i saw a peacock with a fiery tail
i saw a blazing comet drop down hail
i saw a cloud with ivy circled round
i saw a sturdy oak creep on the ground
i saw an ant swallow up a whale
i saw a raging sea brim full of ale
i saw a venice glass sixteen foot deep
i saw a well full of mens tears that weep
i saw their eyes all in a flame of fire
i saw a house as big as the moon and higher
i saw the sun even in the midst of night
i saw the man that saw this wondrous sight
anon. - 1671
'i saw a peacock ...' is a poem first published in the late 17th century. it seems nonsensical (and is often called the first published nonsense poem) but there is structure to the madness. the end of each line pairs wonderfully with the beginning of the next one. it creates an alternation between sense and nonsense, between observation and fantasy.
merijn read the poem and half an hour later there was a song. a few months later there were twelve songs, all twelve based on - or inspired by - one line of the anonymous poem. like the poem itself, the album straddles a boundary. the songs have one foot in the light and one foot in the shade. one foot in the head and one foot in the heart.
an exercise in pure simplicity, the entire album was recorded in an attic room with an old czechoslovakian guitar and some cheap microphones. despite these limitations, it has become a layered record that continues to surprise every time you listen.
accordion, dulcimer, sousaphone, lap steel, mandolin, flugelhorn, analogue drum machine, renaissance lute, ... these are just a few of the instruments that merijn has sold in recent years. he kept his guitar. songwriting old school, new style. for fans of leonard cohen, jackson c. frank, adrienne lenker or the tallest man on earth. a pure melody, imaginative lyricism and a story that could be yours.
before hitting upon the poem, merijn had composed music for brassbands and short film, played the trumpet in different bands (rat ka bay bal, moustash, brazzmatazz, ...), performed in street theatre, travelled with a circus show, sold homemade croissants, taught guitar, recorded and played with his own americana trio people in houses, built a treehouse, sang of heartbreak with houseman & lee, hitchhiked southern europe, washed dishes and practised his songwriting.
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