Hourglass is on the Life Line album – released 2009.
Listen
Lyrics
How come I often hear you say that you understand
When I know that you haven’t followed
Half the things you’ve heard.If I could tear the wall down,
Do you think that would make you smile
We could find some words to say,
And talk for a little while.Don’t you realise the time is quickly moving
So visualise the sand of the hourglass in your hand.I make my own amusement, and sing to myself each day
It fills the empty spaces when you’re away.So take my sense of humour, and turn it inside out
‘Till you see my form reflected in your mirror glass.Don’t you realise the time is quickly moving
So visualise the sand of the hourglass in your hand.When I hear the summer thunder,
It’s tinged with sadness
When I think of my great achievement
Your key left on the mat.Copyright 2009 Graham Armfield
Watch
Here’s a video of me playing Hourglass at an open mic night in Guildford in December 2017.
Song history
Hourglass dates back to the mid 1990s, when I was busy writing as many songs as I could. At the time I was in Shnaffel and we played a set of more ‘Britpop’ guitar based songs.
But clearly, Hourglass wasn’t like that – being a much gentler acoustic tinged song. So this meant that it seldom (if ever) got played live. All I had was the rough demo recorded on my 4-track portastudio.
However it’s a song I’ve always loved, and once my recordings for Life Line got underway I decided to include it – adding some synthesized cello and a tabla percussion track. Tabla purists will probably hate what I’ve done there, but it seems to work.
Hourglass gets more live action these days.
