind and trying to find them again, rather than the actual aurora borealis, and in particular lead singer Annie Haslam, who had a four-year relationship with Roy Wood of The Move, Wizard and ELO. Two videos here, the second an excerpt from BBC1's Top of the Pops, it's a style very much from the early 1970s rather than the emerging punk and post-punk of 1978, but still one that some look back at with a certain wistful fondness.
Destination outward bound
I turn to see the northern lights behind the wing
Horizons seem to beckon me
Learned how to cry too young, so now I live to sing
The northern lights are in my mind
They guide me back to you
Horizons seem to beckon me
Learned how to cry too young, so now I live to sing
You know it's hard away from you
Travelling roads and passing through
It's not for money and it's not for fame
I just can't explain, sometimes it's lonely
Marking the space between the days
Early hours pass away
I sing to you of northern lights
I sing for you of northern nights
Past or future, here or there
Shelter comes in words from you, so talk to me
I hear your voice, it comforts me
In morning dreams I take your hand, you walk with me
The northern lights are in my mind
They guide me back to you
Peace enfolds the still night air
Home again I look for you and find you there
Destination homeward now
Take the easy way, bring me down
Making the hard way now I see
Hard to be really free, I'm missing you near me
Marking the space between the days
Early hours pass away
I sing to you of northern lights
I sing for you of northern nights
The northern lights are in my mind
They guide me back to you
The northern nights are in my eyes
They guide me back to you
The northern lights are in my mind
They guide me back to you
The northern nights are in my eyes
They guide me back to you
The northern lights are in my mind
They guide me back to you
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