Asbestos Skies – Poems & Lyrics

I wrote a piece called Asbestos Skies about six months ago, the words started to form in my head walking to catch a bus one morning and then a few days later I was at an old mill where out the back they seemed to have an abandoned section of canal and this gave me more words.

I then had these little fragments of words and I was struck with the idea of writing a poem that I could turn into a song. I wanted the song to be a kind of love letter to the city where I live and a lament for the world we live in. I also had the vague notion of it being an epic English poem about nature and the changes to our lives as a result of man’s “progress”.

I am not sure whether I have been successful in my aim but I was pretty happy with the end results and I would interested to know what you think.

I will publish the audio file tomorrow, it is very much a work in progress demo but I have captured the essence of what I would like the finished piece to sound like and I would love to hear feedback and comments.

Asbestos Skies

Rusty old pipe on the ancient stone wall
Run through the decaying car park
Uncomfortable companions in this modern paradise
not even aware of what has been lost

Water cascades into the abandoned canal
echoes onto the asbestos sky
All these dark signs built on top of Blake’s refrain
no image remains only shadows


As our lives set on asbestos skies
You better bow down beneath asbestos skies
All built to your own design
You better bow down to asbestos skies
As our lives set on asbestos skies

Clutching a little cheap book about Marx
smoking a roll up cigarette
Let’s meet we said at the Rene after work
and spin yarns about disillusionment

I stared at Love and the boys with respect
but tinged with surreal bewilderment
So I chased down the street my hopes and my cares
sun soaked on the city of smoke and despair

As I look out at the city that’s my brother and my friend
are you blind to all noise and pollution
In my concrete tower I am perfectly alone
but long for nature’s reunion


As our lives set on asbestos skies

By John de Gruyther
©John de Gruyther & Souled Sounds 2013