Zur Erinnerung an Daevid Allen

 

Zur Erinnerung an den Musiker (Christopher) Daevid Allen, der am 13. 3. 2015 verstarb

Geboren 1938 in Melbourne kam er 1961 nach Europa, zunächst nach Paris, dann nach London, wo er 1963 mit Bassisten Hugh Hopper und dem Schlagzeuger Robert Wyatt das Daevid Allen Trio gründete, aus dem die Band Soft Machine hervorging.

1968 gründete er dann die legendäre Gruppe Gong. 1976 stieg er (zusammen mit seiner Frau Gilli Smyth) aus der Band aus und nahm ab da Alben unter eigenem Namen und mit wechselnden Musikerinnen und Musikern auf, mit Here & Now / Planet Gong (1978); Gilli Smyth / Mother Gong, mit Invisible Opera Company of Tibet, Magick Brothers, University of Errors, Acid Mothers Temple (2004) und anderen.

Daevid Allen starb am 13. März 2015 im Alter von 77 Jahren in seiner australischen Heimat. Sein Sohn Orlando schrieb einen Nachruf, den er mit Versatzstücken aus Allens Texten und Pseudonymen begann: „And so dada Ali, bert camembert, the dingo Virgin, divided alien and his other 12 selves prepare to pass up the oily way and back to the planet of love.“


Garden Song (1995)

What shall we grow in your garden, my dear
If my seed comes to breed in your nursery?
A dolphin or a Deva or a true devotee
So your love might never grow thirsty

For a soul is so real and so whole and so free
And a body is so frail and so human are we
Are we dreaming?
Is this the Earth dreaming too?
Will we live till we die, wondering why
Or will we learn to grow

Day by day by
Day by day by day?

With the fruit of your labour asleep at your breast
Will you nurture them softly and quietly?
And when, next thing, the offspring have flown from the nest
Can you love them and let them go quietly?

For a soul is so real and so whole and so free
And a body is so frail and so human are we
Are we dreaming?
Is this the Earth dreaming too?
Will we live till we die, wondering why
Or will we learn to grow

Day by day by
Day by day by
Day by day by day?

And here comes the autumn when leaves turn to gold
And the waning moon silvers me lightly
In the afternoon sun, it's good fun to grow old
As you hold me and lie with me For your love is so real and so whole and so free

And your body is so frail and so human are we
Are we dreaming?
Is this the Earth dreaming too?
Will we live till we die, wondering why
Or will we learn to grow

Day by day by
Day by day by
Day by day by day?

And when old Father Time rings the chimes of my years
And I see my life turning around me
When you lay me down in your garden, my dear
Will you kiss me and let me go lightly?

For a death is so real and so whole and so free
And a body is so frail and so human are we
Are we dreaming?
Is this the Earth dreaming too?
Will we live till we die, wondering why
Or will we learn to grow

Day by day by
Day by day by
Day by day by
Day by day by
Day by day by
Day by day by
Day by day by day?