From the recording Family Portraits (Volume 1)
A love song to much loved but ageing Mum, who saw a few things in her day. Having survived cancer twice and even a bout of COVID-19, she is now 90, and the singer is fearful of her passing.
Lyrics
Orphan (You Gave Me My Name)
In the bedroom
There’s a boy
under covers
With a torch
You pretend not to notice
Him read
Not sleep
And on the pitch this same boy
Chases a football
And you smile to yourself
You know these moments
So well
Time moves on
Relentlessly
And one day this will all be gone
Eventually
In the eye of my mind
And through the window of time
I see a middle aged orphan
Be that boy again
And he misses his mother
He loves her just the same
I am what you made me
You gave me my name
My name is Alexander
You made me believe I was great
In a sepia photograph
Smiles my mother
Looking back
I see a much younger girl
About to conquer the world
Now much older, the same girl
Watched a century unfurl
Now you watch how she shuffles across the streets to the shops
Time moves on
Relentlessly
Soon this will all be gone
And ultimately