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Rachael Jackson - The Doll's House

from The Skye & Lochalsh Community Album Project by Louis Barabbas

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    Glass mastered compact disc in gatefold digipack with artwork by Philippa Thomas. Includes lyric booklet featuring archive images and recording session photos.
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about

Inspired by conversations in community spaces around Skye and Lochalsh, particularly the rapid escalation of second homes and holiday lets, resulting in empty houses and shrinking communities.
Recorded by local musicians as part of the Culture Collective project funded by Creative Scotland and co-ordinated by local events charity SEALL. Profits from album sales go to Alzheimer Scotland.
www.seall.co.uk
www.culturecollective.scot

lyrics

The doll’s house overlooks the sea
No one rings the bell or calls the phone
It opens with a single key
Locked in a box no bigger than a stone
No letters, no bills
No cats on sills
Staring out at the birds in the tree
It stands alone as the grey waves foam
The doll’s house overlooks the sea

When daffodils rise and nod their heads
At the first blooms budding on the reaching boughs
A stranger comes to make the beds
And beat all the rugs for the colour to rouse
And the bravest weeds will stretch and squeeze
Through the bars of the cattle grids
Just to brush and feel all the hire car wheels
Bringing dolls to play in the old doll’s house

Knock on the doll’s house door and see who answers
Knock knock on the door of the doll’s house

When the fern and bracken are shoulder high
And the ground’s alive with voles and mice
When the sun stays long in a gentle sky
Children play but never the same child twice
When the days are bright and it’s light at night
And the sheep all scatter and roam
The place never slowing with the coming and going
The doll’s house looks most like a home

Knock on the doll’s house door and see who answers
Knock knock on the door of the doll’s house

When the leaves turn gold then copper and brown
And the ewes mourn for their absent young
The last of the dolls from the far off towns
Rubs where the last of the black flies stung
And the trees grow bare and the potholes stare
Up at a low slung sun
The doors are closed and the waste disposed
Now the doll’s house work of play is done

Knock on the doll’s house door and see who answers
Knock knock on the door of the doll’s house

Now from my boat as I sing to seals
I see the dwellings dark as Winter nears
Make a mental note while I mend the creels
Here each building’s less than it appears
No chimney smoke, no sign of folk
Or dogs or chickens or cows
Each brick and slate with the very same fate
Every home has become
Just another doll’s house

Knock on the doll’s house door and no one answers
Knock knock on the door of the doll’s house

credits

from The Skye & Lochalsh Community Album Project, released August 4, 2023
Written by Louis Barabbas

Lead vocals: Rachael Jackson
Double bass: Keri Skye
Drums: Graeme Deas
Tuba: Mike Norton
Autoharp: Pam Shurmer
Guitar and whistling: Louis Barabbas
Electric piano: Tom Cleghorn

license

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about

Louis Barabbas image

Louis Barabbas Manchester, UK

Louis Barabbas is a writer, performer and firefighter, best known for caustic love songs and energetic stage shows.

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